When ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 comes on, you watch. For avid sports fans, these 10 video clips are the best of the best from the past 24 hours. Diving catches, buzzer beaters, and game winning goals. It’s hard to not love highlights.
When we added video recording to Day One, this is what we had in mind: a personal highlight reel of your life. With our phones going everywhere we go, shooting video is easy. Of course, for most people, these video clips either end up in a big messy photo library on your phone or on social media*. We wanted to give people a better, private place to compile the most memorable moments of their lives. We also wanted to make it super easy to capture.
With Version 4.0 we added the ability to add videos to Day One. With Version 4.2, we took it a step further, and added in-app video recording. Some may prefer to still shoot in the camera app, adding video to Day One later. This is a great approach but we wanted to give you the ability to use the in-app video recorder to not only quickly capture but also caption the videos you shoot, as you shoot. Video (either vertical or landscape) is shot at 1080p and clips can be up to 3 minutes in length. After you shoot a video in the Day One app, you can use the slider at the top of the screen to quickly trim the video before adding it to your entry.
The great thing about recording video in a personal journal is that it requires no expertise, no script, and no actors. You don’t need subscribers or likes, you just need you. If you’re looking for ideas of what to shoot, here are a few to get you started:
- Personal vlog. Turn that camera on you 🤳 and record a recap of your day. This stays in your private journal, so there’s no need to be self conscious. Just be yourself and talk about your day, your feelings, or your goals.
- Home tour. So often we think we’ll remember every detail of our homes, but through moves and years, those details can fade. Start in your bedroom, hit record, and walk through your space capturing the details. Don’t forget to narrate, it’ll add context the visual alone won’t capture.
- Vacation. If you’re checking out a new city, record little snippets of your experience: the old cathedral in the center of town, the sound of street performers, or the quaint little bakery you stumbled upon. Even 10 second videos can add rich texture to your entry.
- #VideoADay. Try starting a challenge with yourself or another Day One user to capture a video a day. The challenge will cause you to start recording things you may never have recorded before: funny scenes from the show you’re binging, the dog chasing squirrels in the backyard, or a recap of a delicious dessert you baked. Use the same hashtag (#VideoADay or something similar) each time to track and catalog the videos.
We started this blog post using an analogy of a highlight reel, but please don’t let that intimidate you into feeling like everything you record has to be incredibly sweet, hilarious, or important. Sometimes the most amazing highlights are the least expected. So hit record on your life and see what gems you end up adding to your journal over time.
