Could Horizon banish vertical videos forever?
You never see the sun disappear over the vertical do you? We see the world in glorious horizontal vision, which is why the team behind the Horizon app thinks that your videos should be horizontal, too. With some clever tricks using your device’s accelerometer, Horizon aims to ensure that your masterpiece movies don’t induce nausea, no matter how much you wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care.
Jaunty angles are no longer your enemy.
So why not just film level in the first place? The fact is that it’s not always possible to keep your eye on the viewfinder. If you’re filming while hurtling downhill on your nephew’s skateboard, for example, you probably have more important things on your mind. Horizon is like having a real-time digital spirit level that does all the hard work for you. By using input from the accelerometer, footage is digitally cropped to create an altogether smoother and better-quality cinematic masterpiece.
Is this finally bullet time on your phone?
How does it square up?
Open the Horizon app and you get a number of options. “Fixed” locks the frame just like using the standard camera on your device; “Flex” will automatically increase or decrease the frame size to get the maximum resolution; “Rotate” places a fixed frame in the center of your screen to keep the frame size nice and uniform.
You also get the option to shoot in 2k video, which looks lovely and crisp as long as you have good lighting conditions – however, this takes control of the still image camera so it doesn’t provide the full widescreen experience of the lower definition video camera. Horizon also throws a 120-frames-per-second mode into the mix. This is a nice option, although it’s not as accomplished as the iPhone 6’s 120 or 240 fps modes. To top it all off, there are several filters to choose from and enough resolution settings to keep even the most memory-conscious users happy.
Make yourself look ill. We mean retro….
Horizon does a pretty good job of fixing uneven videos; what it can’t do is iron out your shaky camera skills. However, there are independent ways of doing this, including a tool available on YouTube that will stabilize after upload. And if you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone 6 Plus, you’ll find optical stabilization included.
Anything to stop the march of vertical videos must be applauded. Horizon does a great job of making the focus of your video the action in front of you. It’s a shame that the app isn’t applied as a default option and you have to export your creations from the app itself. Overall, though, it’s an impressive glimpse into the future of mobile video.
What is this sorcery!?
Price: $1.99/£1.49
Size: 7.4 MB
Version: 2.0.2
Platform: iOS Universal
Developer: Evil Window Dog P.C.
