Facebook has announced two big upgrades for video creators on its platform: Sound Collection and the 360 Community Page.
Facebook has been investing heavily in video for some time, and the medium is becoming a major part of the Facebook experience. It will continue to do so in the next three years as Facebook starts to put more and more resources into developing 360 and live video in particular. As part of its commitment to video and its creators, Facebook announced two big updates geared toward them: Sound Collection and the 360 Community Page.
Sound Collection
Sound Collection, is a huge database of high-quality audio tracks and sound effects that creators will now have access to when creating Facebook and Instagram videos. The tracks and sound effects are owned by Facebook, allowing creators to use them freely in their projects. Sound Collection includes various “tracks from established composers and songwriters and a range of sound effects,” and brings “songs, vocals, noises and instrumental tracks spanning genres like hip-hop, pop, jazz, country and more” right within reach of creators who want to use them.
It also will be offering “easy-to-use discovery tools so that [creators] can learn about different artists, follow the ones [they] like and browse sounds by genre, mood, length, and vocals.”
360 Community Page
The 360 Community Page, also announced recently, is a set of resources for creators of 360 videos in particular. It offers is creators a hub with video tutorials, information on events like workshops and meet-up, a page of creative tools to help them edit 360 videos on Facebook, and more. Video tutorials offer insights on anything from getting started with 360 cameras, to 360 video editing workflows, and more, like spatial audio for example. Facebook promises to add more over time.
Facebook is also addressing the challenge that creators face with the ever-changing hardware for 360 video production. Through its Camera Loaner Program, creators will “have the opportunity to borrow cameras directly from Blend Media for upcoming projects and experiments.” To begin, two 360 cameras – the GoPro Fusion and the ZCam S1 – will be available for loan. More will follow in due time.
The 360 Community Page also features a suite of creative tools to help creators edit their 360 videos on Facebook: 360 Director. Available on Pages and Profiles, it allows creators to add text, symbol or graphic Annotations to any point or place in their videos. 360 Director also offers another feature: Guide. Only available to Pages up until now, the feature allows creators to “highlight specific points of interest in the field of view over the course” of their video. Viewers then get a specific view throughout the video.
Creators also now get Player Controls, another feature previously only available to Pages. Player Controls allow creators to “set the effective zoom level of the video, set the initial direction the video starts in, and preview how it will look when posted on Facebook.”
Finally, 360 Director also offers Save Draft For Later, a feature that allows creators to save “Guide points, Annotations, and player customizations so someone uploading/previewing that video can pick up where [they] left off.”
Facebook reminds us that these new tools will be in beta at launch, and encourages users to test them out and share feedback on the Facebook 360 Community group.
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