6 Things Brands Should Know About Using Instagram's Hyperlapse

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Participation leads to inspiration, so whenever a new social tool comes out, I test it myself before introducing it to clients. While I was at a photo shoot in downtown L.A. this week, I took some time to play with Hyperlapse, a new app from Instagram that lets you convert video to time-lapse. Here are some things brands should keep in mind when using it.

There is a brilliant novelty to this app, and it makes it much simpler to do time-lapse than by traditional means. But consider the job of time-lapse in video and film and how that fits into your brands visual storytelling arc. Time-lapse is a transitional element, an interesting way to connect two scenes through the passing of time, but on its own, it may not have the power to carry the narrative. Hyperlapse can make a guy walking into a building look awesome at 12x speed, but in the end, its still a guy walking into a building. Brands should look to redefine the element of time-lapse, rather than simply use Hyperlapse to re-create it.

When you open the app, you have one choice: record. Thats a brief learning curve, but the simplicity inherently produces limitations. The app works best when you set it to capture movement, preferably at least 10 to 20 feet away. The longer you film, the more interesting the final product could become, especially with a dramatic passage of time. But a long video session eats away at memory and battery life. And even if you have the memory to capture the video, it may not render, forcing you to delete items off your device to finish. Once a video is complete, you have the option to preview at speeds ranging from 1x to 12x, then share to Instagram or Facebook. Super simple.

Time-lapse looks best when your camera is stationary, on a tripod. Its also important to have a consistent light source or one that gradually changes, for example, to show day turn to night. My first test was rigging my phone to my rear-view mirror and driving through a parking garage. As the light source changed, it severely affected the video quality, and was unwatchable. In subsequent tests, using a stationary camera on a tripod in a different setup produced much better results.

Its important to do a deep depth of field, rather than a shallow one. In other words, dont try close-ups, especially if other elements (like hands) enter the frame. The camera cannot process a change of focus so quickly, and your video will come out blurry and unprofessional. Stop motion, as is done in Vine, allows you to go frame-by-frame, adjusting focus and exposure on the fly. In Hyperlapse, for better or worse, you simply set it and forget it.

Anecdotally, I dont like videos on Instagram. It pulls me out from the simplicity of the feed. There is an expectation to the content on Instagram. More heavy-handed filmic techniques, like time-lapse and stop motion, seem to thrive more in the world of Vine. Hyperlapse also gives you the option to export to Facebook. Its possible that audience may be more accepting of the technique, because the Facebook newsfeed is already so soupy. Regardless, if overused without a concept surrounding it, this technique will get old quickly.

Unlike Vine, which gives you a square preview and format to shoot, Hyperlapse shoots full-frame, vertical or horizontal, but does not necessarily export to those dimensions. When you are ready to post, Facebook will allow for the widescreen landscape format, but Instagram constrains the export to the square format. Keep that in mind as you are shooting. There are no guides to establish action-safe areas, so you must eyeball it as you frame your shot, keeping the subject in the center. Remember, an equal portion of your video will be cut off on both sides upon upload to Instagram. During the posting process, you can also adjust (but not crop) the video within the square frame, making this in-app limitation less limiting.

J Barbush is VP, Creative Social Media Director at independent agency RPA.

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6 Things Brands Should Know About Using Instagram's Hyperlapse

The Shape Of Apps To Come: Top iOS Designers On New iPhone 6 Screen Sizes

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The leaks continue to pile up as we approach September 9. Are there any real surprises in store for what the new iPhones will look like? That we will know in a week.

What will take longer is to see how app designers adapt to the new screen sizes that we expect the iPhone 6 and 6L to introduce. I talked to five top iOS designers to get a preview of the shape of apps to come.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball calculated screen resolutions for the two new devices. It is likely that they are accurate to what Apple Apple will introduce next week. Gruber has a history of direct access to Apple, so his calculations may in fact be transmissions.

