Monday, January 21, 2008

Thing #22 - Animoto



Animato is a totally cool toy that anyone with a high speed Internet connection can use in a matter of minutes. I downloaded the VSO Image Resizer to batch re-size my selected pictures. I have other programs that will do it, but VSO makes it so incredibly fast and easy. I always put off messing with photos due to the time-consuming nature of most photo-related activities. Sometimes I long for the days when the picture I took was the picture I got, because now I feel compelled to improve nearly every photo before using it. That isn't necessary with Animato, since the photos don't appear long enough for the average viewer to notice minor differences in quality.

I first decided to make a video using pictures of students researching with laptops. I could pay $3 for a full length video and submit it as part of my grant documentation. However, the following statement in the terms of use gave me pause:

"Furthermore, if you want to publish Image Content of someone other than yourself, you must get permission from the individuals portrayed in the Image Content before using the content in an Animoto Video." (Copied verbatim from Animato Terms of Use user agreement.)

No names are associated with the images, but do we still need parental permission to use students' pictures in an Animato video?

The only downside to Animato for me is the small number of available musical choices and the production time it takes, which is about 15 minutes for 12 pics [1024 x 768] using a DSL connection (I remember someone else mentioning this). Of course, I can easily perform other tasks while waiting, but the time factor is worth knowing about for those planning to use Animato at work. Videos would best be produced at home if you have a decent connection due to bandwidth and heavy usage concerns at work. Regarding music selections, I would love to have instrumental choices included, as well as other styles. The site mentions that ITunes now offers some selections in an open format, but according to what I understand about copyright, that still wouldn't give me permission to use tunes I've bought if the videos will be shared with others. Does anyone know more about this?

In conclusion, Animato is a tool I'll continue to use. It's likely that most students at my school have never used it, so it would be captivating for them.

Worth mentioning: I uploaded twelve photos (Animato suggested 12-15 for 30 seconds), but only the first six were used in the video due to the slower song I chose. Just something to consider when choosing photos and music.

Tech Tip: You must use the special Blogger button to embed your video. It will automatically be positioned as a new post. To move it, go to "Edit Html" for the post, copy the code, and place it where you want it. This crashed IE (which they don't recommend)the first time I tried it, but everything worked fine on the second go-round.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Zeeburt,

Becky here from Animoto. Thanks for the write-up.

Thanks for the tip on VSO. I'll make sure to recommend it from now on as a quality image-re-sizer.

As for your concerns with getting consent from every image you use, we must put that disclaimer up in order to not have responsibility for angry people who might not have consented to have had their likelihood be placed in an Animoto. However, I make videos regularly of my friends, who I am sure wouldn't object.

As for the musical selection, we definitely intend on adding more in the future. We're starting an official music selection process, whereby users get to choose from a group on songs which ones get added to our collection.

We definitely agree that we need more genres. I know we are working on a jazz genre, but maybe we should get cracking on an instrumental one as well.

The reason we can't give you permission to use songs that you bought is because when you buy a song, you don't obtain the copyrights. Technically, you need that copyright in order to use a song for any purpose other than playing it for your own personal usage.

I hope that answers your questions, but if you have anymore, never hesitate to write in at:

theguys@animoto.com

or join or message board at

http://animotoaddicts.ning.com

Take care,
Becky

Anna said...

I was glad to see that it took a while for the video to mix for you as well. I thought there was something wrong with my computer. I'm also glad to see the response from the Animoto lady about music. I had downloaded some music and it wouldn't upload and now I know why.

Brittney said...

What a great idea to include an Animoto video as additional "support" for a grant or something similar in nature. I know that with the Mesquite Education Foundation grants they don't want any thing included that might "give away" your school, because the grants are awarded blindly, but creating and including an Animoto video as part of a persuasion piece is a great idea.

Share with Sue said...

After reading your comment about gettng permission to post pictures of students in your video, I probably need to go back and check to see if there are guidelines for use in the slideshow I made with slider,com. We don't have to get permission to post students pictures on our website, so I don't see the problem with a video. Maybe we need to check on this.