iPad 2 and the new iMovie app are expected to make it incredibly easy to capture, edit and share videos on the go. We’ve seen what the pros can do with the iPad 2, but it’s really exciting to me what newbies to video editing can do with the iPad 2 in a matter of minutes. Here is an example of how iPad 2 users can quickly combine several clips to create a video that tells a story. It doesn’t take much effort, and I think your family will enjoy these short videos more than photos a few years from now. After trying this workflow myself, I can say that capturing and editing video on iPad 2 is the most effortless video editing solution I’ve ever tried.
I went for lunch with my family and brought my iPad 2 to try iMovie. I captured a few short video clips using the camera app.
iMovie on iPad 2 isn’t as flexible as the Mac version of the app, but there are enough options to satisfy most casual videographers. I just dragged a few clips to the timeline and shortened it a bit. I tried different iMovie themes until I found one I liked. After less than five minutes of fiddling, I was able to make the above movie. I emailed copies of the finished video to both my parents on the way home.
The above certainly isn’t my best work, but I think it’s typical for iPad 2 owners to achieve while out and about. Obviously, you can get more complicated, but here are a few quick tips for creating family videos that tell a story and that your family members will really want to watch.
- Consider the Final Product: In this case, I just wanted a video to remember lunch. So a minute or less seemed appropriate. If you’re shooting a vacation or something more spectacular, you may want to aim for 5-10 minutes. This may not sound like much, but it is. Anything longer and your family will probably never watch it again.
- Short Clips: Shoot for a few seconds at a time, not a few minutes. Long video clips often create very boring videos that few people enjoy watching over and over. Try shortening your clips to 2 to 10 seconds each. This will make your video look more lively. It will also hide any camera/iPad 2 shakes.
- Shoot moving objects: This may seem obvious, but there are loads of homemade movies that contain almost no motion. In the video above, I shot a few clips of my drive through downtown San Francisco. I wanted to capture the neighborhood when we parked, but a clip of row houses would be boring, so I waited until the cyclist was close enough to get into the shot. I waited for my father to open the door instead of pulling in front of the restaurant. Instead of taking a static shot of my Thai iced tea, I swirled condensed milk into it while recording.
- Take a variety of shots: Take close-up shots of people, especially when you’re doing something. Before you reach your destination, determine where you are by shooting a clip. If you’re going on a family vacation, take a few pictures of everyone getting together and boarding the plane. When you arrive, take a few photos of the surrounding environment so you can really understand where you are. In most cases, all amateur videographers show is a few people around an unnamed dinner table. Take a few detailed photos, such as the food you eat and the wine you drink.
- Stabilized Shots: One of the worst things about home movies is camera shake. One thing I love about the iPad 2 as a camcorder is that it’s relatively easy to take steady shots as you can use both hands to stabilize it. You can also place it on a stable surface such as a table or use the case of your iPad 2 to stabilize the footage.
- Play around: Video editing is often very cumbersome. iPad 2 makes it easy to experiment and be creative.
What really surprised me was that iMovie exported the finished project so quickly. This is often the most frustrating part of movie editing. When you’re done and ready to share it with friends and family, you need to sit back and wait for your computer to encode the video. iMovie on iPad 2 took almost the same time to export the HD clip as a runtime. This is really important if you want to export different versions or find a bug in your finished project and go back and fix it.
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