Russian blog Rozetked recently released a video that claims these as real versions of the iPhone 6 (left) and 6L (right)

The gist of Grubers formulations are about the radical difference between the two new screen formats. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will maintain the same scale and resolution as the current iPhone 5 line, but have room for 38% more content. The 5.5-inch iPhone 6L will have 3x retina graphics, a slight increase in scale and room for 68% more content. How will app designers respond to increased real estate and higher resolution graphics?

Games aside, there are two major types of apps that designers will have to adapt for this new environment. Most content apps will make use of the larger screens to display (surprise!) more content. Most utility apps will scale their UI elements to fit the new dimensions. All the designers I talked to did not think they would make optimizations for the iPhone 6 alone.

Michael Mamiye, designer of the Gist news summary app (see above), is in the content camp. He thinks that, Most developers will simply expand the frame of their apps, as opposed to actually using the new pixels for more features. As for Gist, he plans, To use the new space for additional content (more articles, larger font, etc.). He thinks that the best games and productivity apps will undoubtedly decide to use this new space for more creative purposes, such as new features. He concedes that once iPhone 6-optimized apps are in use, I may see some new and creative ways to utilize the larger space that I just havent thought of yet.

Mamiyes app is text-based with a strong news feel. Other content apps that rely more on images will have some greater challenges. Luke Wroblewski, designer of the Polar app (image above), sees a lot of work in his immediate future. There are, likely more changes we have to make vs. want to make, he offers. As expected, variable sizing of UI elements will be a must. If were dealing with wider screens, well have to add flexibility into many of our elements. [and] If 3x [resolution] is true, we have a lot of images to remake. The real rub is that Polar allows users to search for and upload images as part of the poll-making process. Images in our polls in particular might be tough as they are sized specifically for current screen dimensions. Any apps that display user generated content will have to be particularly sensitive to the demands of 3x graphics.

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The Shape Of Apps To Come: Top iOS Designers On New iPhone 6 Screen Sizes

THE Best Majors and Subjects In High School and College For Medicine ! – Video

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THE Best Majors and Subjects In High School and College For Medicine !
The Medical Method is back with a video on subject selections in high school and majors to choose in College ! I hope you like the video, comment, like and subscribe to see more. Let me know...

By: The Medical Method

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THE Best Majors and Subjects In High School and College For Medicine ! - Video

Celine Leonhard: Introduction to the combination of chinese medicine with western medicine i – Video

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Celine Leonhard: Introduction to the combination of chinese medicine with western medicine i
More information: http://videocenter.naturmed.de/de/video/introduction-combination-chinese-medicine-western-medicine-ivf-clinic More videos: http://videocenter.naturmed.de.

By: Videocenter fr Akupunktur/TCM

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Celine Leonhard: Introduction to the combination of chinese medicine with western medicine i - Video

(Gameboy) God Medicine – Hukkoku Ban Part 5 – Talking To The Elder – Video

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(Gameboy) God Medicine - Hukkoku Ban Part 5 - Talking To The Elder
After arriving at Thiefglade, let #39;s go talk to the king who instructs the prince to head to Muon Tower to stop a threat. After buying some gear and talking to everyone in the town, let #39;s head...

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(Gameboy) God Medicine - Hukkoku Ban Part 5 - Talking To The Elder - Video

Influence in Medicine: How Do We Increase Our Effectiveness? – Video

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Influence in Medicine: How Do We Increase Our Effectiveness?
So what is "active engagement learning" and why does John Bielinski teach medicine this way? Learning medicine isn #39;t hard. It #39;s about effective learning techniques and endurance. At CME4Life,...

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Influence in Medicine: How Do We Increase Our Effectiveness? - Video

Michael Stocum of Personalized Medicine Partners on Personalized Diagnostics Today – Video

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Michael Stocum of Personalized Medicine Partners on Personalized Diagnostics Today
Michael Stocum of Personalized Medicine Partners discusses material that will be presented at Personalized Diagnostics Today, AACC #39;s first-ever online meeting to be held October 28-29 online...

By: AACC

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Michael Stocum of Personalized Medicine Partners on Personalized Diagnostics Today - Video