From The Guys at Animoto

By popular demand, we’ve cranked out a few more highly requested features:
– Shuffle all your images around in random order with the click of a button
– Select blocks of items by holding down Shift
– Drag multiple items around your workspace
– Easily move images up and down with the help of auto-scrolling

Admittedly, we probably should have got these things done a long time ago. Once you start using these features, you’ll probably be like us and think, “how did I ever use Animoto without these?” Sometimes we’re guilty here of focusing too much on the “big cool stuff” and forgetting to tackle the smaller more obvious things.

Anyway, enjoy!  There’s more where this came from, so stay tuned….

~ by jason on september 24th, 2009.

More than 60 new tracks were added to our commercial music library this week. Among them are tons of instrumental tracks – so many, in fact, that we have a brand new Instrumental Genre.

We hear from a lot of our pro-users that while they will absolutely love a song, the lyrics just don’t quite match the vibe of the video. Well, we’ve got you covered now. The library now has tons of quality songs spanning various genres, none of which have lyrics. Let us know some of your favorites (I’m partial to Floating Lanes by Anomaly).

We’re also happy to say the commercial music library now boasts Grammy & Emmy nominated artists. With the addition of the insanely talented Gunnar Madsen & Peter Himmelman to our Children’s genre, ensuring that no matter the type of video you need to make, you’ll have the perfect commercially licensed song to act as its soundtrack.

If you have any ideas for other genres/types of songs you’d like to see us support, don’t be a stranger!

~ by rebecca on september 23rd, 2009.

A great third week of the video contest! This week’s finalists bring us back to a innocent, more helmet-heavy time in our lives.

Kate P. of Brookline, MA created the first winning video.  She showed how a new bike can really bring some color into a kid’s life!

Chelsey K. of Mount Pleasant, MI submitted the second awesome video.  Chelsey gave us an adrenaline-pumping recap of the Algonac Football team.

Week 4’s going to be awesome as well – we can just feel it.  Send us your best videos and maybe you, too, can see your name up on our Contest Winner Page!

We’re here in San Francisco at this year’s TechCrunch50 (TC50) where we’ve partnered again to produce the many highlight videos that play throughout the conference up on the two big screens and various plasmas around the venue.

The “best of” video below features Chamillionaire’s awesome new single, “Good Morning,” which samples “Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’.”  The track is awesome.  Chamillionaire served as a judge on the last panel here and you’ll see him toward the end of the video.

Congratulations to all of this year’s TC50 startups and to the winners Redbeacon!

(Jason, Jeff Digi Lange, Chamillionaire & Brad.)

It’s Week 2 and the competition is heating up. It’s time to showcase our two action-packed vids from this week’s two finalists.

Troy A. of Rockford, MI created the first winning video. He took his family out to the lake and got some great pictures and footage (by the way, can we come next time?).

Bill M. of Saratoga, CA submitted the second awesome video. He and his two daughters took over the local science museum. Kinda makes us want to go back to school… almost. Check it out!

Can’t wait to see what the next video entries bring!

Send us your most creative videos and maybe you’ll see your name up on our Contest Winner Page.

Last month, our featured professional photographer was the lovely Vicki Taufer. Not surprisingly, the response was crazy awesome; her mesmerizing photo speaks for itself. And so, the ad campaign continues.

This month, we’re excited to be introducing our next self-portrait from featured photographer #2, Kevin Kubota! Since he’s not one to brag, we’ll do it for him. =)

If you already know him or have seen him speak at conferences & tradeshows, then you already know that Kevin is without question one of the coolest, most talented and innovative people in the industry. He is the world famous photographer behind the Kubota PhotoDesign studio. His work is featured in numerous publications and American Photo Magazine named Kevin one of the “Top 10 Wedding Photographers in the World”. And perhaps Kevin’s most significant contribution to the industry is his award-winning Kubota Image Tools software and creative workshops. They have empowered professional photographers around the world to do some truly incredible things with their work.

Oh, and did we mention that Kevin also uses Animoto?! You can find out more here: http://animoto.com/go/kevin.

…

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

Vicki Taufer	Kevin Kubota	#3 coming soon (October)	#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)

…

Here’s some of the press so far on Animoto’s new video clips feature.  Have you tried it?

	“Animoto just got even more awesome.”
	“Animoto makes video edits a snap.”
	“The result is something to behold.”
	“Keep your audience riveted.”
	“Extremely snazzy.”
	“The results? Simply stunning.”
	“Very impressive…. Love it…. So cool.”
	“I’m a huge fan of Animoto, the kings of easy to produce videos.”
	“One of the most impressive new ideas on the web.”
	“Animoto does a great job making the process simple and intuitive.”

~ by jason on september 8th, 2009.

Thanks for everyone who has submitted their vids this past week!

The emails have been pouring in and our judges are overwhelmed with all your creativity. You can submit a new video every week, so keep ‘em coming! And don’t forget about our prizes: the Flip Mino HD Camcorder or the Vholdr ContourHD wearable camcorders. And the biggest prize of all—a trip to NYC!  Enter the contest here.

We’re excited to announce our first two winners hailing from the Midwest: Mark B. of Plainfield, IL and Joe F. of St Joseph, MO.

Mark’s decision to jump out of a plane yielded some killer footage.  Here is his entry title, “My First Skydive!”

And Joe’s family discovers that mini golfing is a much safer, but just as fun, alternative.  Presenting, “Mini Golf with the Lil’ Ones.”

Can’t wait to see what other surprises our users have in store for us.

Need some cool video to beef up your Animoto videos?  Check out our video clips collection courtesy of Getty Images and iStockphoto!

Sunsets, fireworks, flowers, sharks, aerial shots, planes, trains, automobiles, buses, boats, the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire States building, the Great Pyramid, the Colosseum, the Space Needle, and tons of other video clips to try out.

~ by jason on september 1st, 2009.

To celebrate the launch of the video clip feature, we’re holding a contest in which you can win an action-packed trip for two to New York City!

All you have to do is submit your best video.  Sooooo easy, right?

Here’s the deal: each week for five weeks, we’ll announce 2 finalists, and just for being a finalist you’ll get a Flip Mino HD (awesome) or a VholdR ContourHD helmet camcorder (really awesome).

Then at the end we’ll announce the grand winner, who we’re totally hooking up with a trip for two to New York City, including airfare, two nights at the Soho Grand Hotel, two tickets to a live taping of a show in New York, and dinner/drinks with the Animoto guys.

For full contest details, head here: http://animoto.com/video/contest

Start sending them videos our way!

~ by jason on august 26th, 2009.