New Google Photos movie editor for Chromebooks rolled out [U]

Abner Li | Apr 27 2023 - 8:50 am PT

Teased last year, Google Photos is rolling out a new movie editor/creator for Chromebooks to give ChromeOS a iMovie-esque equivalent.

Update 4/27: Announced on March 30, Google has now rolled out the new Chromebook movie editor in Google Photos for Android. We’ve updated our post with more details on how everything works:

You can launch the new experience by searching “movie” in the ChromeOS Launcher to surface a new “Create Movie” app shortcut.

Alternatively, there’s a new “Creations” button in the navigation rail that shows a grid of search results and offers a “New creation” FAB centered at the bottom. “Movie” will be an option alongside “Animation” and “Collage.”

You can select one of eight preset themes: They Grow Up So Fast, Love Story, Friendship Movie, Family Movie, Pet Movie, A Year of Smiles, Selfie Movie, and In Loving Memory. There’s “New movie” in the top-right corner where you “select the photos and videos you would like to include.”

A storyboard for your movie appears at the bottom of the screen. You add photos and video clips to it, as well as rearrange with drag-and-drop. Google “intelligently selects the most meaningful moments from your long videos.” Each can be edited, with tools appearing at the right in a panel organized by top tabs:

Suggestions: Offers suggestions for enhanced editing tools like Portrait and Color Pop.
Tools: Choose from other editing tools like Portrait blur and Sky.
Adjust: Manually apply more detailed edits like Brightness, Contrast, and Shadows.
Filters: Apply preset filters to liven up your photos or videos.
Markup: Manually add freehand writing or text to your photos.

In comparison, the Android tablet UI for editing uses bottom tabs, or the stretched out phone version. There’s also a screen ratio button and “Add soundtrack” at the top with: