The methods we use during video editing become more and more diverse over time. We might think that certain editing manipulations are too difficult to achieve, however, when we delve into the ways needed to create visual effects, it turns out that they are not as difficult as we might have thought.
The countdown timer is one of the means which helps the viewer to focus on a particular moment, or create a sense of anticipation, compared to when we don’t use that effect in our video.
Nowadays the competition, especially in the field of visual content, is so great that if we do not show the slightest creativity, our work may get lost in the deep ocean of worldwide information, or, if it somehow “survives”, we simply might not manage to deliver the intended message to the targeted audience.
So, this article also serves this purpose – to show you how to create a countdown timer video effect, with the help of various resources.
What are the main advantages of countdown videos?
“It’s the final countdown!” – even listening to this song will make everyone feel like they can’t wait to learn about what the countdown is all about. A countdown – until WHAT? until some news breaks that we don’t know about yet?..
In a nutshell, first and foremost, the benefit of using a countdown effect in the video is the source of the sense of anticipation. It grabs people’s attention, make them want to know what comes next.
Isn’t it one of the main things every content creator is trying to achieve these days, when the time a normal internet user spends for viewing any type of content is so short that mostly, they might turn off the footage after seconds?
So, here we are – countdown video also makes people STAY and watch what we have prepared for them.
The next advantage it has is to serve as a reminder for something; and the fourth would be highlighting a live stream, if needed. The list goes on, and we can always find a connection between our needs and video effects, including this one, but these are the main factors worth noting in our article.
So, if we need or desire to create abovementioned effect, which are the best countdown video makers in 2021, both software and online – also, considering that different people prefer different sorts of editing? We suggest you use one of the six: Movavi, Wave.video, Flixier, FlexClip, makewebvideo, and VSDC. So, let’s start reviewing each!
Movavi
“so easy, there’s nothing to learn”, – we read these words on software’s official web-site. Movavi is an advance video editor with every tool needed to make our videos stand out – special effects, keyframe animation, famous tool Chroma Key to modify the background, slow motion, titling, subtitles, motion tracking and slideshows.
One of its features is intro mode, with which the user can preset sequences, graphics and transitions. With its intuitive and easy interface, Movavi is very handy to save the time and reach the final desired result.
After adding the file in Movavi software, in order to create a countdown effect, do the following: click on the Titles tab, choose Timer and drag it in the sequence.
With its properties, you can change the color, the font and other features of the timer.
Finally, how to make it look like a countdown? Click on the Timer and tick the countdown box. Done! Easier than it would seem at first, right?
Wave.video
If you are looking for a user-friendly video editor which is the best for creating short promotional videos, Wave.video will be a right decision. This is an online video making and hosting platform, used mostly to create videos for blogs, websites, video advertisements, social media videos, and more.
On Wave.video, it is easy to create varied canvas options for different social platforms. The app has stock image and stock video library as well.
How to create a countdown video? Well, you can just use templates!
After logging in your Wave.video account, you can choose one from the countdown templates, then click on “Edit” and access the editor.
Everything in the editor is quite clear and it is easy to decide how long a countdown timer should be; it’s possible to customize the timer, too – the user can decide on the format, font, size, colors – almost everything can be modified to your liking.
Once you are satisfied with the result, click on the “Publish”, which allows you to download the countdown timer in the needed format. You could also check the article on How to Make a Countdown Timer Video on Wave.video, too, which also offers a broken down, step by step guide.
Flixier
Flixier.com positions itself as the fastest online video editor and declares that it takes only 1 minute to render – this cloud powered video editing service drastically speeds up video creation. Any computer can handle exporting any video, which happens in under a minute because the hardware doesn’t hold it back.
Flixier is mostly suitable for Youtube channels growth, or for marketing and sales videos. For what purposes are you going to edit a video? Flixier asks this straight away, to make your work easier!
You can enjoy with streamlined collaboration and plenty of cloud storage on Flixier. It’s easy to use for beginners and non-editors, with its powerful, but simple interface.
You can find features such as timeline, green screen, picture in picture, basic and advanced color adjustments, and many more.
A general intro to editing with Flixier can be found here.
