Add a Date Stamp to a Video
A day-by-day film without dates is a montage. With dates, it becomes a record, and because Dayjavu already organises everything by the day it was shot, the label comes from the footage rather than from you.
The date is already in the file
Every video your iPhone records carries a creation date, and that date is what Dayjavu uses to place the clip on the calendar in the first place. Switching on the date overlay simply prints the same value over the frame.
The consequence is that the dates cannot drift out of sync with the footage. There is no separate list of captions to maintain and nothing to correct if you swap a day’s clip for a different one.
What it changes for the viewer
Dates give the film a spine. Without them a compilation reads as a mood; with them, the gaps become legible. You can see that nothing was filmed for three weeks in February, and that reads as information rather than as an editing mistake.
It matters most when you are showing the film to people who were not present for all of it, which is nearly always the case for a year in review.
Off is a valid choice
For a short trip recap intended for social media, dates often add clutter to something the viewer can already follow. The overlay is a per-compilation switch, so build both versions from the same clips and keep whichever works.
Details
- Taken from each clip’s own creation date.
- Stays in sync automatically when you change a day’s clip.
- A per-compilation switch, independent of the location overlay.
- Composited on your device during export.
FAQ
- Can I change the date format?
- The overlay uses a single consistent format. If you need particular typography or wording, export without it and caption in an editor.
- What if a video has the wrong date?
- Dayjavu uses the creation date stored in your photo library, so correcting the date there, as you would for an imported or scanned clip, corrects it here too.
- Can I show the date but not the location?
- Yes. They are separate switches and either can be used alone.