Making videos the easy way with Animoto

I'm super excited to be able to share this find with you! Animoto has just given me another excuse to make home videos - only this time around they look professional and don't take up hours of my time. This is truly the simplest way to create good looking videos and I am now completely addicted. You can simply go to the site - set up a free account and get started making your own videos! You can create 30 second videos for free and if you upgrade to a plus account your videos can be as long as you want. Another perk of the plus account is that you have more style options when you create your video and you can download the finished product to your computer. It's only $5 a month or $30 for the whole year - this is far cheaper than almost any video software you can buy (and it does the work for you)!

Here's the breakdown in 4 simple steps:

1. You choose the style you like for your video
2. You upload home videos and images for your video - as they upload you get to look at a kind of grid. It shows the clips and images in little squares that you can duplicate, highlight, and place text before with the click of a button. You can also quickly and easily trim your home videos to lots of 10 second clips (can only use 10 second clips at a time) and you can choose to have sound or no sound with the clip. Lastly, you can move the clips, images, and text around till it looks the way you like.
3. You choose your music - you can pick from the provided selections from Animoto or upload your own mp3s. It will even let you choose the exact point in the song you want it to begin playing from.
4. Finalize - basically you click a button and Animoto does the rest. When you video is done they will email you. I found it to take anywhere from 5 -15 minutes.

After your movie is complete you can easily share it on sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and more. You can also embed your video, email your video, or download it to your computer. Downloading it would be awesome if you wanted to burn it to a DVD for home viewing or a special gift. You can also get the free iPhone app that allows you to watch all of your videos on your phone. You can share the videos straight from your phone too. I emailed my husband one of our videos from the carpool lane. One extremely cool app feature is the ability to create videos from your phone - you can use your already taken iPhone images or take images right then and there. Pick out the photos for your video, choose some music, and voila - instant video on the fly. I love this idea for including my husband when we are at the park (or really anywhere fun he gets stuck missing out on) - you could snap some pics of the event and create a video of that moment. You could even have it emailed to him before leaving the event.

I made two different videos to share with you - one is a little holiday recap (this one has video clips in it) and the other is of a trip with my husband. You can see how simply choosing different styles really changes the feel of your video. Take a look and then check out Animoto to make your own - remember it's FREE to make a short video!!

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