One of the things I did especially well last year was to capture memories of our family.

Specifically, I used the 1 Second Everyday app (1SE is the app name) to record/compile 1 second videos each day for the entire year. So now I have a 6:30 minute video of our 2017, and I am obsessed with it. I’ve watched it a bunch of times already! Plus, it’s a fun way to share our year recap with our family and friends. (You do need to pay a few bucks for the app, but it is 100% worth it.)

It’s so fascinating and fun to see our girls get older and able to do more things before our eyes. I recorded Isabelle’s first steps and vacations we went on and the mundane moments of our life.

I already can’t wait to record our video for next year!

Here are some ‘lessons learned’ from a year of recording memories with 1SE.

Find good lighting.

I mean, this is a major ‘duh’ because I take so many photos and am very aware at how important lighting is, but the same applies to videos, especially since I didn’t edit or filter the clips before compiling them. Sometimes I liked the dimly lit videos if I was recording a date or happy hour, but other times I hated the yellow lighting from artificial lights.

Record the mundane moments.

If I waited for super fun moments to happen in order to take a video each day, some days I would have nothing to record! The mundane moments are a great way to tell stories and capture what life is really like. For example, I made sure to record a few clips of me making a latte or drinking a glass of wine or snuggling a sick baby… because let’s be honest, that’s what my days look like most of the time. I did manage to avoid filming things like me cleaning or yelling at the kids, though, because these recaps don’t need to be that honest. (wink.)

Tell people about the project. Or don’t.

This past year I didn’t really tell anyone before I recorded them, and then I took out all of the audio and used songs as the background noise, so that I didn’t need to worry about what people were saying at the time I hit ‘record’. This means I got a lot of candid seconds, but this next year I think I’ll ask people to wave or smile or something so that I can get a variety of shots!

Take some ‘filler’ shots.

Some days you’re going to record a video (I did!) but other days, if you remember, just take a ‘filler shot’ – like you drinking coffee, the leaves changing, rain falling (in the PNW you get plenty of chances for that one!) etc, so that on days you can forget you can still choose a video and fill up your year with memories.

Keep up with it all year.

I filled in the ‘calendar’ type grid on this app every single day (because I recorded the videos using my regular camera function and then imported them to the app). This meant that all I had to do on January 1st was to compile the video (basically by clicking one button within the app) and then I used iMovie to add background music. Voila! It was done! It took me about an hour or two because I had to choose the music and I had never used iMovie before, but it would have taken me way longer if I had to go through and add all the videos to the grid, still. Basically, my tip is to not procrastinate on this one, because if you do you are unlikely to finish the project! (I am years behind on my yearly picture books because I wait to do it all after the year is over and it takes me too long!)

Make sure you’re in the video, too!

I failed at this one. I’m pretty sure the girls are in almost every single clip, Tim is in a lot of them, and our friends make tons of appearances, as well. However, I think I’m only in there about 5 of the 365 clips. This year, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen again! My plan is to use a tripod for more ‘planned’ shots (like me reading to the girls), or insist that Tim record some videos, too. The video from 2017 is definitely from my perspective, which is interesting, but when other people watch it (including the girls!) it makes it look like I wasn’t there at all.

Just do it – and have fun!

It’s the start of the year so start up the app and record some memories! You could also make a video of 365 pictures of the year (instead of videos) if that’s more your style. Or you could do a mix of both. Just start it and hopefully you’ll be able to keep up with it daily so you have a great year recap in January of next year! You can also start this at any time – like you could start at your birthday or your kid’s birthday and record a year that way. Or you could just do six months… it’s a very flexible app in terms of timing and what video you want to compile.

I feel like I should mention that I’m (of course) not getting paid to share my opinion on this app, but I loved it so much (well, mainly I love the finished product!) that I just have to recommend it to everyone.

I’m not going to share our video here, but I’m sure you can find other people’s videos on Vimeo or Youtube if you search for ‘1 Second Everyday’ or search through tags on social media.

Let me know if you’re going to try this for 2018!