For over a decade, green screens have played an integral role in producing some of the best CGI content for many of our favorite blockbuster films. The method was primarily used by filmmakers to superimpose a photo or video onto the background of another film or video and usually involved a large green sheet that made it easy to digitally remove color in post-production and add whatever image or video needed to be there in its place.

Over the years, this setup has become so common that most social media creators have been able to replicate their own “green screen effect,” albeit on a much smaller scale. It’s become such a normal part of society that the process has even gone digital, allowing you to hide the background in meetings or just use the technology to create a fun video on your very own laptop.

Now TikTok has taken these concepts and added a little spice for a new effect that allows creators to remain on screen while showing the audience an image in the background of the video. Naturally, as it is with most effects on TikTok, creators are in love with the new filter and have already found several ways to turn it into a viral trend.

Currently one of TikTok’s most popular effects, “the green screen” allows users to project an image of themselves over a background that they can select from their camera roll. The app also recently introduced the “moving green screen” effect, which allows users to film a new video over a different video from their camera roll, with the background clip only being revealed as a small square that moves around the screen.

So far, the new filter has prompted many creators using the effect to layer two different images of themselves⏤one that’s happy with one that’s sad⏤for an interesting green screen effect that is almost music-video worthy. Suffice it to say, the new trend has taken off on TikTok and become a viral phenomenon that has helped numerous creators attain millions of views.

How to use the “moving green screen” effect

If you’re an aspiring creator looking to join in on the new trend, the process is pretty easy to follow. According to Dexerto, all you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Go to your camera roll and record the video that you want playing inside the moving square. Many choose to lip-sync to popular TikTok sounds.

2. Trim the video to the exact length you want it to be and add a black and white filter.

3. Launch TikTok, go to the Discover tab, and search “moving green screen.”

4. Click the pink record button next to the filter.

5. When you are prompted to insert a video, select the video you just filmed from your camera roll.

6. Once you’ve inserted your video, click the record button to start filming your second video and the box will move around the screen automatically.

Simple, right? Of course, to get the full effect, you may need to experiment with different timings and make sure that you’re at the same distance from the camera in both videos to give it that X-ray effect. Once you master everything, the end results are usually pretty epic.

This is one of many TikTok trends that have gone viral in 2021, and you should check right back here for more information on any and all future ones.

It’s been a long while since we’ve had the Wizarding World on our screens. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald released way back in fall 2018, and the third film in the Harry Potter prequel saga has been delayed numerous times since then due to both creative rejigs and the pandemic. But the dry spell is finally coming to an end this spring with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Following the teaser that dropped last Friday, Warner Bros. has now shared the full trailer for Secrets, which reveals our first look at the return of Eddie Redmayne’s shy magizoologist Newt Scamander as he’s sent on another mission by Jude Law’s young Albus Dumbledore to defeat the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen, replacing Johnny Depp), who is amassing followers as he bids for world domination.

Set in the 1930s, exploring how the Wizarding World ended up involved in World War Two, Fantastic Beasts 3 is set to introduce the magical communities of Bhutan, Germany, Brazil, and China, after the first two films visited New York and Paris. As the title makes clear, the Dumbledore family will prove key to this film, following the last movie’s revelation that Ezra Miller’s Credence Barebone is actually Aurelius Dumbledore, a relative of Albus’.

Speaking of whom, Law’s Hogwarts professor promises to get a bigger chunk of the action this time around, though the Unbreakable Vow he made with Grindelwald in their passion-filled younger days still keeps him from facing the villain himself. Law’s portrayal of the fan-favorite character was one of the few widely praised aspects of Crimes, but hopefully this one will go down a lot better with critics and audiences alike.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set for release on April 15 in the US.

Few would have woken up expecting Ben Shapiro’s younger sister to be going viral for comparing music legend Madonna to former first lady Nancy Reagan, but 2021 still has a few curve balls to throw at us. Abigail Shapiro, better known by her content creation alias Classically Abby online, took to Twitter on Friday to post a take so hot, it began trending.

Shapiro launched the Classically Abby brand back in 2019, which focused on makeup, fashion, and lifestyle videos. The channel gained notoriety in 2020 after the video “Why YOU Should Dress Modestly || Get the attention you deserve” began to make its rounds online. Despite garnering over 19,000 dislikes (back when the feature still existed), it managed to get over 1,541,000 views.

