DigiActive.org

Tool: Animoto converts photos into video

Tool: http://animoto.com

Tool Description: An online service that picks out your photos and music to combine them into a short (30 seconds for free) video. Animoto’s website says its engine analyzes users’ photos and music — and takes into account the music’s genre, rhythm and tempo — to generate a video. And, it says, no two videos are ever the same.

Activist Application: Could be great for activists who want to make a YouTube-style video about their cause but don’t have the skills or software for traditional video editing.  You can use images and music created by people in your cause or use free Creative Commons music and photos (with attribution!).  A great source for Creative Commons photos is Flickr’s Creative Commons collection and for music try Jamendo.

Downsides:  To create longer videos, you’ll have to pay. Animoto however says it supports not-for-profits and other humanitarian causes with free pro accounts.  I also had some difficulty in uploading the video to my YouTube account, and in downloading it, though it went easily to my Facebook page.

Ease of Use: Very user-friendly. Downloads pictures from some online sites too.

Animoto promises all “automatic” operations, completely customized, done in the speed of “just minutes”, no two
videos are ever the same, unlimited shorts for free (but you pay for longer-than-30-seconds), and a tool “created by TV and film producers”.

Hat-tip: Esra’a El Shafei of Mideast Youth

Image: Frederick Noronha