Tastemade: An iPhone app to create awesome videos in minutes

The annual San Francisco Street Food festival can be a daunting experience. But for those who revel in the hustle and bustle and don’t mind waiting in long lines to sample delicious food, it’s well worth a visit.

For food-tech and lifestyle entrepreneurs, it’s one of the biggest marketing opportunities of the year. So I stopped by to meet with the startups at the festival; over a dozen had set up booths to promote their products.

One startup, situated right by the entrance, stood out. I recognized Tastemade, as the LA-based startup nabbed $10 million in funding this week. In all honesty, I assumed it was just another overly-funded, gimmicky consumer app.

Above: San Francisco’s Street Food Festival

However, Tastemade’s founders Joe Perez and Steven Kydd are established digital media entrepreneurs. They previously founded Demand Media, which is now a public company. They wanted their next project to be about something they really loved.

Their latest product was lovingly made, and has a shot at reaching a huge audience. It’s a slick video-editing iPhone app for food bloggers and restaurant lovers, designed to document and help you savor fabulous meals with friends.

Note that downloading the app takes time and may drain your battery, but stick with it.

Using Tastemade, I created a semi-professional video for all you VentureBeat readers in less than 30 minutes.

It’s not just for foodies — I’d recommend the app for anyone who enjoys making videos. Use it to produce a mini documentary of sorts of any event, which you can share with friends via Facebook or Twitter.

For journalists, bloggers and other content creators, it’s a neat way to add multimedia elements to existing stories, without the hassle of professional photo-editing tools like Final Cut Pro.

Get started by opening the app, and giving your event a title. You’re prompted to take a few 10 second audio clips (ideally interviews), and a series of three second clips, which function as your B roll.

When you’ve selected your best clips, add background music, filters, headers, captions, and hit save. You can shoot, edit and publish the video on your iPhone, and select a thumbnail before you share it on various social media sites.

For my video, I interviewed representatives from La Cocina, the nonprofit organization that runs the street festival. La Cocina, a self-described “incubator kitchen,” supports low income food entrepreneurs living in the neighborhood and helps them start businesses. I also added some short clips of the best bands and locals wolfing down fried chicken, which may convince you to stop by.

The final result feels far more sophisticated than a Socialcam or Vine video. Hope you enjoy it!