Short-form videos are all the craze nowadays, so it wasn’t a surprise when Facebook decided to hop on the bandwagon with Instagram Reels in August 2020. A year after making its debut on the global stage, the feature is finally heading to Singapore, where users will now be able to create and edit up to 60 seconds of video content starting 27 October.
The new TikTok-like experience has been added to the Instagram camera, which can be used to film videos directly on Reels, or access saved videos from one’s camera roll for simple editing through various tools, including:
- Speed: Choose to speed up or slow down part of the video or audio you selected. This can help you stay on a beat or make slow motion videos.
- Timer and Countdown: Set the timer to record any of your clips hands-free. Once you press record, you’ll see a 3-2-1 countdown, before recording begins for the amount of time you selected.
- Timed Text and Stickers: Add text or stickers at a certain point in your video.
- Align: Line up objects from your previous clip before recording your next to help create seamless transitions for moments like outfit changes or adding new friends into your reel.
- Touch-Up: Adds an overall smoothing effect to your content and the ability to control the intensity level.
Once the process is completed, these videos can be shared via Instagram Stories, Direct Messages, News Feed, and the new Reel tab. Users in the country will also be able to enjoy a range of product updates, launched last week as part of Instagram’s first-ever Product Week. These are detailed as follows:
- Collabs: A new way for you to co-author Feed Posts and Reels. From the tagging screen, you can now invite another account to be a collaborator on the post or reel. If they accept, both accounts will appear in the post or Reels header, and it will be shared to both sets of followers. The post or Reel will live on both profiles and have a shared view count, like count, and comment thread.
- Superbeat + Dynamic/3D Lyrics: Turn any Reels into an immersive performance with Superbeat and Dynamic lyrics. Superbeat intelligently applies special effects to the beat of the user’s song. Top it off with Dynamic or 3D lyric, two new lyric effects that display on-screen song lyrics for people to perform with, flow with the groove, and make their Reel more engaging. Spend less time editing and more time creating and sharing.
- Feed Creation on IG Desktop Web: Users can now post photos and videos under one minute in length in a desktop browser directly to Instagram.
Other recent features include Music Stickers on Facebook and Instagram, Music in Profiles on Facebook, and Soundmojis on Messenger.
Short-form videos are the new way of life, indeed.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
HSALS
Trinity Sun
