Is it your first time editing videos? It might take a while before you get a hold of all the terms, techniques, and effects to make a video perfect. One such skill is video looping.
What Is Video Looping?
Video looping is the process of editing a video and audio in a cycle of endless play. A good example of a video loop is a GIF, where static images appear to be moving. For example, it can be of a person walking where the viewer thinks the video doesn’t end – but it actually does! The person you see is just doing the same action repeatedly.
If you’re still having trouble imagining a video loop, think of a crime or action movie you’ve watched before. You’ll surely remember a scene where the characters replaced the CCTV with a video loop that seems like a real-time video to fool the security. In this scene, the video loop is just a minute replay that cycles endlessly.
There are many reasons why video editors use video loops, and they will be discussed in the following section.
How To Loop A Video
You can loop a video by using video editing software. If you’re still not familiar with navigating through your software and creating a video loop, you can follow the basic steps below.
- Select the video you want to loop.
- Cut the video using a razor or cutting tool to match frames to have a smooth frame once the video is looped.
- You can add another effect like the dissolve effect to ensure the cut isn’t obvious and the whole video is seamless.
- Look for the loop button on your video software and drag it to the video. In some software, you can just click on the loop directly without dragging.
Benefits Of Video Looping
Video loops are quite popular on the internet in the present. As you scroll through Twitter and Facebook, you’ll see GIFS for memes. You can also observe Tiktok and Instagram Reels videos repeating over and over again. However, you might still be curious about why creators use video loops.
Here are some of the perks of video looping:
- To Shorten Lengthy Videos
It takes a long time to load and upload long videos. This is because when a video is lengthy, it means their size often eats a lot of space. A loop video divides long videos (from minutes to hours) into small and short videos. You can cut through a lengthy video and coordinate time frames that can result in a shorter loading time. This way, you can upload your edited videos with ease.
- To Grab Attention
Long clips are usually boring and lose the audience’s attention easily. With loop videos, it’s much easier to get the video’s message across by getting the most important part and adding additional effects that grab the viewers’ attention. Many examples of this are posted on social media platforms to promote a film, a song, or anything else the creator wants to have more engagement. For example, loop videos get more clicks when they are accompanied by a viral song, like those in TikTok.
- To Make Memory Space Available
Desktop computers and laptops have limited memory space, so you need to be smart in keeping and removing video clips. With video loops, once you get the perfect video from cutting and combining lengthy clips, you can create a short video that only requires a small memory space.
- To Promote Your Product
Whenever you’re in a shop or company, you’ll see a television promoting their products, events, and other announcements on a loop video. It’s more convenient and effective to play a loop video than to post it on a bulletin board or print documents about it.
- To Entertain Your Audience
During parties and other events, loop videos provide entertainment by flashing photos that are significant to the participants. For instance, if there is a birthday party, you can edit a video containing photos and video clips of the celebrant with her guests. The video can be played on a big screen, and the audience can enjoy and reminisce their past times with the celebrant. In case they miss a photo or clip, they can wait for it to be played again when the video loops.
- To Create Illusions For Viewer Engagement
Many animated videos used loop videos to create an illusion for their viewers. Some of these video loops are traveling the galaxy or other science fiction worlds that seem to be continuously moving. It can be a great way for you to have an engaging interaction with your audience as they get into your film illusions.
- To Create Moving Virtual Backgrounds
It’s hard to create backgrounds for film shoots and even real-life skits. Having looped videos can help create a virtual background that the viewers can perceive as a setting. For example, many modern plays have LED background displays and use looped videos to have a moving setting.
- To Meet the Online Platform’s Requirements
Large video sizes take a long time to upload and sometimes don’t fit a platform’s standard size. With looped videos, you can shorten your video clips and highlight the best parts that will be much smaller in size and fit the platform you want. For example, on Instagram, video posts are limited to 1 minute. If your video is much longer, you can cut and apply loops in your video to create fun and entertaining content.
Conclusion
Knowing the basics of video looping is just the beginning of your journey to becoming an expert in video editing. Video looping has many advantages, but it’ll ultimately be up to the editor how the finished output will be perceived by the intended audience.