#AppleEDUchat

What is Apple Clips?

Apple Clips is a free iOS 11 App for iPhones and iPads that makes capturing and sharing those moments of learning easier than ever. And, since its release, and my first blog so much has changed. I want to walk you through some of the updated features of Clips because Clips is remarkably user-friendly.

Clips also allows you to access content in your camera roll and use it to compile compelling stories. The Clips interface is easy to use and user-friendly no matter the user’s familiarity with technology. Clips makes it easy for kids to process the video experience. I like to tell students that the main area is the stage, and they can set the stage. And once they record the small squares below, or Clips, it becomes their video. Seeing it all in one video truly helps them to take time as they set the stage. But what makes Clips so amazing is the big Pink button. Nothing is added to the video until you push the big pink button. This is honestly one of the features that makes it so easy no matter the level. You don’t just tap record and roll; you actually have to set the stage and hold that button to add a clip.

The simple Clips interface makes it accessible no matter your comfort level with technology.  Clips meets you or your students where you are at in terms of skill level, and in moments you or your students can create sophisticated looking video projects. You can mix and match clips from your library, photos from your photo library and freshly captured video clips, and shift their order (or delete them) by tapping and dragging them in the small timeline at the bottom of the window.

Here is the basic workflow:

When you launch the app it will use the front-facing camera by default – this is the video for the selfie generation. You can swap between camera views by tapping the camera icon and enable live titles by tapping the text bubble icon.

You will see icons in the middle of the screen, these are (from left to right): Camera, Library, Poster, with Live Titles and Effects to the left and right of the big pink button.  New to Clips, with iPhone X you will also see a Scenes option that allows you to create augmented reality selfies. To work Clips you must press and hold the pink record button. You can also hold the record button and swipe up to lock the record. A lock symbol will appear. This is useful for complicated or long shots.

Live Titles

Press the pink bar to record and your words will appear on screen as you speak. What makes this cool is that they appear at the same rate as your speech – pause and they will appear on a new line. You may have noticed the flaw with this when filming a clip: your voice will be recorded as you speak the caption. The way around this is to tap the clip and a Mute icon will appear – the caption will still appear but your voice won’t be recorded. Tap the Live Titles icon to edit the text.

Filters

Click on the star icon to access your filters, stickers, emojis, and labels. There are a number of filters, but Ink and Comic Book appear to be the most used filters. New to Clips are filters such as Vivid, Cool and Charcoal. You apply these to each clip you want to use.

Stickers

Choose between multiple statements and shapes that you can place wherever you like on the screen. If you make a mistake just tap the sticker or emoji you used and then tap the “X” to remove it.  Now with Clips you will find a number of amazing Disney, Starwars, and animated stickers to experiment and have fun with.

Posters

With Posters, you will find a bunch of ending frames, from the prosaic “The End” to “Hello”. To change the text just select it on your screen and type what you want to say. You can preview the poster animation using 3D Touch. When ready, record the clip by holding the pink record button. Clips has added dozens of new posters, with dynamic animated graphic, or fun Star Wars, Disney and Pixar titles.

Music

Tap this and you can select from Apple’s own soundtracks or use your own music. Whatever music you do use will automatically work to the length of your clip.

Editing clips

As you add clips you will see them gather in a small timeline at the bottom of the screen. Tap a clip to select it and you can apply filters and other effects, mute or enable the volume of that item, trash it, or edit its length. To edit length just tap the scissors tool. You can also zoom in and out of photos and video using the familiar pinch gesture, and adjust the length of time a photo is used within a clip. You can put together up to an hour length of the video in one project, but no clips used in the project can be any longer than 30-minutes in length.

Share

Share the clips using the Share button. You can share your Clip with your contacts using Messages or through your choice of social networks, including YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and Instagram.

Help

Don’t worry too much if you get stuck using Clips.  Users have created a myriad of online resources. With a quick search on Twitter, you can find a ton of excellent examples using #ClassroomClips.

Kristin Brooks, ADE 2017, has created a fantastic video how-to that you can use or you can show to your students.

As I said, Clips uses the camera to record or add photos, but it also can access your entire photo library.  That in-app camera is definitely the most popular source. Tap the music icon and you can select from Apple’s own soundtracks or use your own music. Whatever music you do use will automatically work to the length of your clip.  That is magic for their assignments. Before Clips, my students would search for music, have to balance the music with the content, and cut the music and fade it out. Clips takes care of all of this and caters the music to the assignment.  And, as teachers who must reach all learners, the Live Titles options is an excellent way to create accessible videos that have open captions.

Clips is a game changer, making format and presentation easy so that you can focus on content. Take a chance and see what your students can create with Clips.