Slideshow photo checklist by age and occasion
A film's photo list starts from the occasion and the age: for a bar mitzvah, a 3-minute Life Story film takes 37 photos: 5 from the first year, 13 from ages 1–5, 15 from ages 6–11, 3 from age 12 and one from the last month. Pick the occasion, the age and the length, tick what you already have, and send the family group one message with what's missing. The list is built in your browser, and nothing is sent or kept.
What to look for, and how many
37 photos for a 3-minute Life Story film
Such a film runs 3:06 with the opening. Collect a few more photos than that, so there's room to choose.
In a Life Story film: the same person in every photo, facing forward, at a similar distance, youngest to oldest.
What the message says
Hi everyone, we're making a film for the bar mitzvah and we're looking for photos from every year. Look in the years you know best, and reply with the number of anything you find. Baby · The first year (5 photos): 1. The first days home 2. The bris, the baby naming or the simchat bat 3. In the grandparents' arms Preschool · Ages 1–5 (13 photos): 4. Sitting up, or the first steps 5. A Hanukkah party or a birthday at preschool 6. The first day at nursery or preschool School · Ages 6–11 (15 photos): 7. The first day of first grade, with the backpack 8. The roots project, with the family's old photos 9. A school play, ceremony or party The mitzvah year · Age 12 (3 photos): 10. Getting ready for the bar mitzvah 11. The roots project, with the family's old photos 12. With best friends Today, at 13 (1 photo): 13. A recent photo, close, with a clear face 14. With the close family 15. Doing what they love most these days How to send: I'll send a Glim link here for uploading the photos. Open it, add your name and choose photos from your phone or computer, with no account and no app, and they arrive in full quality. You can add a line about each photo: who's in it, and roughly what year. The photos will be animated with AI in the film, so if there's one you'd rather we didn't use, tell us. Only send photos you're allowed to share, and photos of other people's children only with their parents' OK. Thank you! The full list, with what to look for at every age: https://glim.co.il/en/tools/photo-checklist#occasion=bar&age=13&minutes=3&style=growing
The family link opens from your film: sign up free, choose the film's shape, and on the photos page, under “More ways to add photos”, choose “Invite family”. Then send the link to the same group. It stays open for 14 days.
A 3-minute film: ₪199 in Israel, $59.90 outside Israel. The first animation is free, and you pay only when you go on to a whole film.
How many photos from each stage, for each occasion
Each occasion at the length and kind of film the list suggests for it. Each row opens the list on its occasion, and you can change it from there.
| Occasion | Film | From each stage |
|---|---|---|
| Bar mitzvah, age 13 | 37 photos for a 3-minute Life Story film | Baby · The first year: 5 photos; Preschool · Ages 1–5: 13 photos; School · Ages 6–11: 15 photos; The mitzvah year · Age 12: 3 photos; Today, at 13: 1 photo |
| Bat mitzvah, age 12 | 37 photos for a 3-minute Life Story film | Baby · The first year: 5 photos; Preschool · Ages 1–5: 14 photos; School · Ages 6–11: 17 photos; Today, at 12: 1 photo |
| A parent's birthday, age 70 | 36 photos for a 3-minute Classic film | Baby · The first year: 1 photo; Childhood · Ages 1–9: 4 photos; The teens · Ages 10–19: 5 photos; The 20s · Ages 20–29: 5 photos; The 30s · Ages 30–39: 5 photos; The 40s · Ages 40–49: 5 photos; The 50s · Ages 50–59: 5 photos; The 60s · Ages 60–69: 5 photos; Today, at 70: 1 photo |
| Anniversary, 40 years | 36 photos for a 3-minute Classic film | Before the wedding: 6 photos; The wedding: 6 photos; Years 1–10 together: 6 photos; Years 11–20 together: 6 photos; Years 21–30 together: 6 photos; Years 31–40 together: 5 photos; Today, after 40 years together: 1 photo |
| Enlisting, age 18 | 37 photos for a 3-minute Life Story film | Baby · The first year: 4 photos; Preschool · Ages 1–5: 10 photos; School · Ages 6–11: 11 photos; The teens · Ages 12–17: 11 photos; Today, at 18: 1 photo |
| First birthday | 13 photos for a 1-minute Life Story film | Baby · The first year: 12 photos; Today, at 1: 1 photo |
How the list is made
How many photos: by the package you chose, as in the montage length calculator. In a Life Story film each animation moves from one photo to the next, so it has one photo more than animations; in a Classic film each photo is an animation. The photos are spread by age as the calculator does: the first year counts double, because a baby changes fastest, every other year counts once, and one photo of today closes the film.
For an anniversary the list doesn't count by age: the photos are shared equally between before the wedding, the wedding and every ten years together, and one photo of today closes the film.
What to look for: we wrote the moments ourselves, from our advice on choosing photos and the moments in our example films, and the tool only picks from them by age. No AI writes anything here. The bar mitzvah example film and the 70th birthday example film show how it looks in a film.
Which photos move well
- Clear faces, close up, up to three people in a photo.
- In a Life Story film: the same person in every photo, facing forward, at a similar distance.
- No nude photos, not even a baby in the bath: the video engines refuse them. Choose another photo from the same age.
- At the beach or the pool, a photo close to the face is best: the engine may refuse bare skin.
- The original, not the copy from a chat: a JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP file of up to 40MB.
How to collect from the family
- One way for everyone, and one person who gathers.
- Ask each person for a stage or a side of the family, not “everything you have”. That's why the message is numbered: everyone replies with the number they found.
- A date, a week before the film needs to be ready, and one reminder two days before it.
- With Glim's family link everyone sends without signing up, up to 60 photos a day, and the link stays open for 14 days. Without Glim, ask for the photos on WhatsApp as a document, so they arrive in full quality.
What happens to what you tick and type
The list is built in your browser: what you tick and type isn't sent to us or kept by us, and when you close or reload the page, the ticks are gone. To keep it, print it, or send the message to yourself. The link at the end of the message holds, after the # sign, only the occasion, the age, the length and the kind of film, so it opens the same list for everyone. That part of an address is never sent to a server, and the name, the date and what you added never go into it. The message goes to WhatsApp only when you press “Send on WhatsApp”, and you choose who gets it. If you press to try it free, the occasion and the kind of film go to the app, so the film you open starts with them.
Questions
How many photos does a bar mitzvah film need?
It depends on the length: a 3-minute Life Story film takes 37 photos, and a longer film more. Choose a length in the list, and it says how many from each stage.
What if there are no photos from some years?
Take the nearest photo, search the phone's face albums, and ask the grandparents, aunts and uncles. And someone who's no longer in the family? Cropping them out of the photo is enough.
Can I use the list without Glim?
Yes. It's yours: print it, send it, and make the film any way you like.
Are the ticks saved?
No. They stay only on the open page. To keep them, print the list, or send the message to yourself.
What Glim is
Glim turns photos of the people you love into a short, finished film, with AI animation, an opening, music and Hebrew titles. It's an Israeli service that works in your browser, and the film is a gift for any moment, from a first birthday to a parent's 70th. Some families also make one in memory of someone who is gone. Each animation is usually ready in 4–5 minutes, the first animation is free, and a whole film costs ₪79 to ₪349, paid once. Glim isn't a video editor, a template app or a talking-photo app.
Once you have the photos, the film
Each photo moves for 5 seconds, and in a Life Story film every two neighbouring photos become one transition. The first animation is free, and you pay only when you go on to a whole film.