ReelBestie

From stills to stories, in seconds

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Inspiration

The idea for ReelBestie came to me one day while thinking about how we share memories. What if a simple set of photos could become a short cinematic reel? Something more expressive than a slideshow, but lightweight and fun. Almost like a movie trailer for your own life.

I wanted to explore that idea and use it as a playground to learn new tools. This was my first time using Bolt.new, and also my first hands-on experience with Supabase, although I’m familiar with databases and cloud functions in general. I wanted to see how far I could go by combining AI coding assistants, automation tools, and media libraries like ffmpeg.

What it does

ReelBestie turns a handful of your favorite photos into a short, vertical video reel complete with AI-generated narration, music, captions, and fun visual effects—perfect for sharing memories with personality.

How I built it

I built the project using Bolt.new to design the overall app, functionality, and manage the frontend. I leveraged other language models to shape the prompt that would define my app’s features and architecture in Bolt. I also used other AI models to write the custom function that handles the final video assembly using ffmpeg. This function was designed to turn user-uploaded photos, narration audio, background music, and video overlays into a 1080x1920 vertical reel.

For the backend, I leaned on Supabase’s Edge Functions and media storage. The frontend lets users upload up to 8 photos and choose different narration and vibe styles. Video overlays were hacked together in Canva. The app then stitches it all together using the custom function and delivers a downloadable, shareable video clip.

Challenges

There were plenty of small hurdles - version mismatches, deployment quirks, audio sync issues - but nothing that couldn’t be solved with a bit of persistence. Careful review of server logs and error messages helped me move past each one. It was also a great exercise in prioritizing features and scoping tightly to make something functional and fun within the hackathon timeframe.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The whole dang thing!!

What we learned

Bolt.new: My first time using it, and it was eye-opening how fast you can build an MVP with the right prompt.

Supabase: Learned how to set up databases, authentication, and serverless functions.

FFmpeg scripting: Gained deeper knowledge of how to programmatically combine video/audio layers with filters and transitions.

AI-assisted development: Used LLMs throughout the process - for code generation, debugging, and creative tasks like narration writing.

What's next for ReelBestie

Marketing, promotion, and just maybe....a viral hit for folks that want to be creative, but not get dragged into existing social media platforms! Check it out at www.reelbestie.com!

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