LEGO VIDIYO Lets Kids Create Augmented Reality Video Clips Featuring Minifigures
Yanira D. Kivi
3 min read
LEGO today announced the launch of a new product called LEGO VIDIYO with Universal Music Group. This product – which includes new figurines, music from UMG, augmented reality, a mobile app and new tiles called BeatBits – allows kids to create their own clips and share them with the (heavily moderated) VIDIYO community. It’s safe to say that VIDIYO is unlike anything LEGO has released in the past, and it will be launching later this year.
At the heart of LEGO VIDIYO is an augmented reality mobile app that allows these new minifigures to act out in video clips. The process of creating a music video actually seems somewhat complex, and it starts with kids choosing the song they want in the LEGO VIDIYO app. This is where Universal Music Group’s involvement comes in, as users can select songs from the company’s catalog. We don’t have the exact number of songs that will be available through the app, but LEGO’s announcement today says the app will cover a “wide variety of artists.”
Once the song is selected, users will choose which figure they want to feature in the video and place it on a small physical stage where they will be flanked by a selection of user-chosen BeatBits as well. BeatBits are 2 × 2 square LEGO tiles that offer a variety of digital effects when scanned using the app. LEGO says the effects these BeatBits unlock range from “black and white bling effects, to confetti showers and even x-ray vision.” Beyond visual effects, BeatBits can also be used to produce sound effects.
After choosing the BeatBits and the figure, it seems like it’s just a matter of choosing an environment, scanning it with the app, and then starting recording. While recording the clip, children can activate BeatBits or trigger different dance moves for their figures. By default, music clips are 60 seconds long, but LEGO says they can be cut into 5, 10, 15, or 20 second clips. After recording the video clip, kids can upload it to the LEGO VIDIYO app stream for other users to see.
This is probably the biggest point of contention for parents, but LEGO says it will perform “external moderation of all content uploaded to the app feed.” Beyond LEGO’s own moderation, children are anonymous on the platform and require parental permission to use the app. LEGO says that in cases where the videos contain personally identifiable information, kids won’t be able to upload their video to the app’s stream, but will instead be able to store the video locally so they can still watch it on their own or show it to their friends and family. .
LEGO VIDIYO certainly looks like an interesting product, but at the moment we have no information on how it will be sold. LEGO seems to like blind bags a lot these days, so we can certainly imagine the company offering these minifigures in such blind bags, perhaps with a selection of BeatBits included in each. The company could also choose to sell action figures and BeatBits in more traditional sets, which would be ideal, because at least kids and parents would know what they are buying before they shop.
In the end, we are waiting for more information on LEGO. LEGO VIDIYO will launch in “most countries of the world†on March 1, so we’ll be looking to get LEGO to share these additional details before then.
