Idea: Create a Video Journal with One Second a day

The app One Second Everyday is a free app that you download to your smart phone and use to document your days in video format. You record One Second Everyday and that’s it!

Since all you’ve got to do is film one second it isn’t’ too hard to get started and remember to press record. At the end of the month (or year) the app mashes all those seconds together and compiles a video for you!

I’ve been using this app for years and love my own video journals. Don’t tell anyone but I do re-watch them often!

Choices are like seconds, they add up! 

I found the app 1SE a few years ago (2016 was my first year), and have used it on and off through the years. That is, when I use it I record every day for months, then I take a break and stop doing it for a while, mostly during the Swedish winter because I don’t enjoy the clips I can get when it’s dark outside most of the time. I also find it hard to take photos indoors in winter here, so documenting is on halt at times. But at one time I did about six months without break with one filmed second per day, and I personally enjoy those clips immensely and have watched them numerous times.

I haven’t shared any of those quick movies online because one of my personal rules has always been to get as many people in as possible, so whenever I’ve met with family or friends I tried to get them in a quick video, or when it’s just me and the guy I live with, I try to get myself or us two together in. It gives the video-seconds life and warmth and those are the memories I wish to document I guess. I think it’s been even more important since I started working from home, because I see so few people every day that it’s often the highlight of the week to go out and have coffee with a friend.

Life moves very fast. It rushes from Heaven to Hell in a matter of seconds.
Paulo Coelho

Document your own days

If you want to try the app and do a video project yourself, which I highly recommend, I think that it can be good to have a few parameters set for yourself. Within the app you can set a timer to record your second at the same time each day, or to remind yourself to think about that second. Then, what to record? It is all up to you what you want to document.

If you have kids or pets, those are obvious cuties to get into your video, but otherwise I think our people are fun to document too. We have an aquarium, so the fishes appear frequently on days when I don’t do anything special. When it comes to my set of “rules” they are that I want all my video to be horizontal (not instagram mood), and I don’t like to include stills although there is nothing wrong with that if you like to include a photo instead of a video clip. But to me, then it’s a slide-show. I guess those are my main two personal rules, but also, if at all possible, I like to include life, which of course always is possible since you have yourself available at all times when filming. To me that also mean I don’t like filming just clips of a bookshelf or my static table or food, but instead always include my own hands or body. So drinking coffee is fine, or reading a book, or browsing the library or what ever I’m doing that day. I definitely don’t have a very exciting life so my clips are often like that; reading a book, drinking coffee, out walking or just sitting around tinkering with my glue books or art journals in one way or other.

Creativity in a few clips

Here’s a few clips of my creative life in 2016:

If I forget to record one day, which happens, I am not above “cheating” to get my second the following day, recording something that could’ve happened yesterday as well. In a few years not even I will remember which second was not recorded on the correct day. I used to feel the worst when I was at a party or event and afterwards remembered that I did not record anything (gasp!), because those moments you can’t cheat of course, so then those are missing from the video. But those moments has been rare. When I’ve been in the habit of documenting I’ve mostly remembered to “capture the moment”.

To me it’s been a bit like having a moving picture diary, and these seconds makes me smile. Even on bad days I try to record a second that makes me happy, something beautiful outside or something nice that we are doing. In this way I can say that my Once second a day is part of my ongoing Happiness Project.

Documenting kids

I found out about the app from Elise Blaha when it was rather new. Elise does not blog much anymore, but used to be a prolific crafter and blogger. I think she started her documenting project when her first girl was born and as you can imagine, with a video second a day, you can almost see a baby growing. I thought this was very cool, and has since fallen in love with my own seconds, no matter how mundane some of them might look to others. I like seeing the breeze blowing through the pink cherry blossoms in one clip, and then hearing the laughter of family members visiting in the next. I don’t think it is a project for everyone, but if you feel any inkling to try it, I think you should just jump in. If it doesn’t fit with your life, you’ll notice quickly enough.

Docmenting for yourself

You could share your compilations monthly to instagram, but like I said, I don’t because most of the clips I’ve taken in the past years had been of a more private nature. Then this year, with the intention to share it, I decided to try to record something creative every day, i.e., my own hands cutting, pasting, drawing, doing embroidery or being creative in one way or other. It has helped me think about creativity each day as well as to remind me that I did something, even if it was just a few images cut out of a magazine to save in my collage fodder folders. From the idea of only recording creative activity my project grew to also include walks (i.e. weather and nature) which grounds the video in the season and tells the story of mood too I think. Then because I’ve been lucky to spend time each week with a few dog friends, I like to include them too because they help boost my mood a lot (which is why I spend time with them), which helps when you have a depression. So all that said, I now have two months worth of seconds that is the not very exciting at all clips of my life January and February 2021, in case you want to see how it can look.

I think you could also use this app to capture an event with several video seconds from the same day, or from several phones at a wedding for example.

Life right now

I think this is a pretty accurate view of my life right now. Lots of crochet, filling glue books, sitting at home. And February was cold, with snow. What does your life look like right now? What seconds would you want to capture?

One Second Everyday

I’ve been wanting to share this app (1SE) with you many times, but not taken the time to write about it. Now I feel glad I finally did. Hope it encourages you to think about documenting life in a new (and rather different) way.