Learning Curve

Thought I would create a refresher “how to” to help you finish your Animoto Movie Trailer. Here’s your lesson plan for Friday, November 20. After you login to your account (your gmail + school password–if you followed directions) and you select “full length version,” you see this screen:

You probably have selected “Upload from your computer.” Save your images to desktop (easier to grab and import). You are now in the first step of Animoto: Images, and you have a grid on which you can arrange and rearrange your images by dragging and dropping. If you get confused, look at the right side where you will see information on Images and tips for the section.

After your images upload, you can add text by selecting the “Add Text” option on the bottom. The way you save your work when you are in “Images” is to click the “done” button on the bottom right. That saves your work.

If you have to leave (end of class) and you want to return to your work, this is how you retrieve your work. Login. Go to “Create Video.” You will get this message in a yellow banner. Notice that you can see the images (text is there too) that you had uploaded in your last session. Click CLOSE. IF for some reason you do NOT see your images, DON’T PANIC. Click on the word Images on the left side and your images will appear.

If you want to add more text than Animoto will let you put on the two text lines, you can make a PowerPoint text slide. After your slide is done, you want to make a screenshot. You do that by using “Shift” + Apple key + 4 (not the F4, just the number 4). This screen shot will show up on your desktop as Picture 1 (if it’s the first screen shot you have taken). Now you can upload the PP text slide by dragging and dropping it, or you can go to “Add More” and add your new slide.

Don’t forget to check your rubric (you were given a copy, but it is also linked on my website, English 11, November, right under the two sample videos) for the “effects” you need to add. Very simple: just select the images you want to “spotlight,” click on that image, and then click “spotlight.” The images that have a yellow frame around them will be highlighted and play more than the not highlighted images. If you look closely, you will notice that images 3 and 4 need rotating to straighten them. Click the “rotate” button on the bottom till your picture looks normal. When you are finished with your images and text, click “DONE.” You will be taken to this screen:
Now you are ready for the second step: adding music. You can select from Animoto’s collection (they actually have some decent music) or you can add your own. Your music must be in an mp3 file format.

A good free music site is freeplaymusic or you can Google “free music” and get dozens of sites, or you can pull music from your iTunes account. Or you can create your own music in GarageBand. If you find the music you want and it is not in an mp3 format but is in an ac3, for example, you will need to convert the music file at www.zamzar.com. The process is very simple, but you need to give Zamzar a real email that you can access (your school gmail? or gaggle?) because they will send you the download link for your converted file via email. It may take a while, so be patient.

If you select your music from Animoto’s collection, you will get a screen that looks like this: One benefit of using Animoto’s music is that you have one less link to add to your list of urls. At this point you need to click “save and continue,” and you will be brought to the next screen.

You need to do several things in this third section where you finalize your video. Choose which speed you want to your video to play (1/2, normal is in the center, and 2x–don’t recommend the last one), select your video cover screen, and then click “continue.” You are now at the end, and you need to add some information. Your finished screen should something like this slide.

Now you need to click the “create video” button, and you will be taken to the “Processing, Analyzing, and Rendering” screen. At this point your video is in the Animoto cue and is slowly working its way to being a finished movie.

You will not see your video until is it mixed and done, but if you do not like the mix you got, you can do a “1-click remix.”

The LAST STEP of this assignment is to get your movie trailer to your blog with the urls + image name.

Let’s start with getting your video to your blog. To get your code, you need to “play” your video, so go to “My Videos” and “play” your video. At the bottom right of your video (which is playing), you will see a blue “Video Toolbox.” Click on the video toolbox. Then, click on “Embed,” select the smallest size (432 x 240), and copy the code.

Then, go to your blog’s dashboard, “post,” “add new,” and click the html tab. You MUST be in html or your video won’t work. After you add your code for your video, while YOU ARE STILL IN HTML, copy/paste your urls + image name. If you want to see a great sample of a finished product, please go to Alison Nadraw’s blog (Alison, please remove the : after by).

If you have questions, you can Skype me or gmail me over the weekend.

Guest Blogger: William Kennington, junior, SHS
Cross-posted on PA DEN

Last week, on May 27, 2009, four groups at Salisbury High School in Allentown, PA presented their Integrated Project. IP is year-long endeavor for students who enroll in the courses of AP US History and Honors English 11. IP is a research-based project that incorporates a final multi-media presentation as well as a stage production that lasts for 45 minutes. We streamed our presentations using two backchannels, one focused on the stage and one on the projector screen. We had no problems streaming it, but the recorded videos were corrupt. You can still watch the two separate stream as they were the day we went live, but the downloaded video was buggy. Therefore, a compiled version of the presentation can not be made at this time, but we are working with ustream to resolve this issue. I have tried converting the presentation thus far with vixy.net, zamzar.com, ffmpeg, adobe media encoder, vlc, and other free media encoders. Ustream has been working on a way to convert their video directly through their website, but this feature is still unfinished and unavailable. Hopefully once this feature is implemented (or when we find a way to convert the video), we should be ready to release the compiled video for each of the four IP presentations. We used Discoverystreaming videos in creating our factual and counterfactual histories, so when we get this problem fixed, we can show you how factual Discoverystreaming videos can be used to make counterfactual scenariors look real.

Interesting and timely, Mogulus, which has often been a go-to choice, has changed its name and website. Mogulus, now Livestream, always supported multi-camera streaming but didn’t have have high quality resolution, but with the difficulties we have encountered, we might switch to Livestream. From their newsletter, here’s what’s new with Livestream:

Recently we changed our name from Mogulus to Livestream, and you can find us at our new home at www.livestream.com. As much as we loved our old name, it was time for a change that reflects our growth and more clearly communicates what we do. We hope you like “Livestream” as much as we do.

Along with the new brand and domain come a re-designed website, and most importantly for you, another simple way to broadcast from the Livestream website.

This new tool offers instant streaming from any page on our website. Just click the red ‘Broadcast Now’ button or go to your ‘My Account’ section.

Go live with one click from almost any webcam or camcorder, and chat or Twitter to promote your channel, all right within the application.

Of course you can still use Procaster (our downloadable desktop application) for the highest possible quality, but for instant no-fuss streaming, the new broadcaster is great.

Now that we’ve changed, what do you need to do?

In short, nothing!

Your channel pages and embedded players will continue to function just as they did before. You may want to update any links to your channel page (i.e. change from “www.mogulus.com/yourchannel” to “www.livestream.com/yourchannel”), but the old links will still work even if you don’t get around to it.

If you’re using the old logo, we’d appreciate it if you update it to the new Livestream logo. You can download it here.
» More Details

For more info on the change, below are a few links to the press release and related stories. Or, follow us on Twitter @livestreamcom.
Discoverystreaming
Ustream.tv
Livestream
IP (Integrated Project)
Education
Technology
Turbo Tagger