This past week I spent some time making an online video for one of my IT21wildcard activities, creating a digital story.  I have had zero experience with video making but have heard sites like Animoto make it pretty simple.  I wanted something that you could easily upload photos from your computer, add soundtrack and text, and provide a visually appealing display of the photos.  I also wanted this for FREE!  I ended up creating the video twice, that's right, twice!  To keep the story short, read the fine print on some of these web 2.0 tools people!  I was just too excited logging into Animoto and playing around with it, that while I saw "free version", I failed to see that all videos created with the free version will display the "Animoto" watermark over the video the entire time! Whoops!  I also figured ok, how much could it possibly be for membership, maybe it will be worth it.  Well it's $39 per month and $299 yearly.  I found this to be waaaay too high for a tool that I will not use frequently enough to be worth it, so on with my search I went.

After google-searching free programs similar to Animoto, I came across Stupeflix.  While the name wasn't exactly enticing, the simple options the free version offered was very attractive and just enough for what I needed.

As we have wildcard activities for both Adult Learning and IT21, it is worth checking out.  Click on the image below!