What Instagram’s New Hyperlapse App Means for the Future of Video Production

Hyperlapse is an app that lets you create an incredibly smooth, moving time-lapse on your iPhone and then upload it to Instagram.

Hyperlapse was created by an app developer, independent from Instagram, who took the technology Instagram was using for video and engineered to be used for the idea he had for Hyperlapse.  He then sold the app to Instagram. Instagram further developed it and released it as a standalone app, to be used in conjuncture with Instagram.

I think the main point here is innovation. This is just one more example supporting the age old testament that every link is created equal on the internet. Sure, there are people with more resources, knowledge, and man power to compete with, but if you have a good idea and put in the leg work then you can find massive success online. The guy that created Hyperlapse just had a good idea, put in a ton of work, and then had Instagram help him out for the final stretch.

Everyone is on the internet. You only need a very very small percentage to pay you to be successful.

I understand how this could be viewed as a negative. As mobile technology develops and the power that John Smith has with an iPhone grows, we lose our appeal as a video company offering a similar product. True, anyone can create an instagram video. Luckily, however, we aren’t competing with John Smith. We are offering a service to professionals. It has never been and it will never be the camera that makes an amazing video. Technology is simply a tool. They aren’t paying us for our iPhones.

We are being paid for our ideas, our experience, our professionalism, and most importantly our consistency. John Smith may be able to make an awesome instagram video of his dog, but no one is going to pay him to help brand and market their company because of that video.

Creating incredible, cutting-edge content is about mastering the tools and then using whatever tools necessary to bring your ideas into fruition (whether you’re using a Red Dragon or an iPhone 4). After we convince a potential client that they do need video, we have to convince them that we are the company to make them that video. I think we do this by continuing to establish credibility on professional video outlets like Vimeo, but also by becoming pioneers for high quality content and technological innovation on consumer video outlets like Instagram.