The Hallmark Channel has stepped in to offer free Zoom chat backgrounds to people making use of the popular video chat service. If there are two things the current coronavirus pandemic has shown us, they are that we need cool backgrounds and more happiness. Don’t go adding a third thing and bringing down these positive vibes.
Zoom’s popularity has skyrocketed over the past 60 days or so, as its audience has grown from the enterprise demographic to just about anyone with a job they can do from home. The platform has had what we’ll quickly refer to as “some problems”, but it also provides a great suite of features that has left its competition playing catch-up. One such feature is custom backgrounds. Zoom users can change the image behind themselves on camera to just about any video or photo they have, with or without a green screen. In the right hands, this can be a fun, silly tool, but that’s not its only purpose. A custom background can remove the stress of having to carve out a presentable background area before a video conference, allowing people to focus more on their work.
To this end, Hallmark’s free collection of background images is the hero we need. They’re free, high-quality images one would associate with the famous, saccharinely wholesome company. The collection is available right now on the Hallmark Channel website. It features a surprising number of image categories and tons of pictures within each. Some are set photos from Hallmark Channel series like The Good Witch, while others appear to just be exceptionally well-composed shorts of serene environments.
The process of obtaining these background images is about as straightforward as possible, requiring no sign-ups, social media shares, or logins. From the landing page, click on a category. That will either spawn another menu of sub-categories or a list of images. Scroll through to find a suitable one, click it to open it in another tab at full size, and then save it like any other image file. Since these Hallmark pictures are uploaded as simple JPEG files, they can be downloaded to any device that runs Zoom, which should make the process of converting them into a custom background simple as well.
If these shots aren’t quite scratching the itch of having a cool Zoom meeting background, Hallmark Channel isn’t the only place to offer its services. Zoom has a list of pre-installed backgrounds available, but there are also official options from Disney, Star Wars, Studio Ghibli, and multiple video games. There’s no excuse to continue video conferencing in front of the laundry chair!
