Sam Najah’s Westside Video Services bringing memories back to life
By Susan Payne
The boxes of 8mm and 16mm film, comprised of childhood memories, moments with your siblings and friends captured before the digital era, are likely in your closet or tucked away for another time.
But, when will that time be? When will you take the boxes out, and convert the footage to an easily accessible and safe format, free from possible damage beyond repair?
The time is now, said Westside Video Services owner Sam Najah.
“Your memories are priceless and irreplaceable. Fire or flooding, there are all kinds of ways you can lose those photos or videos, lose the memories of your childhood forever. I always encourage people not to put it off,” he said.
Najah, who has nearly 30 years of production experience, local to Topanga and West Los Angeles, provides a service that makes the digital conversion and organization of those files seamless for the customer, helping preserve, restore and showcase your cherished memories.
“Sometimes people get overwhelmed with the technology and put it off, but I really say, leave it up to us,” Najah said. “There’s not much you have to do besides pulling it out of the closet.”
Najah, equipped with a state-of-the-art system that transfers film to high definition, has been in business for three years, bringing those memories back to life.
“My customers well up in tears after they’ve rewatched the footage they haven’t seen in years,” Najah said.
In addition to converting analog film and photos to digital, Westside Video Service offers the following services:
For memories stuck in an analog format, Westside Video Services transfers them into a DVD or a digital file. Photos slides and negatives are scanned at an archival quality, and 8mm film reels are converted to a high-definition format that can be easily viewed, shared and enjoyed on any modern device.
Westside Video also offers free pick-up and delivery to ensure memories remain safe from potential shipping issues.
Remembering special events such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, memorials and more is easy with Westside Video Service’s customized projects which combine your photos, video clips, music and special effects for your keepsake.
COMPLETE HOME ARCHIVAL SOLUTION
Westside Video has four steps in creating a home archival solution for your cherished memories. Step one is to digitize and take inventory of the photos, slides, negatives, videos, audio and more. In step two, Westside Video will organize and create folders and subfolders by date, events and holidays. After the organization step is complete, Westside Video will manually restore each image that can benefit from restoration by removing stains and blemishes and restoring the faded colors. Finally, step four, showcases the best photos, slides, video and film clips into a montage of your life set to music.
“We digitize and organize everything. We go through footage and slides and restore it to optimal colors and tones, then I showcase pieces highlighting the memories into one with music. You can narrow it down to an hour it tells their life story completely,” said Najah.
Westside’s Legacy Video service connects family members across generations with a unique and tangible legacy, capturing the stories you and your family has to share. Westside will film an interview with the family member and support the stories they share with photos and videos from the past.
Westside Video Services also provides cost-effective production and specializes in online ads, web videos, commercial or corporate videos.
For more information on these services, or if you’d like to speak with Najah about the process of converting your analog inventory, go to www.westsidevideoservice.com.
“All my prices are listed on my website, but we do quantity discounts for people who have multiple tapes and albums, so it helps,” Najah said. “You do this once, you’re not going to have to do it again.”
