Create Powerful Videos With Animoto
Have you ever wanted to create a video for your class? Or have an easy way for students to create videos?
Why Karen Uses Animoto
I've been experimenting with recruitment strategies for Sojourn to the Past for the last five years. What students have said is that we need to convey what the experience will be like if you attend the trip and that the coolest part is actually getting to be in historic places with historic people. We've also had a lot of kids go because they had siblings or respected peers that go. Given those two pieces of information, I got it into my head that I wanted to make an image-centered presentation with music that showed the history component of the trip, showcased past Carlmont attendees, and captured the "experience" of Sojourn.
I asked my family (who have a decent amount of tech experience) if they could help me make a "Ken Burns-ish photo montage music-y thing" that would make kids want to go on the trip. My mom suggested Animoto and I remembered Melissa mentioning it in the past so I decided to give it a try.
It was SO easy to use and I was able to create, at least in my eyes, a quality piece of work that looks like it took a lot longer than it did. I worked on it for about an hour and a half but the parts that took the longest were selecting my photos and getting a piece of music in the right format (both of which were problems unrelated to Animoto). There were several different "themes" that you could use that gave the presentation a different feel, but that was the only real decision I had to make. Essentially, I uploaded photos (you can get them from your computer or any of your social media sites), downloaded a piece of music from YouTube, inserted a few text slides (almost like using PowerPoint) and Animoto did the rest. It is extremely user-friendly and, for the most part, an intuitive tool. There were also help buttons that you could use if you got stuck. Just as an FYI, I opted for Animoto Plus which is $5 a month (totally worth it in my opinion) so I don't know if different versions are easier or more difficult to use.
I would totally use this tool again and students could definitely use it to complete projects, reports, presentations, etc. Here's the link to my video (Free Sojourn press! BTW, the music is our very own Ashley Gray singing with Minnijean Brown-Trickey of the Little Rock Nine) and feel free to email me with any questions that you have. Happy creating!
http://animoto.com/play/odhceSTJcwcm1LL5tITleQ
Karen Ramroth
Carlmont High School--Social Studies
kramroth@seq.org