Create a Movie of Your Life With the 1 Second Everyday App

Published 16 hours ago

The 1 Second Everyday app lets you capture day-to-day moments to create an inspirational video diary.

“Imagine a movie that includes every day of the rest of your life”—this is the slogan behind the 1 Second Everyday app. I don’t know about you, but my memory is pretty hazy at the best of times, and while my Instagram feed and camera reel do a pretty good job at capturing the highlights, the vast majority of ‘normal’ days end up fading into obscurity.

Video and VFX artist, Cesar Kuriyama decided that forgetting huge swathes of your life simply wasn’t good enough and so he began to document a year of his life in one-second segments, ultimately compiling the footage into a six-minute long video.

This short video ended up receiving millions of views, prompting Cesar to launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of the 1SE app.

Recording the Simple Things in Life

If you take a moment to watch Cesar’s original Ted video, you’ll notice that the driver behind the 1SE app wasn’t to capture the highlights of your life but instead it was to place equal emphasis on every day—whether it be a rainy day at home, a celebration with friends, or even a day tinged with tragedy.

Ultimately, what makes your own 1SE video so special is that it is unique to your life—including all of its ups and downs, as well as the average days in between.

Download: 1 Second Everyday for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

How to Use the 1 Second Everyday App

While Cesar may have originally developed the 1SE app to help users create a movie of their life, it can also be used to record more specific life moments, such as the development of your child or a physical transformation. I, personally, first downloaded the 1SE app to try and capture the growth of my first puppy, Fenn.

For the last six months, I’ve added a picture or a video of Fenn to the app and the result is a beautiful short video showing his transformation from a fat little baby into a long-legged teenager.

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The free version of the app allows you to create a single timeline using one-second snippets. If you’d like to create multiple projects, record up to 10 seconds each day and add music to your videos, you’ll need to upgrade to 1SE pro.

Adding Footage to Your Timeline

If you’re going to commit to adding a video to an app every day, then it needs to be effortless. Thankfully, the 1SE app is intuitive and makes this process as quick and easy as possible.

To get started, open your app and then navigate to your timeline. From here, you should see a series of empty dated squares. To add a video, select a dated square, and then tap Add Snippet. You then have the option to select a photo or video from your phone gallery or to take a new video with your camera.

To trim longer videos into the perfect one-second snippet, simply drag the highlighted frame to the desired point of the video and then select Preview or Trim. There’s also the option to add a journal entry to each day which can help you to record additional memories.

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The app helpfully sorts your phone library by date to help you find the correct footage for each day, and there’s even the option to auto-fill empty squares using your saved media.

Saving Memories for the Future

In such a fast-paced world, there’s something very special about taking the time to create and save memories. Whether you’re printing your Google photos, recording a little video on your phone each day, or writing in a gratitude journal, these actions all provide you with material to look back on later in your life.