Wideo - Create Animated Videos With Voiceovers

Last month I introduced you to a neat video creation tool called Wideo. Wideo allows you to create short, animated videos and Common Craft like videos in your web browser. Today, Wideo announced that you can now upload your own audio files into your video projects. This means that you could record a voiceover and add it to your video.


WIDEOO REEL ENG NEW LOGO from Agustin Esperon on Vimeo.


Applications for Education
With Wideo's new voiceover tool you could really have your students creating explanatory videos in the Common Craft style. The art of Common Craft videos is the way in which confusing topics are boiled down to a concise explanation. If your students can do the same with a topic in your class, they can prove that they know the material.

My recommendation for a simple voice recording tool is SoundCloud.

Video Editing Service Pixorial Drastically Increases Free Storage

Pixorial is an online video editing service that I tried and liked this summer. The drawback was that the free plan only allowed you 1GB of storage. Today, Pixorial announced that the free plan now provides 7GB of storage. Additionally, Pixorial has brought back a free plan for educators that provides a free pro account for teachers in addition to the 7GB free accounts for students. You do have to fill out an application form to get the educator plan.

Here's what I had to say about Pixorial back in August:
The thing that I like the most about Pixorial is that the video creation and editing tools are laid out in an intuitive user interface. At no point was I wondering what any of the editing tools did or what I needed to click on next.

The only part of Pixorial that I found slightly confusing at the beginning was a prompt for installing the Pixorial desktop uploader. It appeared to me that I had to install that uploader, but it turns out that I didn't. The uploader just makes it quicker and easier to upload multiple files to your account at once.

To create a video in Pixorial you can upload pictures and raw video footage then organize that media into the sequence in which you want it to appear. You can insert transitions between elements by selecting them from the transitions gallery. If you would like to add a soundtrack to your production you can select one from the Pixorial gallery or upload your own audio files. Pixorial also makes it easy to add text to each picture or video that you upload. Just click on "overlay text" in the video editor when you're viewing the element that you want to add text to.

WeVideo Further Bridges the Gap Between Animoto and iMovie

WeVideo is a great online video editor that I have been sharing with teachers everywhere for the last year. This week WeVideo launched two new tools that sit in that space between simplistic Animoto videos and full-fledged desktop video editing with something like iMovie.

The new WeVideo YouTube editor and the new WeVideo Chrome video editor offer two creation and editing modes. The "storyboard" mode is designed for beginners who don't have any experience editing videos. The "storyboard" mode features a collection of video themes that users customize by dragging and dropping media into a theme template. The "timeline" mode is for users who have some experience editing video and would like to have a little more control over the timing and transitions in their videos.

WeVideo now allows users to connect their Facebook, Instagram, Dropbox, Google Drive, and Flickr accounts with their WeVideo accounts. This means that users can directly import their images and other media rather than having to upload media from their desktops.

The original WeVideo product is still available too. The original offering offers the most control over all elements of the video editing process. One of the key features of the editor is the ability to have multiple audio and video tracks blended into one video.

The chart below shows all of the features of WeVideo's products.

Applications for Education
A key element of all of WeVideo's products is that they are collaborative tools. Using WeVideo students can work together remotely to create a video production. The three products from WeVideo provide a nice progression from beginner to advanced skill levels. You could have students start the school year using the "storyboard" mode and end the year using WeVideo's full featured tool to completely control the video creation process.