The Flipgrid Shorts Camera is packed with possibilities. Check out some of the new features and get started creating!
This post is written by Mike Mohammad, a secondary science teacher in Brookfield, Wisconsin. You can follow him on Twitter @mo_physics and check out his blog mophysicsmoproblems.blogspot.com.
In August of 2019, Flipgrid added some amazing new functionality to their camera recording system. These updates included filters, text boxes, emojis, image and video uploads, drawing, and whiteboards. Then earlier this year, they also added the ability to screenrecord.
But they didn't stop there.
Over the summer, Flipggrid released a host of major changes to their platform and these include MAJOR upgrades to the camera. Below I’ll walk you through some of the new features offered so you can see how easy it is for you and your students to create and share!
And of course, it’s completely free.
Want a peek at just some of the things you can do with the new Shorts Camera? Here is a link to a Flipgrid Mixtape of Video Tutorials of camera features: https://flipgrid.com/+flipgridcamera
An introduction to the NEW Flipgrid Shorts Camera
When you first enter the camera, you will see this view. From the record view, you will be able to set up a canvas for a live recording or upload a video. Flipgrid supports uploads of .MOV, .MP4, and WEBM files. One important note: if you exit the video using the x in the upper left corner, you will lose all your work.
Click on any button below to be taken direction to that section.
Record View
To make recording more streamlined for newer users, Flipgrid has given the camera a facelift. They have stored some of the more advanced features in two collapsable menus, the Options and Effects Menus. This is great for first time users just looking to record a quick response and not worrying about all of the advanced features.
Options Menu
While the options menu has a new look, many of the features many may have seen before. But, the new clean appearance with icons is much easier to navigate. The one new option in the browser version is the ability to mirror the camera. That means flipping the image horizontally. This will make it much easier to match your movements on screen with your perception of your movement in the real world.
Filters
In the Effects menu, Flipgrid has added a whole host of brand new filters. One of the most interesting in BRICKS. This puts a filter that makes everything look like Lego blocks.
Frames
A brand new effect is the ability to add a frame to your video. These frames border the camera view. Some can be used to simply add some stylistic flair to your recording. Other frames can set the scene for a video like Jungle, Underwater, or News Report.
Emojis
There have been a number of new emoji additions since last year. These additions include
- Arrows of different shapes and styles to aid in annotation and drawing attention
- Speech Bubble to add words and thoughts to still images and videos
- Math Symbols and Shapes to help set up and explain mathematical thinking
- Onomatopoeia stickers to add create some comic style flavor to videos
Text
There has been a major overhaul to the text feature in the Flipgrid Camera. This includes the ability to select from 8 different font styles. In addition, the color of each can be changed at 3 levels: The fill color, outline, and shadow can all be changed to really make the text personal to the project and pop.
Boards
The number of boards available has increased from 2 to 9. These boards are great for showing thinking with drawings, images, and text boxes. New boards like the graph board will be great for illustrating trends in data or equations. The dot grid could be used for 3 dimensional drawings or even bullet journaling. In addition, there is now the ability to split the screen between a board and video from the camera. Now students can be on screen while drawing out their thinking. Or, they can use the camera to show a live visual of what they are explaining on the board.
Object Controls
With the ability to add all of these new elements to the canvas, the ability to move and place objects is essential. This year, new object controls have been created. These controls include the ability to move objects up and down layers, flip them horizontally, or duplicate them.
All of these tools mentioned above are available in topic responses and in the Shorts Camera. The Shorts Camera is a place for educators to create stand alone videos outside of topics that can be shared out in a variety of different ways.
If you are looking for more information about all the features in the camera, check out the full guide to the Flipgrid Camera here.
Free Flipgrid Shorts ebook
This guide will assume you have the basics of Flipgrid down from creating a Grid to viewing student Responses to a Topic. The focus of this guide is the working of the new Flipgrid Camera and Shorts. On each page, you will find information and screenshots of the new camera and bonus information throughout the guide.
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[…] Students pick a person and print a picture of that person. They write out several facts. Then, they record a Flipgrid video with the pixelization filter on. They read the facts, encouraging the viewer to guess their identity before turning off the filter. Click here to learn how! […]
Hello
I enjoyed reading your information about FlipGrid. I had a question about sending your FlipGrid to others. My question is when the people see the video how can you make the video not cut you in half so they only see a small portion of you? In otherwords the video only shows a small part of me when I send it. When i review the video it shows me completely as if I recorded it. Might you know how to fix this?