Today I’m back to talking about creating videos for your web site – this time using Animoto, an online service that promises to great looking videos quickly and easily.
As you may know, this is something I’ve been looking at fairly intensely over the last few months. In my last post, I showed you the “PRESelling” video commercial I created using the Camtasia software. Today, I am going to take a closer look at a really slick online service that you can use to make professional-looking videos in a matter of minutes.
That service is called Animoto.
If you’re a regular visitor to this site, you might remember I briefly discussed the Animoto video creating service in my “how to create videos for your web site” article and even went so far as to say…
“It’s not something I will use, but what it does, it does very well.”
Well, this is the part where I get to eat my own words. Not only am I going to use Animoto (in conjunction with Camtasia-created videos), but I’ve already upgraded to a 3-month trial ($99) of the professional version of the service (which removes all the branding and allows a cool “call to action” button to be inserted in your video. If you want to see an example of how I’m using it, you can view an Animoto video on the Home page of UltimateFatBurner.com).
What got me started on Animoto again?
Well, my girlfriend and I spent a morning shooting and sizing pictures of her custom designed Christmas and winter wreaths for posting on eBay, and I thought…
“Here’s a great opportunity to trial the Animoto service a little more intensively – we’ve got the pictures all ready to go, why not convert them into a video and see how it turns out?”
The first video we created went so well, that I immediately upgraded to the pro version and created this…
All I did was upload some of the photos I’d taken and re-sized, selected an “electronica” background track, inserted some background information (this is what appears as the description of the video when it is exported to YouTube), pressed a button, and sat back and waited. The video above is what was created. As you can see, it’s pretty slick and professional and requires exactly ZERO technical expertise. Best of all, it took absolutely no time to complete.
Sure, the Animoto service does have some drawbacks. For instance…
- If you want to edit your video, Animoto renders a whole new version of it, which means it won’t necessarily look like the one you created previously. At the same time, every edited file is saved as a completely new version of your video, so you never lose anything.
- You can only export your video directly from Animoto to YouTube and SmugMug. It would be nice if the service supported the top ten video sites. On the other hand, you can download your video and manually upload it to whatever services you like.
For the most part though, Animoto offers a pretty awesome service…
The Pros:
1. Easy one-click professional quality video creation.
2. One-click video sharing with social media sites like FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.
3. One-click posting to YouTube and SmugMug.
4. Upload your own live video (from your camcorder, etc)
5. Includes a large selection royalty-free pictures and many genres of music (also free to use), so you don’t need to source anything of your own if you prefer.
6. Pro version offers the ability to create hi-res versions of your video for burning to DVD.
7. Free trial option allows you to try before you buy.
The Cons:
1. Compared to professional video-creating software, Animoto offers reduced capabilities and flexibility.
2. Only submits finished video to two video hosting sites.
3. “Call to action” button only displays when your video is hosted on your own web site in the Animoto player.
4. When exporting to YouTube, Animoto includes a promotional link back to their own site when displaying your video’s description. You’ll need to login to your YouTube account manually and edit this link so it points at your own site.
5. Every remix is different. There is no way to control the transitions between frames or the appearance of your video; Animoto creates a new and unique version of your video each time you make revisions. Sometimes, you end up with something cooler, sometimes, you don’t. It’s best therefore, to do your best to “try to get it right the first time.”
All in all, I’m very impressed with the Animoto service and will use it (as well as the Camtasia software) in my video creating efforts. My recommendation, therefore, is to sign up for the free service and play around with it for a bit.
If you like what you see, you have two options; upgrade to a $30/year package which allows full length video creation (the free trial limits you to videos 30 seconds in length and under), or opt for the “pro” version. There are two options here; a 3-month $99 option (I went for this), or the full year, $249 option.
Since the branded version looks a bit “amateurish” to me, the “pro” version was my preferred option. If you’re not as picky as me, the $30/year represents fantastic value. Sign up and give it a try!
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