So, you think plants are boring?

Comment by Sean Nash on February 6, 2009 at 6:30pm

Wow. Awesome. Somehow, I never seem to get tired of these. I am waiting for Animoto to get boring. But really... that won't happen until music gets boring... until beautiful, compelling images get boring... until the guys at Animoto stop adding amazing new transitions to sprinkle into the works.

The copyright issue does cause pause... but I honestly believe you are OK. When you get weirded out by this too awful much, seek out the advice of Doug Johnson.

In fact, he wrote an interesting "Fair Use Scenario" a couple of days ago about an interesting situation I had with YouTube, Animoto, and a major recording agency. Read it. I honestly think you'll feel better afterward. ;-)

The post he referenced is this one, and really... I posted another a few days ago that relates here. I think we are on the crux of realizing that the masses can, will, and are beginning to market the arts more effectively than the agencies. Think about it... if they don't discover this, they will wither away.

Fun times to be alive, eh? Thanks for sharing...

Sean

Comment by Debra Garcia on March 29, 2009 at 9:28pm

this has given me some inspiration for my 9th grade classes. Thanks!

Comment by Debra Garcia on May 12, 2009 at 6:23pm

Your video gave me a great idea about how to wrap up the plant unit for my ninth graders. I had them do an individual 2-3 research paper on any plant based topic (got everything from plants used in art to invasive plants to genetic engineering). The paper was for me to read but I wanted them to share what they learned with their classmates. So they had to make a "no more than one minute" commercial about their topic. They could use any program- Animoto, WinMovieMaker, Adobe Premier, etc. Incredibly, all papers and commercials were turned in on the due date. Nobody was late for once! Then we watched all of the commercials and those from other classes that day. It was great stuff. They also posted them on our class Ning (sorry it is private). I posted just one on my class blog that I started only recently. http://fablogs.org/dgarcia/ This one is blurry for some reason but the student plays the violin at school so that's why he chose that music. BTW I also showed them your video before assigning the research project. It inspired them! So thanks!

Comment by David Williams on May 19, 2009 at 3:50am

You're very welcome - I liked the video on your blog. The combination of the music and images of invasive plants...very menacing.
I had one of my classes do a similar project using Animoto - design a short TV commercial warning about heart disease (just finished the topic). Again, this format really brought out creativity in some more reticent students. We also watched them as a class and then I had them analyse how effective each video was as a health promotion advert. I think a lot of them realised that this format requires a bit more thought about the content than just throwing a Powerpoint presentation together (which is what they have been used to doing) i.e. less or no text; relevance of the images used; using images to convey a lot of information; etc. Anything that makes them think critically about their work is fine by me.

Comment by Debra Garcia on May 20, 2009 at 9:01pm

I showed my student your comment and he was so excited to know that someone from Kuwait saw his video. You really made his day!

Comment by Jennifer Hood on July 20, 2009 at 11:13pm

I just joined the Synapse and am taking a web tools course that just introduced me to Animoto. All I can say is, "Wow." I can not WAIT to introduce this to my students and challenge them to create a video of learning and substance. Thanks! Awesome job...

Comment by MarLane Dows on March 13, 2010 at 9:51am

Really interesting - what is the name of the song and band?

Comment by David Williams on March 13, 2010 at 11:30am

"Rock Star" by NERD, but this was the Jason Nevins remix. Not usually my style, but the students appreciated it!

Comment by Michael Doyle on October 10, 2010 at 7:53am

GREAT!

I'm using this Tuesday. I'm the plant guy in the department. I cannot get enough. For many (most?) students, biology is about the critters. I keep hoping to change that.

Now we need a fungi video!

Comment by David Williams on October 10, 2010 at 2:06pm

I'm not a plant guy, but I don't like students writing them off - pushes all the wrong buttons with me.

Fungi video - go for it!!

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