From Animoto's website:
"Animoto is a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using their own patent-pending technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced on a widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer. The heart of Animoto is its newly developed Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film."
These are the steps I took to make this video and post it on ActiveRain:
1. Take some pictures of my listing. (In this case I stole the pictures from Kevin's page on the EWM website - with their permission of course. Thanks Kevin and Beth!)
2. Upload the pictures into Animoto.
3. Select a song from their song library.
4. Hit the "create" button and watch Animoto work it's magic.
5. Paste the embed code into this blog post.
Updated: For comparison sake, here is a show that I put together using Real Estate Shows. Both services took me about the same amount of time to prepare and used the same images. To me both video options are great and will impress sellers; I guess it comes down to style.
The pictures looks great,but don't you think that the music was too fast and you didn't get a chance to really look the pictures... I do like the idea....without the hip music maybe with something a little more soft...
Hey Donna,
You can upload any song you want, or select from their library of music. I think the music choice should match the home/geographical flavor. A $7m home in Chicago would probably need different music than a $7m home in Miami. It's all just marketing and the listing agent gets to choose.
Laura,
Thanks for the rating. Hopefully someday you will be able to look back on this post and say that you made some money from it.
George,
Real Estate Shows is a fantastic product!!!! I think it serves a different purpose to Animoto.
Jonathan...
Did I miss something?
Can we have a link to the site itself and is it free? :)
TLW...ROAR!
TLW,
Okay I will give up the link: Animoto.com
Cost,
It is free for a 30 second video. The ability to make longer ones costs $30 per year.
RealEstateShows,
The main difference to me is the customizability. Animoto is strictly plug and play. The other benefit of RES is that it is geared to do what real estate agents want. It is difficult to get words into the Animoto videos. I had to upload images with words on them for my video and it is kinda tricky getting them to display properly. The main benefits of Animoto is that the videos look awesome, professionally created, and they are super quick to make.
Susan,
I don't think the guys at Animoto intended for these videos to be used to market homes, so their music choices are not the best. You can choose from Hip Hop, Indie Rock, Electronica. You can also upload your own songs, but then you can run into copyright issues.
IS IT FREE?
Thanks Jonathan. That is an awesome looking video. Very crisp and unique in the way the manipulate the motion of the pictures. As a VA I am always looking for new technology and platforms I can use with my clients and this one definately fits the bill.
I also love RES and I am confident that I can find a balance using them both. Thanks!
Jon
You know I love words like "weapon." Very compelling. I have to say---for my clientele the music is PERFECT. The people that would be looking at this house will be vibrant and hipper---so seems a perfect fit.
Thanks for the example.
I actually like the fact that it is fast-paced and exudes an energy which is lacking in most real estate advertising. The problem with most agents is they believe they are experts in real estate AND marketing...
...back from that mini-rant.
It's cool.
http://animoto.com/play/ad2cd44449e613de7bf6f1469085eb3c
Check out this one i made in 5 minutes with 10 pictures.
http://animoto.com/play/ad2cd44449e613de7bf6f1469085eb3c
Check out this one i made in 5 minutes with 10 pictures.
Jonathan, thank you for bringing us all an alternative for videos. I think this would appeal more to the younger crowd vs the mature crowd. I personally really like Real Estate Shows were the viewer has more of an opportunity to actual view what I am showing.
This one is fast paced and is very innovative but doesn't really give the viewer much of chance to study what is being advertised. I guess if I were paying big bucks for a TV ad like coca-cola, this would be great. Another great way to use this would be for my own personal photos....quick and fast with no time to study any wrinkles or flaws!!
Always enjoy seeing what is new and innovative. I think this is what I saw the other day on Sellius.
John, Yes, if you upload your own music to Animoto you got to be careful.
The featured house is just beautiful!
I think I'll stick with RES though - Don't think I'm tech savy enough to use the other one.
Thanks for letting us know about it.
This is fantastic! For my ADD brain this works for me. Where I do like the RES and think for most people they are great they move to slow for me. I love this faster edgier pace. It maybe a generational thing I'm not so sure animoto would appeal to everyone. But for me a Gen X and my kids the Gen Y I think this is going to appeal to us more. I tossed this one together in about 2 minutes. I didn't even try to spruce it up and I think it's not too bad. http://animoto.com/play/bf3f44a1cb221491327cc055047e2f6d
Going to play with this some more.
Update to my last comment:
Although it is the COOLEST EVER ... It is definitely for a certain audience and a certain market. Also, I would use it only as an aux. feature to what I already use (RES) - not replace it.
David,
I love it! Great use of textures in your pictures!! Very good example with a "normal" house.
Marcus,
I didn't comment on yours earlier, but I also liked yours very much. Easy to do huh?
Nice post--I've bookmarked it for future reference.
