Video - 1 Second Everyday 2020 pt 1 - Jan through April

At the start of January I decided to start documenting our 2020 every day with photos and small video clips.

Here it is:

How it was put together:

I used the “1SE” 1 Second Everyday app, a free app that made assembling each day’s photo/video sequentially a very easy process. I would mostly check in every few days and select a 1 second clip from the pool of whatever videos and live photos were taken for each day. A couple times I cheated and populated with images taken the day before or after (shh, don’t tell!).

When my 4 month timeframe was fully selected, I exported the video and edited further in imovie. (I upgraded to the free trial of the paid version of the app to make some extra last-second edits before the export)

The background music came from youtube’s audio library, full of music free for people to use in videos. It is a super helpful resource. Linked HERE

Extra reflections on the process

The practice of “capturing moments” daily has brought along some positives and negatives:

On the plus side + I have become more adept at finding/anticipating moments during the day that are “special” and worth holding onto. In some ways this has made me more present and ready to enjoy things. I have also been train my eye to see, appreciate, and “frame” beautiful things. I am super grateful for this, especially during this gift of extra time I have with the kids.

On the minus side - I have also become more susceptible to the temptation of favoring the “capture” of a moment over the real-time participation and enjoyment of that moment. Similarly the temptation to “manufacture” vs “capture” images and experiences with my kids never used to exist, but now it does. I want to be cautious about how this creeps into parenting and influences the values I have and pass on to my children.

The editing part of the project was a fun, quick, and mostly positive experience. It has replaced a good portion of my social media scrolling time on the toilet, and honestly that is where most of the editing happened because that was all the time I needed.

Anyhow, I am thankful for the editing time because it allowed me to stop a little bit and be more appreciative of different moments during this past season. This is especially true about the many moments with the kids that I typically would have forgotten or taken for granted. I was more able to see them for the gifts of grace that they were, and subsequently give thanks to God.

I would recommend the process to anyone who is looking for a casual project and is bored out of their mind! You can also retroactively put stuff together pretty quickly on the app, so if you are an avid photo/video taker, it shouldn’t take much time to put things together. Have Fun!