So, you've got the most adorable kid in the whole wide world, but you feel like photos just aren't doing them justice? Well, mom, it's time to step up your game and start doing videos.
Videos are a fantastic way to share your kiddo's cutest moments with parents, friends, and total strangers at parties, not to mention your own kid. Ever since we started making them, our son can't wait to watch the cute kid on our phones. Not only that, but it's a wonderful digital scrapbook you can do periodically and share with them when they leave for college.
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When the latest iPhones came out my husband and I decided to take the splurge for one simple reason: optical image stabilization. This meant that we could shoot high-resolution videos on the go, an absolutely necessity with an adorable toddler.
But as it turns out, there is a whole world of tools that come built in with the iPhone 6 that allows you to create professional quality videos, complete with music, inserts photos and transitions.
When my husband put the first video he made–in 20 minutes over a glass of wine—phone calls started pouring in from friends who were dying to know who we paid to make this amazing video.
Rather than letting our friends think we were millionaires (feeling like a million bucks was enough!) we started teaching them how to do it themselves.
So, can't wait to join the club? Here's how!
Preliminary Work
Shoot some Cute Videos & Photos
Be sure to capture your kiddos, your pets, your favorite places, and yourself!
Feed the kids some sweets and set them loose on the world! Even short clips with fun expressions will work beautifully, as will photos. You'll also want to get a few clips of yourself and the landscape or some favorite toys.
Remember, the iPhone shoots great quality video, but you have to shoot outdoors or in well lit rooms, or else the resulting video won't look as good.
Open iMovie and tap the + to start a new project.
You can choose between MOVIE (video and sount only) or TRAILER, which includes professional templates to make a Hollywood style trailer.
For Movies
Movies allow you to add a cover, music, text and sound effects
Choose your template, and then tap the little icon with a filmstrip and note. This will allow you to add Video, Photo or Audio to the project.
Once you'd added your video and sound (you can add multiple videos and the music will play through, plus sound effects, like bicycles, horns and moster growls), you can click on the video to cut it, speed it up or slow it down, add text, or apply a funky filter.
Hit "Done" and then you'll be able to export it and share on your favorite social media with the click of a button.
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For Trailers
Trailers are pre-styled 30-second movies that have built-in animations, text and music, allowing you to make an awesome movie in minutes.
Trailers are an easy and fast way to get a stunning video that comes with text slides in between. In iMovie they come pre-filled, but you can change every single word of text to whatever you want.
First, it will ask you to fill out the Outline, including cast members and producers. While it's a little hard to navigate the small spaces, it's worth the effort.
Once that's done, click on "Storyboard" and start popping in your videos and images. If your images are backed up on iCloud, you will have to click them twice. Once to download, the second time to insert the file into the trailer.
Can't decide which video you like best? You can always click the play button to preview the movie and see how things are looking
Save. Export. And Voila! You've got your own amazing videos, made completely on your phone, without any fancy equipment, and if you're lucky, with a delicious glass of wine.