A sentimental girl’s guide to 1 Second Everyday

Tips learned through trial and error

A selection of ‘seconds’ from Shivani’s 1 Second Everyday video. 

After about a year of trial and error, I have finally gained some skills in documenting my life like the millennial I am. With these tips and tricks, you too can be on your way to a great, sentimental video.

Let me be honest though: it wasn’t the smoothest journey to the end of the video. Known as the sentimental friend who records everything, the idea seemed simple. Filming one second a day for every day of the year, I realized I bit off more than I can chew.

I’m not an aesthetically inclined person, so my intention for a cute home movie turned into a grainy, dizzying series of clips that anyone would get motion sickness from watching. Since I have had motion sickness since I was little and didn’t wish it upon my viewers, I was determined to make it better.

This is a guide from a seriously 1 Second Everyday underdog, who, with a bit of trial and error, comprised a few tips and tricks over time to make the best 1 Second Everyday video possible.

Make sure everything is filmed horizontally

The biggest problem I had was I used my old saved Snapchat stories — something I predominantly film vertically. To create the perfect 1 Second Everyday video, you’re going to have to sacrifice the convenience of using saved Snapchat videos and either film a video specially for 1 Second Everyday or film your Snapchats horizontally.

As the app formats solely horizontal clips, this will make your video look much more put together and polished.

Don’t include too much action in each clip

When choosing videos to include for each day, it’s tempting to select the one second of a video that’s the funniest or has the most action. But for the sake of any given person’s motion sickness, this isn’t always the best idea. Having a mix between loud, exciting clips and mellow, low-key clips is key. 

It would make sense that you would want to comprise the best selection for 1 Second Everyday. The good news is, just because the best moments of every clip aren’t always going to be included, the less action-packed clip will still allow you to immediately relive the whole memory.

It’s good to capture the small moments

We live in a world where our social media presence is usually very different from the lives we are actually living. With the 1 Second Everyday app, it’s important to break out of that mentality and make sure to capture the small moments too. Did you have a lazy Sunday where you sat inside all day watching TV? It’s totally okay to capture that too. When you’re busy with deadlines and endless social commitments, you’re going to look back fondly at that memory of hanging out with yourself. A good goal for 1 Second Everyday is to make sure it encapsulates what your life is really like.

 

Tags

app, photography

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