A couple of weeks ago we introduced you to Quik, the free and incredibly simple video editing app by GoPro for Android and iOS devices. Although it is a fantastic app for creating quick, action filled videos it is rather limited in the sense that the videos are automatically edited and rather limiting what you can do to improve or edit the video more manually. There is an alternative though, which will allow you a little more control over the videos that you wish to edit.
Splice
Splice has been around for a few years now, but more recently it was acquired by GoPro. It works very similarly to Quik, but removes the automatic editing feature. Currently, Splice is only available for iOS devices, so if you own an Android smartphone or tablet you won't find the app on the Play Store, but we hope to see it there one day in the future. Similarly to Quik, you don't need to own a GoPro action camera to use the app. You can simply use the video content and photo's that you capture on your iPhone or iPad instead.
Although you have to manually edit videos through Splice, don't let it fool you into thinking that it is complicated to use. GoPro have revamped the app since owning it to make it incredibly easy to edit videos and it is quick to do as well. The general layout and design of the app is very similar to Quik, so you won't be required to learn a new interface.
How do I create a video on Splice?
Once you have downloaded Splice from the App Store, open up the app and you should be greeted with a screen similar to the below.
To start your first video project, press the little "+" button on the top right of the screen. You will then be able to choose as many of your video files or photos that you wish to include in your video. Click on each file and it will highlight in blue with a check mark.
Once you are happy with the files that you have chosen, press "ADD" on the top right. Next step is to choose a soundtrack to run in the background. You have a whole host of various songs built in to the app that you can choose from, but don't worry about putting too much thought into it, as you can change the song at any point during the editing process. If you don't want to use a song in your video yet, simply press "SKIP" on the top right of the screen.
Finally, before you can start editing your video clips and photos, you will see the screen below.
The most important part is giving your project a name. The rest of the settings are worth playing around with and trialling to see which work best for you. Once you are ready to go, press on "DONE" and you will see a screen similar to the below. You can change the order of your videos and photos, by pressing and dragging them left and right on the timeline at the bottom of the screen, and you can also play a live preview of your video at any point through editing by pressing the blue play button.
You can edit each individual video clip or photo by pressing onto it an then pressing "Edit". Within here you can change the duration of your video clips by trimming and cutting them, you can add various preset filters to add effect, you can change the speed of the clip, add various titles and increase or reduce the volume.
One of the most useful features if Splice compared to Quik is the ability to include a voiceover or narration to your video. To do this, press the "AUDIO" button, midway down the screen on the right hand side. You will see a screen similar to the below, showing you the duration of your visual part of your video on the first timeline and the duration of your soundtrack on the second.
Underneath the two tracks you will see two empty sound bars, the upper one allows you to add another sound track or sound effects, the lower allows you to record a voiceover through the iPad or iPhone's inbuilt microphone. To initiate the recording, simply press the little red button on the left, and a three second count down will start. The video will then play through normally from the beginning whilst recording the audio at the same time. All you need to do is talk away and then press stop when you are done.
No need to worry if you go wrong as you can simply delete the recording and start again. If you press onto the recording that you have just captured, you will also be able to increase or decrease the volume level, and trim the beginning and ending of the recording down to remove any empty silence on each end.
Now you are ready to export your video project. To do this, press the upload button on the top right of the screen and choose whether you want to share it to YouTube, Facebook or Instagram, or press the save button to simply save it to your device to share at a later date.
You will then be asked which resolution you wish to export the video to. We recommend that you choose either HD - 720p or 1080p. 1080p will be the best quality, but take up more storage space on your device. 720p may present very slight reductions in quality, but take up less storage on your device.
Wait for your project to finish exporting and you are done! You can find the video in your photo's app on your iPhone or iPad.
In Summary
Splice is a fantastic app for quickly putting together short videos captured from your device's own camera and after a little bit of getting used to it, you can quickly produce videos that do look professional and engaging to your audience.
If you need any support with your video content requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01404 548405 or jack@cosmic.org.uk