From July 12 I started to film year movie. It was an idea in the my mind corner for a some time. I knew about all these “1 Second a Day” movies, and Timur Zarudny constantly mentioned his movies (he’s been shooting since 2013). He even released a course (as newsletter), but then 2022 happened, popular mailing services left Russia, and only recently Timur relaunched his course. I thought about purchasing for a few hours, then paid for it. I wanted something new and interesting.

There are several formats of such movies, the most well-known is to film one second each day, which I already mentioned. I think, it’s the simplest one, with numerous apps available to ease the process of shooting and editing.

Initially, I planned to do the same, but I also made a 2-second version for comparison. And after getting some feedback from my friends I decided to stick with this format. There are multiple episodes on some days, so the rules are flexible. The limitation helped maintain a rhythm and reduced editing complexity.

In most cases videos are shot by me, but there are from others too. Friends understand that I occasionally grab my phone and film them, of course, with some humorous incidents.

At the same time, I learned to work with Adobe Premiere Pro — I only used simple editing tools to cut videos before.

I noted what inspires and motivates me to continue:

• Re-watching and memories. Almost every clip, even if it’s a cat fight, makes me remember the day and why I chose that particular moment. It’s a fantastic feeling to recall something so clearly that happened three months ago.
• Capturing great events. Only two seconds, but enough to evoke emotions.
• Cool artifact. I’ll upload it to YouTube as completed project. There is a lack of “finished” projects in everyday work.
• Shared viewing. I can show it to my friends and close ones.
• Something new. Filming itself, choosing the clip for the day, editing — everything to break the routine.

A bit more about the process:

• Editing. Some color correction, occasionally adjusting volume, and that’s all. Editing a few weeks at one go is tough, so a weekly pace is ideal.
• Missed days. The initial idea was to leave them and show a black screen with the date and some text. But there were more than ten missed days (especially in December), some consecutive, and it disrupted the rhythm. So I decided to skip those days. Anyway, I already broke rules — there are multiple episodes per day, some lasting 4 seconds.
• Art. Timur said the movie is art and should be more artistic, motivating us to watch other movies, but even he says the main thing is to capture the moment. Plus, directing is his passion, it motivates him further. Yes, it would be cool to film more artistically, trying different cuts, but for me, the value lies in capturing. It’s important that filming and editing don’t become an additional burden.

I’m satisfied with the result — everything is imperfect, just like the year was. The final file is named movie2022-final4, a classic (he-he).

I searched for some time background music, in one moment thought to get rid of it, but I found an engaging track that perfectly matches two-second rhythm. The only thing I made this it is lowering volume.

Surprisingly, even on the Nth rewatch (and I watched it a lot during the final editing, adjusting sound and doing small edits), I still smiled and wasn’t bored by the repetitive footage. Despite everything, there was a lot of joy this year.

In 2023, I will continue filming and want to try vertical video and a ragged rhythm.

P.S. Cats are a good placeholder for days when nothing happens or I’m just resting at home.