Video player
Credit: Thinkstock

What is it? Video in Video allows you to – you guessed it – insert a video into a video. Or a still image, if you'd prefer.

Devices: iPhone and iPad

Cost: £1.49

How is it of use to journalists? Mobile journalists are always looking for ways to make their footage more engaging when shooting on the hoof.

Video in Video allows users to add clips of up to five minutes long and enhance them with either a thumbnail video or image in the top right corner.

The app, from the makers of PicPlayPost, can be used to create interesting contrasting and effects, such as this timelapse/normal-speed video by BBC College of Journalism trainer Marc Settle.

To get started, open the app and select your desired layout and ratio. Users can create videos in a range of different ratios, including 1:1 so it's usable on Instagram. The app also supports both portrait and landscape video orientation.

Next, tap the content box to either take a photo, shoot a video, or upload content from your camera roll. You can use the slider to trim the video if you wish. Then tap the smaller box to upload your secondary image or video.

Video in Video 1
Screenshot from Video in Video

The app also provides some more advanced settings to give your video a more professional flair. For example, I wanted to remove the audio in my main video to focus on the music from the street musician in the secondary video. To do this, select the video then tap the movie clapperboard icon in the toolbar.

Here you can adjust the volume of that video (I chose zero) or add a video from your iTunes library. Do ensure that you have copyright permissions for any material you import from iTunes.

The toolbar also offers options to flip videos or images vertically or horizontally, or to zoom into a video, which is particularly useful if your secondary video is rather small.

Video in Video 2
Screenshot from Video in Video

You can also alter the size of the secondary video by dragging the blue dots which appear when you select it, or reposition it using the red dots.

You can also switch the main and secondary videos by dragging and dropping.

Viva Las Vegas II (testing video in video app)

A video posted by Abigail Edge (@abigailedge) on May 13, 2015 at 8:52pm PDT



Once you're finished with your video you can share it to a range if platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

For journalists, Video in Video could be used to demonstrate contrasts, such as before and after footage of natural disasters, or to embed a speaking-to-camera report onto a video or image which provides extra context and is more interesting than just a 'talking head'.

It can also be used to zoom-in to certain frames within a video, as seen in the example below.



Update: This article was updated to correct the price of the app on 30.05.15.

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