Well folks, I finally got my first voicemail feedback last week after begging you for over a month. Yes, Devin Rose from St. Joseph’s Vanguard sent me a message asking me a couple of questions. First, he wanted to know how I made my video intros and outros. Also, he asked how I found the music that I use in my podcast and the videos that I’ve done. My friend, your questions are about to be answered. Not only that, I’m sending you a $25 Amazon gift card for leaving me the first voicemail.
How to Make Easy Video Intros
I’m going to share the secret of making professional looking videos in only a few minutes: Animoto (<– affiliate link). I;ve been using the business version of Animoto for the last year. It is an extremely easy way to make a whole bunch of great video slideshows and intros. That’s what I’ve been using for my videos. Here are some examples below:
In order to do what I do legally, you need to buy the business version. It’s a bit expensive, but I think it’s worth it. But, I want to list the pros and cons:
Pros of the business version.
Very fast and easy to make videos.
You get 100+ royalty free music choices.
Hi-def videos when you need them.
Cons
It’s a bit expensive.
The videos tend to look the same after a while.
People who use Animoto know that you are using an Animoto video.
Overall, I definitely recommend the service. But listen to my podcast for a more opinionated view of the web application.
Royalty-Free Music
When it comes to music that you can use for your podcast, you get what you pay for. If you are looking for free music, they tend to not be very good. I bought my podcast intro music from Music Bakery. Each track runs about $50. There are other sites like Jamendo and Smartsound that run about the same. But the music is great quality and help you to build your brand. The downside is that other people may use the same songs (listen to the podcast to find out who else uses my intro).
Hope these answers help! If anyone has a question, give me a call on my 24/7 voicemail line at 714-643-5301. Your questions and feedback make this blog and podcast to keep going!
Not too long ago, I was followed by Petros Media on my Twitter account. Unfortunately, somehow I got distracted and never got around to checking out their site. Boy was that a huge mistake. Petros TV is a fantastic site that brings together Catholic media projects and video into one easy place. Whether it is from CatholicTV, EWTN, or independent film-makers, the site is a great collection of some of the best Catholic media out there. Think of it as being the “Catholic Hulu” (it even looks like it).
If you get a chance this week, head on over and check them out. They publish pretty regularly, so there is always something new. We need more Catholic art, so please support them in any way that you can. Whether it’s commenting on their site, or donating to their cause, whatever you can do in support of them will help the Church tremendously (I am big on supporting Catholic art if you can tell).
If there wasn’t enough reasons to love Tumblr over Posterous, they finally sealed the deal with me when they released their latest addition to their iPhone app – video blogging capability! For those of you that don’t know what Tumblr is, it’s a quick blogging platform that aims to allow you to blog your life as easily as possible. It’s very simple to start up, and has a lot of customizable features. Best of all, Tumblr makes it super-easy to reblog other Tumblr user’s posts through their aptly named – reblog feature. Read the full story
Part of being productive is getting rid of the barriers that divert you from the significant things that you should be doing. For many of us – especially nowadays – a big hindrance to productivity is money. Rather, it is worrying about money. In this video, I will offer some tips and strategies to optimize your credit card use in order to build a solid monthly financial strategy, or to stop already increasing debt. Read the full story
I have a question for all of you home schoolers: Have you ever ran out of resources on a particular subject? Well, Watchknow aims change all that by amassing a plethora of valuable educational resources in one place. Their goal is to allow your children to leverage the power of the new media in order to get advice from subject matter experts from around the world. Read the full story
