Animoto

What: Make dramatic slideshows fast with professional transitions and a soundtrack.

Ease of use: Animoto is fun and easy to learn.

Writing application: A wonderful application that's easy to use and fast to master. Animoto allows you to upload images and video that it then, though the magic of some clever code, transforms into a professional looking video.

It's strongly reccomended you walk students through the process first and then present them with 'one you made earlier'. It's crucial to show the finished product before they begin, as the transitions between images are very dynamic, constantly changing and unpredictable. It is therefore, an important step to consider as a class how this will affect a narrative built using Animoto.

A class discussion that explores broken narratives, story ideas that may work using this particular tool, and what you might want to include or leave out of a short Animoto story is worthwhile. For example, you may want to explore the idea of only using a single character, given multiple characters with clearly defined storylines may be difficult to distinguish.

• Stories that explore timelines through images are worth considering - where a noticable change occurs over a period of time to a person/place etc. Progressive images of an aging man, a historic site to modern day etc. These types of image transitions will not be affected adversly by the 'Animoto process'.

• Another approach is to consider creating digital images of words, then using these to build your story. A good introduction to this idea is to explore 6 or 10 word written stories with students first. This teaches economy of language, and will help them to develp a more complete narrative within the restrictions that Animoto offers.

There are several ways to build word images. The simplest is access a large pool of ready made words in the Flickr word pool, a great resource! Alternatively, you could build your word images using an image editor like Splashup (make sure you save it as a .jpg, as Animoto prefers this format).

• When working wth an existing text, there are numerous ways of exploring with Animoto. One favourite of mine, is to ask students to rewrite a poem with Animoto. You can either instruct them to create the poem faithfully with images intersperced with the text ... OR ... you could suggest they replace some words or phrases with appropriate images. A great way to explore theme and justaposition with students.

• Creating your own audio file to accompany a selection of images can change how you approach your stories considerably. A mix of audio, text and images with the Animoto product can make for a powerful story.

Remix Warning: If timing is crucial, then Animoto can be a little frustrating as the transitions are swift between images and trying to tie it with an audio file can be difficult. If your intention is to use your own audio, then a discussion about how to approach this problem is strongly reccomended, otherwise students will spend frustrating hours trying to get it 'just right'.

New Features: In late 2008, Animoto released text in picture, a feature that allows you to include text to your videos. This represents an substantial improvement in the way in which this web application is suitable for storymaking. In mid 2009, Animoto updated again, with the ability to put in video, and enhanced usability.

It's strongly suggested that as a precursor to using Animoto, you introduce the concept of more economical writing with students, and explore the idea that 'less text can be more'. This is important, as too much text is hard to read in the fast transitions of an Animoto video. A good way to do this is to ask students to write 6 word stories (you may wish to write 15 or 20 word stories first, then reduce the number of words) before you introduce Animoto.

Suited: Upper primary and secondary school students.