Courtesy of Lindsey Dawson.
I'm having such fun online with a cool tool you can find at www.animoto.com
All you do is gather some pictures and brief video clips, add some text, choose a background theme, pick some music, arrange it all in the order you want, and send it to Animoto.
In a few minutes (yes, mere minutes!) they email you that your video is ready to view and you can do whatever you want with it – remix or edit to your heart's content, send to friends, put on your website, embed it in blogs. You can make 60-second videos for free, or sign up for a paid subscription for a month or a year, which gives you an ever bigger range of clever tools.
Check out this video that I’ve made about my upcoming “Story of My Life" workshop, on November 21, at Eden Garden in Epsom.
Of course, these videos would be terrific for invitations or celebrations, or post-holiday or party wrap-ups. Isn’t it amazing how clever internet services are becoming? I’m finding new diversions almost every day.
Mind you, I’m also reading a very interesting new book, ‘The Shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember’. Author Nicholas Carr outlines in its good old-fashioned paper pages all the ways in which the web isn’t actually making us any smarter than our grandparents were.
We might be quicker, speedier and better at multi-tasking – but the more time we spend messing about in front of a screen, says Carr, the more distracted and unfocused we are becoming. It’s a spooky thought.
Mmm. Am only halfway through the book, I have to confess. But I will finish it, truly. After I’ve played some more on Animoto. And been into Facebook. And done a tweet or two. And sync’d my phone. And caught up on some favourite blogs. Yes, Mr Carr, consider me well and truly distracted!