But today, when she attempted to suggest that living like Madonna was “trashy living” compared to Nancy Reagan’s “classic living,” the internet went wild over the take.

Twitter users absolutely dragged her in the way only they could, with most users making it perfectly clear that they would choose to be and live like Madonna.

Another user pointed out that Nancy Reagan had a bit of a saucy past herself. Kitty Kelly’s biography of the former first lady noted that she was “renowned in Hollywood for performing oral sex.”

Another user pointed out how Nancy Reagan didn’t speak up during the AIDs crisis back in the 1980s. In comparison, Madonna has raised millions for HIV/AIDs research during her career.

Science fiction author Charlie Stross didn’t hold back, sharing his thoughts on why Madonna easily wins when compared.

The fact that Classically Abby got Nancy Reagan to trend at all was enough to stun some.

So who wins in the epic battle of Madonna vs. Nancy Reagan? At least today, the internet has chosen Madonna, sorry, Classically Abby.

25-year-old TikTok influencer Alex Griswold shared in a resurfaced clip how a video he posted on the social media app saved his life. 

In 2019, the software developer first shared a clip of his wife Melinda Griswold massaging his shirtless back on TikTok. After viewing the video, two of his followers alerted Griswold about the two moles on his back and urged him to seek professional advice. 

Although the Florida native wasn’t previously alarmed by the large moles, he decided to take his fans’ advice and get it checked out. During his appointment, a dermatologist informed him that his viewers’ suspicions about his moles were correct. Griswold’s doctor also told him that those two unidentified individuals saved him from an early death because the moles were skin cancer. 

Griswold said in a viral update video shared on TikTok in 2020, “The doctor was like, ‘Whoever told you probably saved your life’ — so because of two kind strangers, I avoided skin cancer, and this is the perfect reminder that the world is a wonderful place.” The clip has since generated 1.5 million likes and has been shared over 20,000 times.

After the update, Griswold found out he had another mole during his six-month routine check-up and removed it. He shared the experience in, you guessed it, another TikTok video. Since then, he has been taking better care of his skin and overall health.

What are your thoughts on Alex Griswold’s diagnosis being discovered after posting a simple video on TikTok? Share your comments down below. 

TikTok is an app that’s all about creation and expressing yourself, so it would make sense that you might want to jazz up your profile by adding a unique badge. There have been several badge variations on TikTok, but the 2021 commemorative badge from last year has been one of the more common ones.

Fortunately, unlike a verification badge, any user can get their hands on these profile badges. That said, there may be a waiting period involved with some of them.

What about the 2022 profile badge?

At the time of this writing, there is no way to get the 2022 TikTok profile badge. You’ll likely be able to get the 2022 badge later this year or early next year in the same way that users can get the 2021 badge right now. This is done by answering a question related to your year.

We’ll explain how you can unlock the 2021 badge for your TikTok, as it’s likely that the 2022 badge will be distributed in a similar method. Just follow these steps:

• Open up TikTok to the page where you’re able to record your unique clip.
• You’ll see a menu option on the right-hand side that says “Reply.” Press this.
• This will bring up a menu with suggestions of questions to answer with the theme of 2021.
• Select one of these and film your response to the question.
• Once you post the response, you simply need to close TikTok and once you reopen the app and visit your profile, you should have the 2021 badge.

The 2022 badge could also be distributed the same way the 2021 badge initially was at the end of 2020. This saw users check out and share their year on TikTok to unlock the badge.

This method can be completed as follows:

• Find another user that has the badge. Head to their profile and press the badge. Now select “Get your badge.”
• If you follow through and check out your year on TikTok, it will prompt you to share the highlights with your followers.
• Do this and you’ll gain access to the new badge.

Until the 2022 badge rolls out, TikTok users will just have to hang tight. In the meantime, why not decorate your profile with the 2021 badge by following the above method? It may prime you for the big 2022 badge reveal.

This article will be updated when a method to gain the 2022 badge is revealed.

The latest TikTok trend has people showing off their transition skills in brief, sensuous videos.

Frequent users of the app have likely seen at least a few participating videos, identified by the same music excerpt and exceedingly simple premise. If you’ve seen more than one or two videos of people taking their shirts off and swinging their Ring Light around, you’ve stumbled onto InfinityTok.

