From The Guys at Animoto

Sneak preview! Animoto holiday cards

animoto — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:07:22 +0000

Planning to send out holiday cards this year? Animoto is cooking up a few new beautiful video packages that we think you’ll love.

They’re not quite ready yet, but we couldn’t help our excitement. Watch the a sneak peak below. Coming to Animoto on December 1st!

~ by jason on november 11th, 2009.

Animoto for Photography ad campaign: #4 of 10

animoto — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:56:48 +0000

Thus far in our ad campaign featuring the world’s best professional photographers, we’ve presented the incredibly talented Vicki Taufer, Kevin Kubota, and David Ziser. This month, we are proud to present the one and only Kirk Voclain.

Kirk is the award-winning owner and photographer of Kirk Voclain Photography in Louisiana. Kirk is one of the top portrait photographers in the country, honored with numerous Fuji and Kodak Masterpiece Awards, and he is published in many popular photography magazines. When he isn’t shooting, Kirk manages Pro4uM.com, an online community he founded of professional photographers.

Get the dirt on how Kirk Voclain uses Animoto to score every senior portrait session in town: http://animoto.com/go/kirk.

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Check out the full line-up of Animoto’s featured professional photographers:

Vicki Taufer	Kevin Kubota	David Ziser	Kirk Voclain	#5 coming soon (December)
#6 coming soon (January)	#7 coming soon (February)	#8 coming soon (March)	#9 coming soon (April)	#10 coming soon (May)

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~ by jason on november 10th, 2009.

Animoto partners with LIFE.com

animotobecky — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:06:57 +0000

With over 8 million images of history’s most iconic figures, places, and events, LIFE.com offers the largest and most diverse collection of photography available online. We’re massively honored to be making a selection of LIFE.com’s images available to our users in our image collections.

When making an Animoto video, you can select LIFE.com images in our Travel category and in our new Animals category. Stunning images of some of the world’s most famous locations and adorable animals can now be included in your videos.

Need inspiration on how to use these images? Check out LIFE.com to see how they are already using Animoto. Animoto videos using images of Marilyn Monroe, the historic moon landing, and Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington are being featured on their site now.

And as with any new feature/addition to our site, let us know how you end up using these images. We love hearing from you all and can’t wait to see some of the creative ways you use these iconic LIFE images in your Animoto videos.

We heart SmugMug

animoto — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:04:37 +0000

We absolutely love everything about SmugMug… from their cutting-edge services and impeccable customer service to the transparency and personality that their website boasts. The guys that run that company are awesome and we’ve always considered the quality of their entire user experience and customer-centric approach a huge inspiration for us. So you can only image how excited we are to announce this partnership and integration here at PhotoPlus in NYC.

SmugMug users can now create Animoto videos from their photos and video clips in their SmugMug accounts, while Animoto users can export their personalized video creations straight to SmugMug for storage, sharing, and reselling.

To create an Animoto video from within SmugMug, you simply click the “Buy” menu from within a gallery and select “Create an Animoto Video.” You’re then redirected to Animoto.com and placed directly into the video creation process with your SmugMug photos and video clips already loaded. When the video is finished, you open the “Export” menu from Animoto’s video toolbox and select “SmugMug” to export the completed video back to SmugMug.

SmugMug’s CEO Don MacAskill kindly hosted Brad and Robert Scobble over at SmugMug HQ. Scobble made this great video:

Animoto and SmugMug will be showcasing together in booths #465 and #467 at the PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo in New York City, October 22-24, 2009.

~ by jason on october 24th, 2009.

Free entrance to PhotoPlusExpo NYC as an Animoto VIP

animoto — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:08:45 +0000

It’s crazy to think that we launched Animoto for Photography just one year ago at PhotoPlusExpo.

Since then, we’ve attended nearly every national photography convention in the country and even some abroad, got some of the biggest names in the industry declaring their love for us, and managed to roll-out a whole slew of features specifically developed with our Pro-Photography users in mind.

Coming full-circle, we’ll be attending PhotoPlusExpo again this year at our stomping ground, the Javits Center. From Thursday October 22nd through Saturday the 24th, the Animoto crew will be holding down the fort at our PhotoPlusExpo booth. Best of all is… you can get in for free!

For all our tri-state area fans/users/early adopters/newbies, we encourage you to come by our booth and say “hi,” as the entire NYC staff will be taking turns manning our booth. We love meeting our users and hearing your thoughts about your Animoto experiences. It would be great if you could make it out.

Here is information on how you can snag free entrance to the show. (Tickets are normally $49!) Enter the VIP code: MOTONYC at this registration form.

We look forward to seeing you at PhotoPlusExpo!

~ by jason on october 19th, 2009.

Animoto for Photography ad campaign: #3 of 10

animoto — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:31:42 +0000

Thus far in our ad campaign featuring the world’s best professional photographers, we’ve presented the incredibly talented Vicki Taufer and the insanely creative Kevin Kubota. This month, we’re excited to be introducing our next self-portrait from featured photographer #3, David Ziser.

