The newest apps for artistic endeavors are becoming more and more streamlined and simple. Through the following apps, people are able to create videos, photography and music like never before.
Cinematic: Record up to 60 seconds worth of video clips with this app. Putting an ultra-trendy filter on your video sets it apart from other recording tools.
Hipstamatic: The creators of Cinematic say the app allows users to easily save their short films or share them on social media. Jared McClellan, a sophomore from California studying political science, shared how using Cinematic for the first time “was pretty cool. I’ve never really played with an app that allows you to play with the movie filters before. It’s usually just taking a video, but it added a bunch of cool backgrounds to it which I had never seen before.”
Loop: Create shorthand animations easily with Loop. The app “gives you the bare minimum needed to draw short, looping scenes. You get a few different color brushes, some arrows to move back and forth between frames, an eraser, an onion skin feature, about 45 frames to work with and that’s pretty much it,” wrote Wired. Animations can be made on a blank background or over a photograph taken from your phone.
Matt Pyke, the studio founder of Loop, said “ We intentionally kept the parameters very narrow. … Working within limited boundaries encourages people to become more inventive with the tools they have.” Bethany James, a freshman studying biology from New Zealand, said, “I thought Loop was super cute. I feel like it’s something I’d play with when I’m at bed at night and cannot sleep or I get bored. To make cute little cartoons is a good time-waster and it’s fun to see the results.”
Keezy: This toy is made for musicians of all ages and abilities. Record, playback sounds and then loop it to create your own fresh song. It works with very few tools.
Techcrunch reports, “ Keezy has no menu, and a minimal on-boarding flow. Hold to record, tap to play, drag the black dot to delete samples or undo your last action. That’s it.” Make a song by yourself or team up with a group of friends to make a collaboration. As Techcrunch says, “ Keezy won’t let you record and refine a masterpiece, but instead you can shove it in the hands of a friend and they’ll be having fun in seconds.”
Photo: Make a GIF using Phhhoto. It quickly takes a series of photos or two seconds of video and instantly turns them into a GIF file. Users can share it on Phhhoto feed or to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr reports Techcrunch. Reed Puckett, a freshman studying exercise science from Texas, said, “I think it’s pretty sick. I bet it’d be really fun if you have a lot of things you do like being outside, going on hikes and stuff like that, it’d be really sick to use it.”
Songza: Unlike Pandora, which selects its playlists according to genre or artist, Songza is a streaming music service that plays playlists according to what activity you’re doing or mood you’re in, according to a comparison by Gadgetreview. You can also select playlists by genre or decade. It allows you to keep track of your favorite playlists, songs, share what you’re listening to with friends and even has a sleep timer so you can fall asleep listening to your favorite songs. However, you cannot make your own playlist.
Songza is available as an app, or you can listen to the Songza on your computer.