How to make a memorial video for a funeral, step by step

When someone dies, the family usually has a few days to plan a funeral or a celebration of life, and somebody gets asked to "put together a video." If that's you, this guide is for you. You don't need editing experience. You need a plan, a free afternoon or two, and the right material.

1. Decide how long it should be

Most memorial videos shown at a service run 3 to 8 minutes. Shorter is almost always better. A 4-minute video that people watch closely is more moving than a 15-minute slideshow that makes the room restless. As a rule of thumb:

• 3–4 minutes if it plays during the service, before or after the eulogy.
• 6–8 minutes if it is a centerpiece of a celebration of life.
• A longer loop of photos only, with no sound, if it plays on a screen during the visitation or reception.

At about 5 seconds per photo, a 4-minute video holds roughly 45 photos. That number will help you choose.

2. Gather photos and videos

Ask everyone at once, in the family group chat or by email, and give a deadline. Ask for:

• Photos from every stage of their life: childhood, young adult, wedding, work, parenthood, later years.
• Short phone videos, even a few seconds of them laughing or talking.
• Photos of the things they loved: their garden, their car, their dog, their workshop.

Old prints can be photographed with a phone in daylight, flat on a table, without flash. Free scanning apps from Google and Apple remove glare and straighten the edges.

3. Collect voices, not just pictures

This is the step most memorial videos skip, and it makes the biggest difference. A slideshow shows what someone looked like. Voices tell people who they were.

Ask five to ten people who knew them well to record a short voice memo on their phone, one or two minutes each. Give them a simple prompt:

• What did they always say?
• Tell one small moment with them you've never forgotten.
• What would you like to tell them now?

"Dad said every repair would take ten minutes. It was never ten minutes. But it always got fixed."

One line like that, in a daughter's own voice, will be remembered longer than any photo in the video. If you have any recording of the person themselves, a voicemail, a birthday video, a toast at a wedding, save it for the very end.

4. Put it in order

A simple structure works for almost everyone:

1. Opening (15–20 seconds): one strong photo and one voice, often their catchphrase.
2. Where they came from: childhood and young adult years.
3. The life they built: love, work, children, home.
4. Who they were to us: habits, jokes, the people they helped. This is where the voice memos belong.
5. Closing: a recent photo, a final voice, their name and dates.

Lay the photos out in that order before you open any software. It's much easier to move files around in a folder than in an editor.

5. Choose the music

Pick one or two songs, not five. Choose music they loved, or music with the right feeling, then cut the video to fit it. (Need ideas? Here are 35 songs for a memorial video.) If the video will only be played at the service, most families use the songs they want. If you plan to post it on YouTube or Facebook, those platforms may mute or block copyrighted songs, so use royalty-free music for the online version.

6. Build it

Free tools are enough for a photo-and-music video:

• Canva and Google Photos for simple slideshows with music.
• iMovie (Mac and iPhone) or CapCut if you want to mix in voice memos and video clips.

Keep transitions simple: a slow crossfade, nothing that spins. Let important photos stay on screen a little longer. Add captions with names and years where they help ("Summer 1974, Lake Tahoe"). When a voice memo plays, show a photo of the person speaking with them, if you have one.

7. Test it before the service

Funerals rarely go wrong because of the video itself. They go wrong because of the cable, the laptop or the volume. Before the day:

• Export as an MP4 file and put it on a USB stick and in your email.
• Ask the funeral home what format their screen and sound system accept.
• Watch it once on that screen with that sound, if you can.

When you don't have the time

Making a good memorial video takes most people 10 to 20 hours, in the same week they are grieving and planning a service. If that's too much, it's fine to ask for help. We make tribute films told entirely in the voices of family and friends: we send one link to everyone, collect their voice memories, and turn them into a short film for the service, with real photos and gentle animation for the years nobody photographed.

Frequently asked questions