What is the Ring Light Challenge?

The Ring Light Challenge, also known as the Infinity Challenge, doesn’t have any complicated or potentially dangerous rules. Like the Silhouette trend of early 2021, it’s more centered around body positivity.

Videos participating in this trend almost always take the same approach. They’ll see a creator hoist their Ring Light off its stand and over their head while in a fully lit room, only to undergo a sudden transition into the dark. The Ring Light, now the only illumination in the video, backlights the user—most of whom have stripped off a few layers of clothing—and provides a sultry, silhouetted look at their favorite feature.

For many female creators, the focus generally lands on their head or shoulders, while most many creators allow their stomach muscles to become the focal point. Every participating video is soundtracked by the same song: “Infinity” by Jaymes Young.

Participating TikToks

The vast majority of the TikToks participating in the Ring Light trend contain very hot people showing off their best attributes. Numerous videos see shredded men ditch their shirts to shine a light on those sweet, sweet stomach muscles.

There are also plenty of dudes fully committed to showing off their shoulders and arms.

Entries into the challenge from female participants are a bit more diverse. For one thing, plenty of women who don’t look like they’re carved out of marble are taking part.

Some users are also finding more ways to use the Ring Light to their advantage, rather than stick with the most straightforward option.

The trend quickly inspired people to branch out and spurred on the challenge among dog owners along with the owners of stellar abs.

It also, predictably, inspired heaps of parodies. These might be the best entries yet.

TikTok is a great place to watch and share video clips with the rest of the world, and all it takes to start is a download of the app. You’ll then be asked to choose a username, which is what people using the app will see when they view your content.

You can have pretty much any username you’d like that isn’t already in use, meaning you can tailor it to the kind of content you plan on posting on your page or simply what you want other users to know you by. This can raise issues, though, especially if one day you find yourself wanting to change a username you’ve already chosen.

It’s not uncommon for TikTok users to grow tired of their current usernames or want to change them for privacy reasons. Fortunately, you can change your name extremely easily with just a few simple steps.

How to change your TikTok username

Here’s what you’ll need to do if you want to change your username on TikTok.

• First, head to the TikTok app and open your profile page. You can find this in the bottom right of the main screen.
• Once there, press “Edit Profile” to open up a bunch of further options to customize your page.
• From there, select the Username option and type in whatever name you desire for your TikTok account.
• It will then tell you if the name you’re after is available or not. If it is, then press “Save” in the top right corner and you’re done! If it’s not, you’ll need to play with variations on the name until you find one that’s available.

Keep in mind that you can only change your username once every 30 days. If you’d like to change the name visible at the top of your profile, then simply follow the same steps above but select Name instead of Username.

Be sure to check back here for all the latest TikTok news, tips, and tricks!

When you set up your TikTok account, it should come as no surprise that you’ll need to provide a handful of details such as your name and age. Some of these details, like your username, can easily be changed, but others aren’t so simple.

One of the most important parts of your TikTok account can also be one of the most difficult to edit: your age. You’ll need to be over 13 years old to make an account, but if you enter your age incorrectly and are looking to fix that, we’ve got you covered.

Though you can’t change the age on your TikTok account manually by yourself, there’s another way to change it if you need to.

How to change your age on TikTok

If you want your age changed on TikTok, you’ll need to contact the platform directly either via email or through the app. You can email [email protected], explain your situation, and request a change.

The other way to go about it is by using the in-app support system. Here’s a step-by-step guide to completing that process.

• First, open the TikTok app on your device.
• Next, navigate to your account screen, which can be done from the “me” menu in the bottom right corner of the main screen.
• Now you’ll want to press the Settings menu button in the top right. This will appear like three lines.
• From the Settings and Privacy page, scroll down until you see Support and select this from the list.
• From the Support options, choose “Report a Problem,” “Account and Profile,” “Editing,” “Profile,” and “Other.”
• Now choose “Need more help?” and you’ll be taken to a feedback form where you can enter your request and submit it for consideration.

Following either of these methods, you’ll be contacted by a TikTok customer support rep who will ask for further identification before any changes can be made to your account.

Be sure to check back here for all the latest TikTok news, tips, and tricks.