Obviously, this is being written by someone who works at Memento and it’s appearing on the Memento blog - so why should you trust that this article is unbiased? Well, we're confident enough in our platform to tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! We'll explain the pros and cons of using Memento, in order to help you to make a decision based on your needs.
Let's dive into why Memento is a great option because, while we can't deliver the same quality as a costly, professional videographer, we leverage our technology to provide a quick, easy-to-use, and customizable experience at a great price.
Price
We offer a Free Trial to ensure that you’re enjoying your Memento experience. After your trial ends, your Subscription gives you UNLIMITED use of the Memento platform for an entire year, and each Group Video that you make can be up to 60 minutes long.
Other online group video services either charge a pay per use flat fee, or a fee that increases as your group video montage increases. This means that if you have 20 minutes or more of video clips submitted, you may pay more for one competitor’s Group Video than you’ll pay for the entire year with Memento.
You may also choose a service that manages the collection and editing of videos for you - for a significant fee - where Memento is entirely self-managed.
Customization
Memento allows you a wide range of customization options for individual videos and for the final montage:
- Change the order of your videos
- Trim content from the beginning or end of each video
- Rotate videos that arrive sideways or upside-down
- Select a background color and/or pattern for the montage
- Decide whether or not to show the faces of the people in the videos
- Choose from a wide range of background music
- Add up to 3 lines of short text at the beginning and the end
- Choose a Unique color for your background
- Upload your Company or School Logo
- Add a Caption (Name/Title) to each Video Clip
Plus, if you’re not happy with the final group video, you can make changes to your customizations and recreate it at no additional cost. What this also means is that we have a very special feature: if you present your group video as a gift, you can have the gift recipient record a "Thank you message" and then recreate the group video before sharing it with each of the contributors who submitted a video clip.
Some other online services allow you to include static images or text cards, while Memento focuses on video. Our Group Videos are at their best as lively, face-to-face communications. They’re messages filled with joy, laughter, sincerity, and many other emotions. Still, if you really want to include photos, you can make them into a slideshow in another program and upload it as a video for your montage. We really like Biteable's Image to Video service. It's easy to use and turns your image into a 4 second MP4 clip which works perfectly with our group video magic.
If you have a clear directorial vision for your video that requires photos, overlay graphics, words, animations, fancy transitions, dubbed videos, and copyright or custom music, etc. - you may have the most success creating a video yourself, using video editing software.
Privacy
The Memento platform is truly self-managed. When you create your account and set up a new celebration, it’s invisible to us, but more importantly, it is displayed only to whomever you choose to share it with. If you’re a contributor, you can ask the organizer to share the final group video with you. If you’re an organizer, you may choose to share only with the intended recipient, you may share it with anyone who contributed, or you may post it publicly. It is entirely up to you - but we’ll access your creation only if you contact us to ask for assistance and we will never share anything without your explicit permission to do so. (Tired? If you need something to lull you to sleep, take a look at what our lawyers wrote for us.)
Efficiency
Your time is precious! Creating and editing a personalized group video can be a real labor of love. However, if - like most of us - you’re busy with work, children, pets, hobbies, fitness, and other obligations, finding the time to edit videos can be a real challenge! That’s where Memento is most helpful.
Once you set up your group video and send out the invitation to the Record & Upload page, half of your work is done! As videos roll in, you’ll get an email notification and you can use our editing features to do as much or as little additional customization as you like. When all of the submissions are in and you’re ready to complete your video, just hit the “Create My Group Video” button and within a few minutes, you’ll receive an email saying that your group video is complete and ready to share. It can literally save you hours!
What about other group video services? Well, they can differ depending on which one you choose! Some, like Memento, are completed quickly because there’s zero human involvement - your video clips are stitched together automatically with the customizations applied along the way. Your delivery method may also impact efficiency. With Memento, your Group Video is available online within a few minutes and you can download the MP4 video file, if you’d like. With some other services, you may choose to have your video mailed to you on a flash drive or video card format (additional fees apply).
Other services use human video editors and while that may be a good option for you, it does come with a significant additional cost and takes quite a bit more time than a fully automated online edit.
The Summary
Memento is a proven platform with millions of successful contributors. When you’re ready to create a group video, we’re available online 24/7.
Memento
- One low price for an entire year of UNLIMITED use. (Each group video may include up to 60 minutes of video clips.)
- Order, trim, rotate, select background color, select from wide range of music, add text to intro/outro, show or hide faces from video clips in intro.
- Completely private. We don’t see your content unless you contact us for assistance. We never share your content unless you provide explicit permission.
- About five minutes to set up and invite participants. A few minutes to customize and when you’re ready, your group video will be finalized within minutes, depending on its length.
Other Online Services
- Price increases depending on length of video, how many times you create the montage, and delivery method.
- Depends on the service - you can go very basic with little customization or a full service human editor. Limited music selections.
- Depends on your choice - if you select human assisted services, someone will view and edit each video submitted.
- Dependent on the type of service you’ve purchased.
DIY - Editing Software
- If you already own the software, it only costs your time.
- Depending on skill and software, you can do anything you want!
- Completely private and all your responsibility.
- Requires a lot of time, depending on how many videos you have and how fancy you want to get with the editing.
