Week 2: Tool Review: Animoto

The tool that I am reviewing today is called Animoto. 

The website URL for Animoto is: http://animoto.com/

Animoto is basically a slide show creator that allows you to upload your images, add text and music (either from the stock music available or by uploading your own music) and then quickly produce a video slideshow that you can download and/or link to a variety of sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

You also have a choice to copy and paste the code to embed the finished video into a web page.  It is very easy and pretty intuitive.  Here is a quick intro video about Animoto:



Here is a quick 'how-to' on creating a video with Animoto:



Here is a screenshot of the options you have once your video is ready for viewing.

As an example, this quick slideshow on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was literally created as fast as I uploaded the eight images, added the text and selected a stock music track.

This option is a link to the video that displays some Animoto branding:

http://animoto.com/play/e6Mv8GYlISQLbSfA8OaiFQ

However, you do have the option at the higher membership levels to check the ‘hide’ Animoto branding in which case your finished video would look like:

http://video214.com/play/e6Mv8GYlISQLbSfA8OaiFQ/s/dark

There are currently two pricing models – personal and business.

Under personal plans there are three membership levels:

• LITE – Free – (create 30 second videos, web quality)
• PLUS - $5 monthly or $30 annually – (create up to 10 minute videos, web quality)
• PRO - $39 monthly or $249 annually – (create up to 20 minute videos, HD quality)

Under business plans there are two levels:

• PRO – identical plan as PRO personal.
• PRO PREMIUM - $499 annually - (create up to 20 minute videos, HD quality

PRO PREMIUM also has more music choices, phone support and other features.

Animoto is very easy to use, has a minimal learning curve and once you get the hang of it, you can churn out relatively professional quality video slideshows without knowing any video editing or production.

Real Life Example:

This past summer in the Ed.D orientation; at the end of the day, each table was given the assignment of doing a presentation for the following morning.  For whatever reason, no one could really get together in my group to work on the presentation that night so we talked over a brief concept and all agreed to provide a number of photos for the presentation that we would email to the point person who would then compile them in Animoto. 

Here is the result of that assignment and it was all done virtually and all the images compiled into Animoto and output as a video file that we output to a USB drive and uploaded to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPqcRQ3ma2k&feature=youtu.be

For a slapped together, on-the-fly, last minute presentation – it turned out good enough to make the presentation polished and professional.

In my day-to-day job as an academic IT director, I have used it to make announcements, brief how-to videos and have helped our Admissions and Marketing departments to create brief video tours, promotion of student events and department or faculty/clinician promotional segments that were then emailed out, distributed via various social media networks like Twitter and Facebook  or embedded into web pages.

• Education Examples: http://animoto.com/pro/education
• Business Examples: http://animoto.com/business

The tool as good as it is for what it does, is a one trick pony of sorts – and it is limited by its ease-of-use design.  The only true elements in your control are the images you upload into the presentation and the music tracks chosen or uploaded.

You then select a template and music before creating the final video.  There is very little true customization available and if you need to do more than a video slideshow; then this tool is not going to be very helpful or effective.

All that said – I have Animoto in my toolbox and have used it more times at the 11th hour than I would probably care to admit.