Animoto

A guide for using Animoto with Students

By: Laura Kendrick

What is ANIMOTO?

• Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows.

• Create an unlimited amount of 20 minute videos, using up to 600 photos or video clips.

• Easy to Use – Anyone can create videos within minutes. No video editing experience is required.

• Licensed Music – Animoto has over 2,000 tracks from Triple Scoop Music and other partners available for use in videos.

• Create HD Quality Videos

Why Use Animoto in the Classroom?• Create persuasive commercials or public service announcements about a topic.

• Summarize the main idea of a passage with images, text, and video.

• Create video flashcards for vocabulary review and practice.

• Great for brainstorming, pre-writing, and storyboarding.

• Create a simulated field trip.

• Present end of the year videos.

• Have students create videos about themselves at the beginning of the year to get to know one another.

• Great way to introduce students to new learning concepts.

• Great way to evoke student interest.

• Create videos on topics in Science and Social Studies.

• Allows students to showcase pictures they have taken.

• Encourages learning though technology

Setting up an Account and Logging in

• 1. Open the following web address – http://animoto.com

• 2. Enter your username and password. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for a free teacher’s account. Follow these directions for signing up.

• Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on Animoto for Education. You will be prompted to enter your name, school, and school email address. You will then receive a promotion code in order to receive Animoto for Education free of charge.

How to Use Animoto - Getting Started

• Once you are logged in, your dashboard containing all videos will appear.

• To create a new project, click on CREATE.

• Next, you will choose a style, or template, for your video. The templates are organized into

different categories.

• Once you have selected a template, click on CREATE VIDEO.

Do not worry about music and pictures at this point.

These can be edited later.

How to Use Animoto – Adding Media• Start by adding a Title Page by clicking on the T.

• Type in a Title and Subtitle. Click SAVE.

• Then begin adding photos.

Choose to add photos from your computer,

Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, Flickr, or SmugMug.

You may also use images and videos from

Animoto’s collection.

Title

Sub Title

How to Use Animoto – Adding Media• Images and videos must be less than 5 megabytes. Only 10 seconds of a video or allowed to

be inserted, but there is an editing tool to trim the 10 seconds that you want included in the

project.

• Repeat steps for inserting pictures from the options given. If you want to add several

pictures at once from the same place, hold the Ctrl key down while selecting the pictures

with the mouse. Then select ADD ITEMS.

• Once all pictures are loaded, click and drag to rearrange images in the order that you want

them to appear in the video.

How to Use Animoto – Adding Text and Captions

• After the images and videos are in the

correct order, you can add text or captions

to each picture.

• Click on the bottom of the image in which

you would like to add text.

• The image will appear. Type in text. Click

SAVE.

• Repeat process for selected images and

videos.TEXT

How to Use Animoto – Adding and Editing Music

• You can choose to use the default music for the template you chose, choose music from

Animoto’s collection, or upload your own music. You can also trim the music as well

as change the speed of the transition, or pace, of each photo.

• The music is at the top of your project. To change the song, click on the music note

next the song. You can listen to different music to insert into your project.

• Once you have selected your music, you can edit the pace of the images and trim the

music to start and stop at your preference. Click to the right across from the song title.

SONGEDITING

How to Use Animoto – Editing Music & Pace• To edit the selected music, click on the right hand side that looks like this:

• To change where the music starts or ends (within the song) drag the bars to the preferred start and stop time.

• If you want the images to appear slower, drag the bar closer to SLOW. If you want to images to appear quicker, drag the bar closer to FAST. SAVE.

• (You can preview your video at any time and make changes). Next slide will explain more.

DRAG BARS

• To preview your video at any time, click on PREVIEW VIDEO

at the bottom left corner of the screen.

• If no other changes need to be made, you can PRODUCE the video.

• If you would like to make changes to the video, CONTINUE EDITING.

• If changes are necessary, repeat steps on the previous slides for editing.

How to Use Animoto – Previewing & Finalizing

How to Use Animoto – Finalizing• After selecting PRODUCE video, you will

need to give your project a TITLE.

• Next, you have the option to DATE the project.

• Your name will appear under PRODUCER NAME.

• You can also add a brief DESCIPTION of the video project.

• You have the option to select a cover image for the video project. Click on COVER IMAGE to change the picture.

• When fields have been entered, click on FINISH.

TITLE

DATE

COVER IMAGE

PRODUCER NAME

FINISH

DESCRIPTION

How to Use Animoto – Sharing

• Once you produce the video, you have

the option to share it in many different

ways.

• Click on how you wish to share the

video. Directions will be straight

forward on what to do and how to

share your video.

• At any time, you also have the option

to edit the video you created.

• Here is the link to the video I created:

Animoto Video Example