A New Tool For My Toolbox and A DNA Angel Alert

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Today I’d like to tell you about a new tool I’ve purchased to create videos. It’s called Animoto and I’ve already created a few videos. The first one I created was for my business. I do trade shows and there are times when I’m busy with a customer, so now I have a video that I can have running in the background showing all the great features of  our products; Flip-Pal®  or the Zcan+ .  But where I think I will get the most enjoyment out of Animoto is by creating videos to show to my cousins. Here’s an example of something that I put together in a matter of a few minutes. So you can imagine what you can produce if you take more time.

So how did I do it? Well, it’s really quite easy.  Once you’re at the Animoto.com website all you have to do is click the “Get Started” button. The first thing you do is choose a video type; Slideshow or Marketing.

create-a-slideshow

Then you choose a video style. You can choose from; personal, photography, business or classroom. In the case of my Mom video I chose;  personal. In each category, you’ll find dozens of template choices and if you’re not sure if you like the template, you can always click the selection and get a brief description and a video clip of what that selection will look like. If you create a marketing video you have several storyboards to choose from or you can start from scratch.

Once you’ve made your selection  it will then take you to the video creation page. Each of the templates comes with a song but if you want to change the song you can. With over 1000 soundtracks on Animoto, you have plenty to choose from or you can upload one of your own tunes.

Now you can add images and videos. You can use images and videos from your computer, Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, SmugMug, or Instagram. There is even a library where you can choose stock photos or videos for different categories; such as birthday, travel, nature, animals and more. You can also add text to all or just a few of the photos.

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At any time during the process, you can preview your creation. Once you’re happy with what you’ve created you can give it that last preview and then produce it. When you produce your video you give it a name and you have a number of quality choices and it’s easy to share on social media; such as Facebook, Twitter, email, YouTube and more.

You can try Animoto  free for 14-day, then if you decide that it’s something you want, their monthly rates for personal or business are reasonable.  If you’re a teacher you may want to apply for a free classroom addition.

It’s a great tool and I think a wonderful way to show off your vacation photos ,  pictures from your family get-togethers and especially to put together something that might get your cousins interested in what you are learning about their ancestors. I’m thinking it would be great to put something together for my genealogical society.

Here’s an example of something I put together as I was writing this blog. It’s a collection of photos that I took when my husband; Kevin and I went to Nevada and we travelled Route 66 near Oatman, Arizona.

I think it’s a great addition to my toolbox and a creative way to keep family members interested in the family genealogy. I’d love to hear your ideas on how you’d use Animoto.

DNA Angel Project™ Alert

The October Edition of The DNA Angel Project is coming this Thursday so be sure to enter. If you want to find out more about The DNA Angel Project then you can find out more here.

This Week’s Treasures

Be sure to check out this week’s treasures as they are constantly changing. Often I will hear about a contest, webinar or deals that only last for a few days so that page is always a work-in-progress.

 

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