Every year when Christmas approaches, one app pops into my mind. whatsapp chats, social media feeds and lists of recommended applications. His ElfYourselfand it's guaranteed to inject a heavy dose of silliness into your holiday celebrations.
Now in its 14th year, ElfYourself lets you star in 27 personalized videos featuring your face on dancing elves. Sounds stupid? Because it is!
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This is part of a regular series of articles highlighting apps we couldn't live without. Read them all here.
Besides making funny elf videos, the app allows you to share your dancing skills with friends and family through messaging apps or social media. You can even add a holiday greeting to your creations. Let me tell you about its features and why I think you should try it, as well as one disclaimer you should be aware of.
Make it your own
The crazy elf experience begins by using your camera or camera roll to add up to five faces to the app's library. This means you can have fun with up to four friends, and if you don't care about how you look, why not add five photos of your own face!
Before you start adding your photo, it's worth noting that the app has a fairly lengthy legal disclaimer that, in my opinion, includes some pretty clunky language. Just read it first and make sure you're comfortable with what they can do with your photo before you get to the fun part.
Return to the application. Once you upload your photo, it can be edited to fit the elf's face perfectly. It's as simple as pinch to zoom in, twist to rotate, and drag to delete. You will need to center your face and align your mouth along the marked line.
There's also a My Faces library that stores up to 20 photos you've previously uploaded. This makes it quick and easy to jump straight into the app without having to go through the process of taking a photo of your face every time.
Time to dance
After adding photos, it's time to imagine yourself as a movie star in one of 27 dances. They are fantastically directed, impeccably edited and, above all, incredibly humorous. Just scroll through the options and you'll instantly see a preview.
Each dance video includes sticker descriptions that tell you whether it's free to share or paid for. This will help you access content that matches the amount of money you want to spend.
Some videos can also be personalized using artificial intelligence. This includes options to change styles to American, 50s, Parisian and more. This extra level of flexibility means you can make the video more personal, rather than letting the app dictate everything.
Share the fun
Now that your video is created and personalized, you're ready to share it. Here you can make the entire experience shared. Impress your friends and let them join in the laughter. The app uses your phone's default sharing settings, so the interface will no doubt be familiar to you.
If you don't want to part with any money, you can only share videos marked “free.” All other videos cost $5.99/£5.99 to distribute, although that's the same price as a 12-month season pass, meaning it always makes sense to opt for the latter.
After you've had some fun, you can close the app and come back to it later. Luckily, ElfYourself stores all the dances you create locally on your device. This means you can come back to them at any time, edit and share them.
So, if you're feeling like you want to inject some serious fun into your festive season, why not download ElfYourself on iOS or Android.
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