Home Movie editing

I'm a hobbyist FCPX user and a friend has asked me to compile a photo/video montage of his family's "favorites" from their iPhone and DSLR collection. These are random videos over about a year's span, everything from holiday adventures, to swimming at the pool. There's no coherent storyline per se. And he wants to make it look more filmic with titles etc. So...my question to the more experienced editors out there is...any tips on how to pull this off? In terms of pacing, transitions, etc? I know/have just about every plugin needed for titles, effects, transitions, video walls, etc. But just need advice for how to piece together a lot of unrelated stuff to make a somewhat coherent edit.

Thanks in advance!

Music, find appropriate music. And group the media together, maybe in chunks of time, so it's chronological, that's a story.

Does your friend have a Mac? Then the biggest favor you can do to yourself is to teach him the basics of FCP and tell him he has one month (one month! - how long does he expect you work on this?) to use the fully functional FCP test version.
I spliced my uncle’s vacation films (and washed his car) for very little payment (pocket money), but I was a little boy then. In hindsight it’s clear that he had exploited me. And still nobody liked his films. Nor his cheap car.

@fcppx.guru thanks for the feedback -- makes sense and good advice.

@Alex - Got a good laugh out of that and sage advice as well! No set deadline and it's a favor for a friend so no issues with exploitation.

FCPX.guru wrote: Music, find appropriate music. And group the media together, maybe in chunks of time, so it's chronological, that's a story.

All this. When you're throwing huge amounts of semi-random video together, suddenly the FCP X concept of "Events" makes sense. Organise things into Events. Everyone has events of some sort, even if it's a bunch of "Fun At Home" clips.

And keep each video really short. Three to five minutes. Pop songs are short for a reason.

Or follow Axel's advice. You could always split the work and get HIM to organise the clips, you do the editing. Organising is half the battle.

all the above …
A little magic is 'Pace' …

Start with a fast 'highlights in overview', slow down with some 'epic' beauty shot (love to use fade-to-black dissolve for such segments), don't be shy with heavy color grading/processing of the pics (black/white, gradients, vignette …), hectic fun parts with 5-frame-rewinds ('stutter'-edits), find something 'personal' for the end (proud fisher with his tuna, toddlers first walk, sunset over home) and freeze that moment. 10secs fade out. Tears of joy. Done. Answering the silly question "you use an Apple, hm?"

Don't be shy with using stereotype music (Vivaldi's '4 Seasons' for nature, 'Yakety Sax' for fun parts, 'Born To Be Wild' for road trips / toddler on trike …)

And, as mentioned before: stay short, edit is 'Kill Your Darlings' …

And explosions! Gotta have stuff blow the hell up good!

Thanks for all the tips guys! Will definitely incorporate some of these ideas...

All these ideas are good ones. I do a lot of these, only much longer, special occasion (graduation, etc.) vids for family and others. I often do reverse chronological - the kids get younger and cuter, the adults get (often) thinner and better looking. But, since yours is just one year, I'd do the chronological "A Year in the Life..." sort of thing. Or, you could do themes - Family get-togethers, Big life events, trips, sports, hobbies, awards, etc.

If you go the theme route, using different music for each theme helps sell the structure, and be sure to vary the music - don't use two sensitive, sentimental things in a row. Once you get your source footage it will probably become evident what approach will best suit the content.

And, even though it's a small family piece, use all the FCPX organizational tools - favorites, keywords, etc. It's perfect for this sort of thing and is definitely worth the relatively small amount of time it takes. I use Apple Photos to organize all the stills into Albums, which can then be accessed directly from FCPX.

And, of course, be hugely selective. Most events really just need to have a brief reminder that they occurred, then a focus on a few special, unique moments.

Good luck - these are fun to do!

Thanks very much! Great tips indeed!