PERSONALIZED VIDEO STORY PRODUCTION APPARATUS AND METHOD

Personalized video stories are produced. Unfinished stories are first recorded on a video medium with blank segments. Digital sequences are used to complete the segments, for example, by portraying a character with a keyed-out facial area, using the digitized image of a subject to complete the character. An edit list is also prepared to locate the blank segments. The story is sequentially advanced to each segment in accordance with the edit list and, at each segment, the personalized sequence is recorded, thereby completing the story as though the subject is a character in the story. A plurality of different stories may be prerecorded, each substantially completed but including a plurality of unfinished segments. The stories may include animation, for example in the form of cartoons, the personalizes being recorded onto the previously uncompleted tape in such a way that a smooth, visual transition is realized at the start and ending of each segment. In addition to the merging of personalized imagery, the invention also accommodates audio, including narration, and textual information, such as personalized captioning. The apparatus will also print a customized label to produce an entirely personalized end product.