I used Vuvox to create the scrolling visual with Santa holding a bag of toy's and the scrolling text quotes (“Rudolph with your nose so bright …”), as well as the clip at the very end of the video (for more about Vuvox, check out this post). I also used a couple other programs to create content. (Thanks to Glen and my son Ian for their great work!). Friend and artist Glen Cotler also used Photoshop, to create those great pictures of Rudolph playing guitar. He also used Photoshop to wrap Santa's arm and hands to appear to hold and play the bass guitar (I then used Paint to create different versions of his original edited picture). My older son has become rather adept at using Adobe's Photoshop, and was kind enough to “ ‘shop” these pictures for me, inserting Rudolph and manipulating the image's colors and positioning to make it work better within the context of the picture. For example, you will notice various historical pictures (like Reagan at the Berlin Wall, or Lincoln's Inauguration) which feature Rudolph flying along in the sky. Some of the images required some editing in order to make them appear as I wanted. My primary source of these images was Flickr (I included references and links to all such images in the comments section of the video itself).
After having learned about Creative Commons a few months ago, I made a point of seeking out images that were free to use and manipulate. Others I searched out and found on the Internet.
Some of these I took or made myself, like the pictures of the stuffed Rudolph toys or the elves with the guitar (I made this using Microsoft Paint, which as you are all probably aware, comes free with the Windows Operating System). What I'm going to focus on in this post is the making of the video.įirst I needed the visual content – the collection of photos, pictures, and video clips that would be used to compile the music video. Suffice it to say that I used my Korg D3200 Digital Studio (a powerful yet affordable ‘studio-in-a-box' from Korg) to record and engineer the music. Naturally, it starts with the music, but that's really a separate discussion. Many of the tools I used to create this video are the kinds of tools that have helped enable this transition. A fundamental concept behind what is now commonly referred to as “Web 2.0†was the transition from Internet surfers mostly just pulling content from the Internet to the wide adoption of tools to create and ‘push' content out to the Internet. I occasionally get asked what it takes to create videos like the one I made to accompany this year's “musical Christmas cardâ€, my version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (or last year's rendition of “ God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemenâ€). Introduce blended learning and transform classroom lessons into visual experiences that will stick for a lifetime.Join me on a little diversion from Ed Tech, to explore some fun Web 2.0 tools that I use to create music videos. CREATE A MARKETING VIDEOįlip the classroom, impress your teachers. Visual marketing - from brand awareness and explainer videos to sharing your quarterly ROI and annual marketing plans in a visually engaging way - makes a deeper impact and accelerates your company’s growth. Delivering your internal comms via video, animation, and visual content supports an engaged and connected company culture. LEARN MOREįight information silos, email overload, and inconsistent communications to bridge the communication gap in your organization.
Creating visual experiences makes for integrated, bottom-up learning that bridges the skill gap in your organization. Training videos are just the first step to transforming the way your company grows. Marketing strategy and lead generation with results you can measureįor teachers & students to inspire creativity and storytelling that will impress the whole classįrom talent acquisition to change management, visual communication helps your business stand out while you attract top talent, onboard new employees effectively, and retain them for the long haul.