FlexClip
FlexClip is also a free online video editor that allows to add text, music, animations, and different effects. Besides, you can add a watermark on your videos very simply and quickly –this to protect the copyright of the content. To get the best out of this web-based video maker, no video editing or design skilles are needed – it helps everyone create stunning videos in minutes. Anyone who has ever laid a hand on editing knows how handy, and sometimes necessary, video templates are. It can be said, the same goes with motion presets, not to mention stock footage library. You can find all of it on FlexClip editor, which, additionally, is free to use.
To create, edit, convert, and compress videos, you don’t need to spend too much time or energy – FlexClip contributes to working in a short amount of time. The workflow is called a storyboard, and uses linear video editing.
It is possible to adjust the speed, orientation, and lightning very easily. To export in various file formats is possible, and the library is Royalty-free. FlexClip has a music catalog where you can find popular music, so, the editor is very attractive for Youtubers. The interface is very intuitive and modern.
FlexClip’s online countdown maker helps to create a high-quality, custom countdown video.
After following this link, you can scroll down and find “Stunning Countdown Video Templates”, which first, you can preview, and then, you can “customize” by clicking on this very word – this will take you to the editor, and give you the chance to start using chosen countdown timer template.
makewebvideo
business marketing, branding, advertisement, and website commercial – for these, you can make professional animated videos on the MakeWebVideo. The platform has a free version and offers a free trial, but the pricing starts at $10.00 as a one-time payment.
This video production app lets users make promo videos, logo animations, and intros – you can find professional video templates to create all of these. As other web-sites, MakeWebvideo helps to edit videos with no previous experience in the field.
The interface is quite straightforward: you can choose a template right away and make your own video in minutes.
On the web-sites, you can find After Effects Templates (and anyone who has ever heard of Adobe programs, knows how difficult Adobe After Effects is and how important it is to find templates created there!), movie trailer and titles, logo animation and intro, corporate video, whiteboard animation, explainer video, event marketing video, slideshow video, webshop and products, and app promo video.
So, what more could we dream of? MakeWebVideo gives us the opportunity to use professional design and motion graphics, which is one of the main things to draw audience’s attention and make your brand more popular.
As for the countdown timer, it will also be based on the template – in the search bar of the templates, you just type “countdown” and it will show templates of the countdown for New Year after having chosen “Edit Graphics”, you can customize your template –colors, text and its options (font, size, color, position). On the dashboard, you can find the option to change music too.
When you are ready to save the customized template, choose “Produce video”.
You don’t have to wait until it is rendered, because the platform will send an e-mail once the free test video is ready.
Then, you can click on the thumbnail and watch the whole clip, and decide on whether you would like to produce full HD video.
VSDC (Free)
VSDC is a video editor you can easily download for free. The software offers impressive transitions and motion elements, the opportunity to rotate, trim, crop, cut and split videos.
It supports virtually all popular codecs and video formats for video, audio and images; supports video effects, color correction, object transformation and video filters.
Anyone who wants to be more creative and create their own effects, can do it by combining available effects and filters.
As for the audio effects, it is possible to use the most popular ones. Besides, VSDC has a very modern and intuitive interface, which is handy not only to create short videos, but long and complex clips.
One of the features the software has is that unlike other video editors, it is non-linear, which means that objects can be placed in any position on the timeline with any size.
The software has all the tools to needed to “play” with the content – we mentioned visual and audio effects, but it’s worth to note that it offers blending modes and Instagram-like filters, masking, motion tracking, and easy export to social networks, in case you need videos for Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter or Vimeo.
The official web-sites offers us a guideline about how to add a countdown timer to the video in a few clicks. There are two ways to do that: adding a simple timer in VSD, or downloading a video with a countdown timer from a free marketplace and add it to the clip. Instructions can be found here.
The Bottom Line
So, to conclude, with the technological development and empowerment, everything is getting easier and faster. You don’t have to learn Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects to unleash the creativity you have, you just need to work smart instead of working hard. The resources we provide here contribute to reach your goals without the need to spend all of your resources on something which can be achieved simply.
Countdown timer is one of those things that is created in a very simple way, you just have to choose which online platform or software works best for you and for your business/work/entertainment purposes.
So, choose the one or more from these video editors and… Start creating!
