Tears of Joy Video and Photography        

Juli and Cathie's Story

Two sisters, Juli and Cathie Dodd, who were trying to make their father happy started “Tears of Joy Video”. These two sisters had been involved with photography and video for many years. Juli had purchased a full editing suite and they had made some amazing video’s that impressed all their friends. Their father was their biggest fan.

Their father became ill and had to undergo an operation. One evening after the operation, Cathie was sitting with him and watching a TV program. It was a biography about Lucille Ball and Dezi Arnez, with home movies and stories of their life. He asked his daughter if they could make a video of his life like that. She said, it would take a lot of work, but it could be done. A few days later he was suffering from complications from problems after the surgery, and his daughters were worried he wouldn’t make it. Juli asked what could she do to help him get better. He said he would like a video made of his life. She said if he got better, she would make a video of his life, and then they would have a big party with all his friends and watch it. Just saying that seemed to brighten his spirits, it gave him something to look forward to. Within the next few days his health improved, and he was able to recover. But he didn’t let his daughters forget their promise.

Cathie began the project by collecting all the pictures and slides and scanning them to the computer. Then she transferred their old home movies to video. Then she created a list of questions and in a number of video sessions, she sat down with her dad and interviewed him on camera about his life. After that Juli and Cathie made a list of their dad’s best friends, called them and made appointments to interview them on camera with funny stories about their dad’s life. During this whole time Juli was collecting a list of songs that meant something to her dad and to the family over the years. Now with all the data in place, came the project of putting the whole thing together.

As the girls worked on this project, they realized they were not just doing it for their dad; they were creating a piece of family history that they could keep forever. Through the pictures, movies, and interviews they were recreating their life, their memories. They had lost their mother years earlier, but part of her came back in the video, and now with this video, they had a part of their dad they could keep with them forever.They rented a restaurant and had over 100 of his friends and relatives. The film was met with rave reviews. But that moment was a memory they will never forget. They realized that instead of waiting till he was dead to remember him for all he did, they got a special chance to celebrate his life while he could still celebrate it with them. They also got a chance to show him how much they loved and respected him, and that was not only shown to him, but all his friends who attended that night. In fact he was in a room filled with love.

From that video came many more requests from friends for videos. A friend of the sisters, another Julie, who attended that night, was also involved with video montages. Together they discussed starting a business. That is how Tears of Joy Video was born.

Watch a portion of this video below