In the online world, be that social media or just your own blog, video is king. But not every business owner is an amateur film-maker, and not everyone has someone on staff capable of filling in the gap. So if you need video but have no idea how to make one, where do you turn?
The simplest program I’ve found is Animoto. And the best part? You don’t actually have to shoot any video at all!
Ease of Use
Animoto provides pre-built video templates each with its own theme and music that use the photos you’ve taken and streams them into a video format. All that’s necessary from you is to insert your photos and hit create, providing an instant video. But that’s if you only want the simplest method.
Customization
There are plenty of options to do things differently if you don’t like everything about the template you choose.
- Change Your Background Music – All you have to do is left-click the title of the music from the creation page, and it will let you choose music from a list. It even lets you load your own music, if you want something specific.
- Add Text – You can add text at any point in the video simply by choosing the ‘T’ instead of the photo icon. It’s a great way to cue the viewer that different types of products are coming or anything else you’d like to use it for.
- Add Logo – If you have a company logo, you can add that as well. There’s a selection bar on the left side of your screen with a convenient Logo button.
- Spotlight Individual Photos – If you want certain photos to show up more prominently in your video, that selection bar mentioned above also has a spotlight option!
- Increase or Decrease Time Between Photos – You can change the spacing between your photos to extend or reduce the run time of your video. Of course, keeping it viewable is of paramount importance.
And the best part about Animoto? The site is free to use! Of course, the free version doesn’t have all the templates or music options they subscription version has, but there will be plenty there to get you started!
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