FarrellyFilm is live!
2 minute read
A few months ago I was looking for a new hobby project to work on. I had also been procrastinating getting some of my film developed from my analogue camera. Since I've moved, the closest analogue film developer has become pretty inconvenient for me to get to. Especially when compared to the fact they were previously less than a minute from my front door. I had also been witness to my partner using HujiFilm, a camera app that applies a really cool filter across the photos it takes.
Then I had the thought "what if I created an app that worked like an analogue film camera?".
Months later, here we are. Last week, on Wednesday the 7th, FarrellyFilm was released to the App Store. In a couple more weeks it'll be on the Play Store too.
On a side note, it turns out that it's more difficult getting an app launched on the Play Store than the App Store. In order to meet the requirement for a production release, you need to have run a 'closed test' with 12 testers which lasts 14 days. So many thanks to all my friends who pitched in and gave the app a go. I literally wouldn't have been able to release it without you!
FarrellyFilm has a fairly simple premise and value proposition. It's similar to an analogue film camera in the sense that you choose a 'film' to use, then have to fill it with 12 photos before you can see them all. It's convenient and creates an experience of delayed gratification as you have to wait for all the photos to be taken to see them. Like film photography you only have 'one shot' to get it and no way to check, so it naturally produces an authenticity to the photos. Getting to finally see your photos unravel from your film roll is a really pleasant experience.
It was a really fun process prototyping the initial idea, gathering feedback from friends eager to test it, making improvements and then finally releasing the app. I'm planning on writing a few articles detailing different parts of the experience. From the UX friction I had inadvertently caused in the prototype, to dealing with react-native-skia and having to learn about shaders. Image processing is a fascinating and deep subject. I'm hoping to learn more and more as I improve the filters in the app over time.