China’s New Viral Video Editing Apps
10 Minute Read
• With the popularity of short videos taking over by storm, video editing apps are emerging in app stores, the most popular ones are Avatarify and Jianying. Avatarify started trending on February 17 and ranked first on February 28 with more than 1.5 million downloads.
• This face-changing app has adopted AI to allow users to replace their own faces with other people's faces for photography and videos. The apps have gone viral in TikTok videos, and you must have seen them on your WeChat moments.
• Recently Avatarify was removed from Apple's China app store due to concerns about invasion of privacy, though at the time of writing its back in business.
Image: Avatarify and Jianying apps
Time saving and fun
With increasing demand for editing platforms, a high-quality app should have powerful video editing functions, whilst remaining functional and easy to use. Good video editing software has become a ‘must-have’ for many amateur short video enthusiasts.
For most non-professional short video creators, it can be time consuming and laborious to use professional equipment to shoot and process videos. For efficiency, most opt for mobile versions of these apps to shoot, edit, share, and manage creations, according to their needs.
Jianying, launched by Shenzhen Lian Meng Technology Co. Ltd. in May 2019, is said to be very suitable for novice video editors. With each update, its editing tools upgrade and become more accurate. It is an application that is much-loved by the majority of users.
Jianying and Avatarify promise you to "become whoever you want". Upload a photo of a celebrity or your boss and record a short video. Our advanced neural network will put all your facial expressions and emotions on the photo and enliven it. Your friends' next surprise is just a couple of taps away!
Temporarily removed from the App store?
On March 8, The Global Times reported that Avatarify had been removed from Apple's China app store, and analysts said the move was mainly due to concerns about invasion of privacy. By the time of publishing this article, the App is back in business.
Some more information why it might have been removed: "The potential risk of invasion of privacy is the major reason behind the removal of AI apps like Avatarify," said Qin An, head of the Beijing-based Institute of China Cyberspace Strategy, on Monday. Unscrupulous individuals or groups might make money from these apps by using them to attract the public's attention first and then violating personal privacy, according to Qin.
In November 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced a ban on fake video news produced using AI in a move to address growing concerns over the use of deepfake technology to create pictures and videos that look convincing enough to appear real. Net users or video platforms have been prohibited from creating, distributing, or broadcasting news content altered by such technologies.
Image: Avatarify App
A quick guide to get started on Jianying
Key Features:
Video cutting: Supports users to freely choose clips and perform split operations.
Video speed: Users can choose video, sound, and animation material for varied speed processing, supporting playback speeds of 0.2 to 4 times, giving users freedom to control the pace
Video playback: With unique video rewind function, the app allows users to rewind videos effortlessly.
Scale canvas: Allows users to freely change video size and colour.
Special effects: Users can add a variety of transition effects like dissolve, flashback, and mirroring to videos
Stickers: Provides exclusive hand-made stickers, stylized fonts and subtitles to help users create personalized video effects.
Exclusive music library: Users can access Douyin’s exclusive music library to add sound and make videos even more dynamic
Filters: Users can apply a variety of professional-style filters and toning options to videos through intelligent face recognition and beauty schemes to avoid monotony in videos
Montage: Cutting same style clips allows novice users to create Blockbuster-like effects
Automatic ‘keep in time’ feature: According to the music melody and beat, users can automatically edit out parts of the video that don’t match the rhythm.
The app is designed to “turn you into whoever you want to be.” You can make fun of your boss or colleagues, and make your pet talk! Uploading a picture of someone’s face and adding special effects lets you make the person sing or wink.
Download and Install Jianying
Search ‘剪映’ or ‘Jianying’ in mobile app stores to download and install. The app is available for both Android and iOS systems.
Connect Accounts: Have Fun with Jianying in Douyin
As the main video editing software of Douyin, Jianying supports users logging in with Douyin accounts, reflecting the interconnectedness between the two apps.
Open the Jianying app, click the “my” button, and click the “Douyin login” button. After authorization is complete, you can use your Douyin account to login.
After finishing the processing of a video in Jianying, click the “export” button on the video editing interface to save the video as a draft. After export is complete, Jianying supports users to share the video to Douyin with one click. Click the “one-click share to Douyin” button to jump to Douyin. At this point you can perform secondary processing on the video in Douyin, and upload and publish it after completion.
Similarities Between Jianying and Douyin
Jianying and Douyin have many similarities. You can scroll through videos by swiping up and down, and there are options for avatar creation, to favourite, to comment and to share. To minimize traffic, users can jump to Douyin’s homepage by clicking “Douyin Home,” on Jianying’s homepage – a convenient way of navigating the two apps.
Sources: Shuyishe (数艺设), GICexpat.
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