One week, two kinds of night
Thanksgiving week usually holds two different things. The family one is spread across houses and travel days: a drive or a flight, two dinners in two kitchens, a long weekend of leftovers. The friends' one is a single night around one table. They want different tapes, because they have different people on them and a different shape, and each comes back as its own film.
Start the family tape before anyone leaves home, and the Friendsgiving tape the afternoon of the dinner. You can keep several tapes going at once, so neither has to wait for the other.
The family tape: the trip, not just the dinner
Every clip lands at the moment it was recorded, so Wednesday's airport gate plays before Thursday's turkey, whichever phone uploads first. No signal at Grandma's? Clips save to the phone and upload in the background once there's a connection.
Set it up the week before
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Start the tape
Tap New Tape and name it: Thanksgiving for the family weekend, Friendsgiving for the dinner. Starting a tape needs an account; joining one doesn't.
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Invite the people who'll film
Tap Collab, then Invite. A tape holds eight people, including you. On the family tape, give the places to one or two people in each house rather than to everyone; on the Friendsgiving tape, to the friends who'll actually film. They need the VideoBro iPhone app, not an account. Invite links work for 7 days, so send them the Monday of Thanksgiving week. What to text them.
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REC, then film like normal
Each filmer taps REC and shoots with the iPhone Camera app, held sideways. Horizontal clips land on the tape by themselves; vertical ones don't get added. Anything already on a phone goes in with +, like the pie somebody filmed on the way over.
What to film at Thanksgiving
- The travel. The gate, the back seat, the car pulling into the driveway.
- The kitchen before noon. Whoever's been cooking since six, and what they're arguing about.
- The grandparents. Ask one question, like what Thanksgiving was when they were kids, and let them answer for as long as they want. Getting grandparents on tape.
- The kids' table, at kid height. Sit down with them for one clip. Nobody films it from down there.
- Grace, or whatever your table does instead. One phone on whoever's talking, another on the people listening.
- Friday. Leftovers, the walk, the game nobody's watching.
More ideas: what to film on an ordinary day.
Friendsgiving: everyone brings a dish, everyone films the night
Friendsgiving is one evening, so its tape is simpler: start it before the doorbell, so the first clip is the table being set rather than an hour in, and invite the friends who'll actually film. Somebody filmed the pie on the way over? They tap + and it lands at the moment it was recorded, not at the end.
What to film at Friendsgiving
- Arrivals, dish first. Everyone walks in holding something under foil and explains it before their coat is off.
- The table before anyone eats. One slow pass down the whole table while it still looks like the plan.
- The thankful round. One phone on whoever's talking, another across the table on the people listening.
- Cleanup. The sink, the stack of plates, and the negotiation over who takes the leftover pie.
Let the takes run. Thirty seconds of plates being passed is the part you'll want next year.
Develop when everyone's home
On Sunday, anyone on the family tape with an account taps Develop, and the whole weekend comes back as one film, in the order it happened. The Friendsgiving tape is ready sooner: over coffee the next morning. Everyone on a tape gets its film in their own Tape Cabinet. What Develop does.
For the relatives and friends who couldn't make it, share the link. It plays in any browser, with no app and no account, and it isn't posted anywhere. Sharing family videos privately.
Everything on a tape counts toward its owner's 2 GB, about an hour of footage, until it's developed. What counts toward 2 GB.
Questions people ask first
Should Friendsgiving go on the family tape?
Give it its own. The people are different, the night is one evening rather than a long weekend, and each tape becomes its own film. You can keep several tapes going at once, so the family tape keeps running while Friendsgiving has its night.
What if the tape's owner runs out of room?
Nothing is deleted, but new clips stop until there's room. A long weekend can fill a free 2 GB, so give a later day its own tape, started by someone in another house: it counts on their 2 GB, not the first owner's.
Grandma doesn't have an iPhone. Can she still be in it?
She can't film into the tape, since that takes the iPhone app. Someone at her house can film her, and she can watch the finished film from the link in any browser.
A friend is on Android. Can they still be in the Friendsgiving film?
They can't film into the tape, since that takes the iPhone app. They can send their videos to someone on it, who adds them with +, and they watch the film from the link.
Is there a deadline to develop?
No. A tape stays Active until someone develops it, however long the weekend runs.