I have tried both. I think Real Estate Shows is more professional, just my opinion.....maybe Animoto will gear some towards real estate but I doubt it, that is not why they exist....
David
"impress sellers"... Perhaps. I can agree with that.
But the problem is I hate these things, and I think buyers hate them too. I think buyers want fast loading and immediately available photos. Not some movie that is slow loading and at the pace of the listing agent.
Buyers have to look through 100s of houses. Even that extra minute would add up to a couple of hours, and instead of watching the video, they will click N-E-X-T
"impress sellers"... Perhaps. I can agree with that.
But the problem is I hate these things, and I think buyers hate them too. I think buyers want fast loading and immediately available photos. Not some movie that is slow loading and at the pace of the listing agent.
Buyers have to look through 100s of houses. Even that extra minute would add up to a couple of hours, and instead of watching the video, they will click N-E-X-T
this is great. we should be getting paid MORE in this market doing cutting edge things like these.
To me, the Animoto show is too frenetic. I understood better when I saw the comments that it isn't geared to real estate. The intended audience is probably a younger crowd. Real Estate Shows has a simple to use, attractive, real estate-oriented product for an excellent price. That's a winning combination.
For the couple of commenters who want to know if Animoto is free, why would it be and it is was, why would you want to use it??? Free is going to mean (1) an inferior product; (2) a company that isn't going to be around long; and/or (3) a product packed with advertising (your competitors, if the vendor knows what they're doing and has a sustainable revenue model).
Hi Jonathan,
One thing I discovered is that in the agreement of terms, it states that by agreeing, you agree not use animoto for commercial purposes. Are virtual tours commercial?
Maybe Jeff can enhance the Real Estate Shows to do the slide flip overs and some of the other unique movments.
Nice post.
thanks so much for the post - every new tool at our disposal is helpful - especially free ones!
Hey that is a real good listing promotion, I think I will need to use this format. My only concern is that with approx. 1,500 hits on a litsing with 2-3 going to the virtual tour is it really worth it?
Take care!
RJH
William, VT's are definitely commercial. They are a tool used in your business to make money. That is a huge drawback that people ought to pay attention to. Nothing like putting up a few of these videos on your site to find out later that the company pulled the content down and you didn't know it.
The thing is, the point I think alot of people are missing, is that it's not really a virtual tour in the sense that you are taking your time touring and checking out the pictures, but more like a 30 second commercial. Buying a home is largely emotional and if you can convey a feeling through this media, then that's how you nail it.
I love it, and I have it linked to some pictures of houses on my website. I really like yours and how you put words and your picture in it. I didn't think of that! The houses I have done aren't fancy (mostly fixer-uppers), so it's a much different feeling, although I have been thinking of going around taking pictures of the neighborhood too. Maybe even buying an unlimited membership so I can make a longer video.
I can't figure out how to load it into my MLS though, so it's only on my website and the others I submit it to.
Stacey,
That is an excellent point! You articulated what I was unable to.
Thanks,
Jonathan - great information, well written on a new technology.
My understanding is that the Animoto site has been active since August so more progress and upgrades will be coming. There is a question about using their product for commercial purposes - unless their terms and conditions of use have been updated. It is my understanding that they are looking at the real estate application so these points will be sorted out.
It is interesting and fun to see new technology as it appears in the marketplace and the people, like you, who immediately see the application to our business.
Tracy & William,
I was trying to sidestep commenting on that issue. I am not a lawyer and have no idea if it means that an agent/brokerage cannot use it as a marketing tool. However it appears to me that Animoto is primarily focused on being a publisher and making money from advertising. The $30/year for longer videos cannot be their big plan. So with that in mind i highly doubt that they would ask agents using their tool to stop using it.
Jonathan, you don't have to be a lawyer to understand that your business is "commercial" and promoting your business is a commercial activity. And you can guess and second guess what the publisher's financial motives are, but anybody who is violating a provider's terms of service needs to realize that they can wake up one day and find red x's on their site where content used to be (or worse). Just understand that there are terms of service for electronic content and services, and keep a close eye on your site if there is even a remote possibility that you're violating the TOS of any of your providers. Heck, you should be looking at your site all the time to make sure every piece of it is operating the way you think it should be.
Tracy,
What can I say, you are right. By agreeing to their terms of service you are agreeing that your videos will not to be "used for a commercial purpose of any kind." Pretty clear. Whether or not they will enforce their policies is an entirely question all together.
I tried to load my animoto video on Active Rain, but can't seem to figure out what's going wrong, it's not showing up. Any thoughts?
Cool. Bookmarked and will give it a try. I don't know who to get text ontop of a picture, but hey, it's something else to learn and I love to learn techy stuff.
Thanks,
Lovely! Check out my blog to see how to actually use animoto.