Animoto

Animoto is an web application through which you can create or produce videos  from photos, video clips and music.It is a video creation service which is available online and also through mobile. It was  launched as a website on August 14, 2007 with a vision of inspiring people to infuse their pictures with the magic and power of video and  share their lives. It was a combined venture of veterans of the entertainment industry including former producers at MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and ABC. It is an easy and interesting application which enables you to create extraordinary funfilled and interesting  videos using your own pictures, video clips, words and music. With two year of its launch in 2009, one million people across the world actively used Animoto for everything from special occasions like birthdays, weddings, and trips, to sending a quick special greeting, or just to share everyday moments. Sara Wilson called it a Animoto Revolution.It is adding new features thus expanding its scope and keeping up the interest of the users. '''Animoto website claims, “Turn your photos, video clips, and music into stunning video masterpieces to share with everyone. Fast, free, and shockingly easy!”''' Animoto encourages users to register and provides a limited version absolutely free. More features are available on the premium version. Though it started as free, about 10% of users who registered at the site end up paying money, so the company has had cash flow since October 2008. The new features are announced on the Blog.

How it Works? The beauty is the simplicity of the process. It has three broad steps

Step 1: Choose your images. Animoto lets you easily select photos and video clips from Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Instagram and others. You may also upload the images from your selection on your computer. With each picture there may be a story you would like to share, therefore , add your own words to tell your story. There are plenty of styles available to choose from. The video style you select determines the look and feel of your video. Each video style contains unique effects, backgrounds, and transitions that, coupled with your photos, video clips and music will create a unique, personalized experience. Some styles are abstract while others are themed for a special occasion or time of year. There’s an Animoto style for every story, event, or theme.

Step 2: Choose Music as it sets the mood and the tone of the video. There is collection of hundreds of tunes across dozens of different genres available in the plan you have selected. Music helps personalising the Animoto video. Choose a slower song, and your video will appear more subdued. A fast song will add to the intensity of transitions and effects. Animoto’s music library provides access to multiple genres of songs. With Animoto Plus, you can use this music for your personal videos shared on Facebook, Twitter, and your personal blog. You may just upload your own MP3. If you want to customise your video upload your own mp3 to be rendered in the video.

Step 3: is click on Produce and share the video. Video is created and you may easily share it through a whole lot of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, email, from our iPhone app. You can even download your video to a DVD. Animoto’s cinematic technology does its magic and in minutes brings it all to life with a beautifully orchestrated production you can share with family and friends. Some of the sample videos can be seen on their website.

Features of Animoto •High definition videos in several different resolutions are available like web-friendly 360p videos, 480p videos and 720p high definition videos. This enables usage as per the requirement. •Cinematic Technology is used which analyzes and combines images, video clips, words and music with the same sophisticated post-production techniques that are used in television & film. It works behind the scenes and thinks and processes like an actual director and editor. •It enables Creation and sharing of videos via email, text, Facebook, Twitter or mobile app. You'll be able to create, share, and watch your videos anywhere you go. You may simply save it on your PC.
 * The Animoto logo is displayed in the final version of the video in the freeware version. The Pro videos have no Animoto logo in the video.

References:
 * http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/199000
 * http://animoto.com/
 * http://animoto.com/sample-videos
 * http://techcrunch.com/2009/06/17/animoto-is-already-cash-flow-positive-but-raises-another-round-to-go-to-11/

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