If 2012 was the year of the gif, 2013 was the year of video. It’s crazy to think Vine was ever not part of our lives and that stop motion used to be reserved for the likes of Wes Anderson. Before the year wraps up, we’re looking back at a few of our fave ways to make straight-up vids, stop motion, and gifs.

1. Spark Camera: Like the rest of the universe, we have a serious crush on IDEO. In October, their in-house Toy Lab release their first app designed specifically for adults. What sets it apart is one big thing: You can edit together several bits of video rather than having to work with one long scene. Look at Spark Camera’s reviews, it’s clear: They’ve made the adults happy.

2. iTimeLapse: Imagine you’re in Hong Kong, staying in a high-rise hotel with jaw-dropping views overlooking the bay. Imagine you have a brilliant idea to set up your phone and get a time lapse of the sunset, crazy HK light show, followed hours later by a blazing sunrise. Imagine how glad you’ll be that you spent those $2 before you left the good US of A.

3. Cinemagram: You might recall that we’re big fans of the gif-t that is Cinegram. Now, there’s more reason to celebrate it: I mean, have you seen artist Romain Laurent’s One Loop Portrait A Week?

4. Stop Motion Studio: Not only is it made by a company called CatEater (amazing), but for a limited time, it’s free. Get it while it lasts, folks.

5. Frameographer: This app really changed the iPhone stop-motion game. In fact, it was somewhat of a pioneer. We’ve talked about them in the past, and we’re still circling the wagons around them, and so should you. Get along little dogies.

6. Giffer: As the name would suggest, it’s all about the gifs. $2.99 gets you over 25 filters, but pop by their website and you’ll see why we really included it… Who knew batman had such sexy yams?

7. Fast Camera: Some say Fast Camera lets you achieve the best photo possible by snapping loads of pictures in seconds, then helping you pick the best. We say, pish posh. It’s all about making stop motion. Which is why we made our own little number.

8. Magisto: You guys. Magisto literally does all the work for you. OK, you still have to push the record button, but then the app goes to work: It’s an automatic video editor that actually works. You can start using it for free, but we recommend paying the $5 monthly subscription so you can create videos that last longer than a minute.

9. Slow Motion Photo Booth: This is totally fun and totally relevant to your life, particularly New Year’s Eve, which is when it will come in handy. If you didn’t see Super Frog Saves Tokyo’s photo booth revolution, don’t worry. We’ve recapped all the amazingness, made our own slow-mo booth, and even left some tips on how you can make your own. Happy partying.

What motion have you been reeling in this year? Press play on your comments below!

Lex Monson
Alexis is the co-founder of Punkpost, the app that lets you send handwritten cards (yes, handwritten by a real human) in the amount of time it takes you to send a text message. The exclusive card collections are created by a community of artists and designers and hand letter pressed on high-quality cotton paper. Get the full experience by downloading the app from the iTunes Store.