David is an internationally renowned wedding photographer. Extolled by The Dallas Morning News as a “wedding photographer extraordinaire,” David is one of 101 photographers worldwide who hold the highest honor of “Fellow” bestowed by the American Society of Photographers.

Learn how David Ziser routinely does the impossible using Animoto for Photography: http://animoto.com/go/david.

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Check out the full line-up of Animoto’s featured professional photographers:

Vicki Taufer	Kevin Kubota	David Ziser	#4 coming soon (November)	#5 coming soon (December)
#6 coming soon (January)	#7 coming soon (February)	#8 coming soon (March)	#9 coming soon (April)	#10 coming soon (May)

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~ by jason on october 8th, 2009.

Animoto Music Collection now featuring Sellaband Artists

animoto — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:00:08 +0000

Chuck D of Public Enemy fame recently said that Sellaband “will completely redefine the way the music business operates,” even going so far as funding Public Enemy’s next album through the site. And who are we to argue with Chuck D?

Ever since our inception, Animoto has always been committed to featuring up and coming independent artists on our site, allowing for their tunes to act as the soundtrack to your videos. As such, it made sense to work with fellow Amazon-funded start-up, Sellaband. This week we have added to our Music Collection songs from Sellaband’s insanely talented roster of artists. The songs are available in both our consumer & commercial collections.

Sellaband’s model is truly unique in that artists put their music up on the site. If 5,000 “believers” donate $10 to get an artist’s album made, the artist gets to head to the studio with some of the industry’s top producers and cut an album. The “believers” in turn not only get a limited edition CD once it’s produced, but are essentially investors in the CD’s sales. They get a cut of the pie once the album starts selling like hot cakes (too many pastry references? I must be hungry….)

Be sure to check out the following artists now featured in our Music Collection:

Angie Arsenault – Singer Songwriter
BulletProof Messenger – Indie Rock
Daniel Ward-Murphy – Singer Songwriter
Francis Rodino – Singer Songwriter
Julia Marcell- Singer Songwriter
Lunic- Indie Rock
Mysti Mayhem – Singer Songwriter
So What – Indie Rock

~ by rebecca on october 8th, 2009.

Amazing videos from our contest winners

animoto — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:17:30 +0000

Congratulations to our ten winners, Kate, Chelsey, Joe, Bill, Mary, Troy, Nicole, Mark, Lisa and Creighton!

From skydives to bachelorette parties, mini-golf outings to vacation recaps, we’ve seen some incredibly fun Animoto videos these past five weeks. We’re inspired by the creativity of our users, particularly now that they’re adding video clips to their pieces.

Watch the winning videos »

And after a long and contentious debate among our judges, we have finally chosen our grand prize winner. Congrats to Creighton H. from West Jordan, Utah! He used Animoto to capture the memories of his college years (with some hilarious video clips!) to share with his friends and family.

Watch Creighton’s video »

We will be flying Creighton and a chosen comrade out for an action-packed weekend in New York City. We’re looking forward to meeting you both here at Animoto HQ.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest.

~ by megan on october 6th, 2009.

Video contest finalists: Week 5 of 5

animoto — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:32:21 +0000

What a great way to end this contest! The entries submitted this week were everything we hoped they’d be and more. Our two winners this week clearly know how to have a good time and make a great Animoto video. Go ahead, try not to smile when watching these – we dare you.

Miss Kate’s new husband is a lucky man, if Lisa S.’s video of the bachelorette party is any indication. When was the last time you saw a woman hike up a mountain in a puffy white dress? Beautiful scenery, beautiful friends… that must have been one fun night.

Our other winner this week, Creighton H. of West Jordan, UT, certainly had an awesome year in college with his friends. Road trips! Parties! Goofy wigs! We’re glad you didn’t let your schooling get in the way of your education, Creighton.

This was an amazing five weeks, everyone. Thank you to all of you who submitted your videos! Be sure to stay tuned as we announce the Grand Prize Winner on Tuesday, October 6 for that trip to New York City, which includes two nights at the SoHo Grand Hotel, and tickets to a show!

Video contest finalists: Week 4 of 5

animoto — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:49:18 +0000

Well, we were right – week 4 of the Video Contest really was awesome, and our best one yet It was a really tough choice, as this week’s finalists both showcased some great, easy ways to jazz up an Animoto video.

Mary N. of Houston, TX submitted a video of her trip to New York City. Check out that opening video clip! Mary didn’t mind sharing her secret to that cool effect: She set the camera up on a hot dog stand as her friends stood still and disappeared one by one. Then, she went into Windows Movie Maker and cut out the footage she didn’t want. A few minutes on Animoto later, Mary had a video worthy of an I Love NY commercial.

Nicole D. of Pleasanton, CA really showed off her creativity with her “Rock and Roll” video. Nicole also shared with us how she got that eye-catching punk-rock look – it was all done in Photoshop with a few simple steps.

That’s one cool third grade teacher!

Next week is the final week, everyone. Send us your best videos and maybe you, too, can see your name up on our Contest Winner Page!

~ by megan on september 29th, 2009.