Like it or not, everyone has seen the Timeline profile movie when it was first introduced in September (if you haven’t, you should, even Timeline haters will get teary-eyed). This short movie introduced the concept so well, and made it look so romantic, we all secretly wanted one of our own. Well, our dreams have come true: A joint project from Facebook and marketing agency Definition 6 called Timeline Movie Maker, lets each and every one of us create their very own Timeline movie. And the results are surprisingly appealing.
Making Your Very Own Timeline Movie
So even if you’re a skeptic (I sure was), and even if you don’t like Timeline (I’m really not a fan), chances are you’re going to love your Timeline movie. To start, point your browser at Timeline Movie Maker, and click on “Make Your Movie”
You will then have to log into your Facebook account (if you aren’t logged in already), and grant the Timeline movie app permissions. Unlike many other apps, this one doesn’t ask you for permission to post on your wall, a refreshing change, but does require access to your personal information, post, images, etc., in order to make the actual movie. You can always remove the app later from your Facebook’s privacy settings.
After you’ve logged in, the app will start making your movie, flashing somewhat amusing messages while working.
The process is very quick. If it seems to be taking forever, make sure your Flash plugin is activated. Mine wasn’t, and the progress bar and messages just went on and on and on without any error, until I enabled Flash.
Your Timeline Movie
Now is when you finally get to see your movie. If you don’t think it’s even somewhat cool and exciting, please stand up now.
The movie will scan through what you’ve been up to since you’ve joined Facebook (or earlier, if you’ve updated your Timeline), will focus on some photos of you, some other albums, your profile picture, name, and relationship status, all the while playing the same soundtrack you might remember from the original Timeline movie.
The movie ends with an exciting race through your Timeline, and ends up on your current profile picture and cover picture.
I don’t know about you, but I was very impressed with the result the first time I saw it. I definitely expected less.
Customizing Your Movie
There’s actually not a whole lot you can do with the movie, but there are some things you can change. First of all, you can share it.
But here we come to a very disappointing point – you can only share it on Facebook. So if you were wondering why I haven’t simply shared my movie with you in this article, this is the reason. You can’t. You can’t download it, embed it, or do anything with it but share on Facebook. This could be due to Facebook being worried about their Timeline copyrights, but I’m sure it will only do them good to let people share it.
After swallowing that disappointment, you can move on to customizing your movie a bit. To start, there are five different soundtracks to choose from: Original (the default), Nostalgic, Cinematic, Romantic and Playful. All are based on the same basic original music. You can listen to an excerpt from each soundtrack before you choose, but you can also try each of them on the full movie and see what works out best.
Next, you can play with the photos a bit. By clicking on a photo, you can swap it with a different photo. You can’t, however, drag photos and change their location, and sometimes clicking a photo will only switch between 2-3 photos, without letting you choose something completely different. But if, for example, the movie focuses on a image you don’t like, you can find it here and change it.
When you’re done, click on “Remake Your Movie” and you’ll get the new version.
Bottom Line
As long as we’re limited to sharing these movies on Facebook, this service will remain a gimmick. A very nice gimmick, but still a gimmick. Letting people share their movies all over the web will be a great way for people to share a little bit about themselves, using a very good-looking movie, and I’m sure Facebook will lose nothing in the process.
For more Timeline tweaks, check out:
- How To Control Your Privacy With The Facebook Timeline
- Create Your Own Unique & Personal Timeline Covers For Facebook With CoverCanvas
- The Top 5 Privacy Tips For Facebook Timeline Applications
What do you think of the Timeline movies? Know of some more fun things you can do with Timeline? Share in the comments.
Man with Camera Image via Shutterstock
No comments:
Post a Comment
[Please do not advertise, or post irrelevant links. Thank you for your cooperation.]