3 Ways To Step Into Video Without A Camera

A while back, we gave you 7 Ways to Start Video Blogging Immediately. Although I gave you the low-down on how simple it is to start posting videos online, I didn’t realize that some people might be a little camera shy. This new installment will give you a few ways to create original videos without actually putting your face on the web. You don’t even need to own a camera of any kind.

YtDub

Have you ever been watching a YouTube video and thought it would be much more entertaining with a different background track? Well, now you can make your dreams come true with YtDub. It allows you to combine the visuals from one YouTube video with the audio from another. The interface is a littel rough around the edges, but the process is pretty simple and YtDub even provides a search feature to help you find videos to dub.

Once you done, you can share the video with your friends so that they can rate it and comment on it. Check out this video for an example of what’s possible.

Animoto

Animoto has been around for quite a while now, but recently caught my eye again when they gave procrastinators a last-minute Mothers’s Day gift. It allows you to create a custom slideshow with background music and images of your choosing in just a few minutes. You can upload your own images or import them from another site (Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket, etc.). Once you have the photos you want, you upload your background music or simply pick a track from Animoto’s extensive library. At this point, Animoto analyzes your music and creates pretty impressive video from your images.

Creating a 30-second video with Animoto is free, which may be good for most uses. If you want to step your game up, you can purchase a full-length spot for $3 or get an all-access pass for $30 and create an unlimited number of full-length videos for the year. Animoto also makes it easy to post your videos to YouTube or simply download them to share on another service.

Here is a quick demo I did using the service.

Stupeflix

At first, I thought Stupeflix was just another slideshow creation service, but on closer examination, I’m really impressed. It’s not as easy to use as Animoto, but there is a much higher level of flexibility, since there is no algorithm putting the video together for you. The real power of Stupeflix is in the XML API. As one example of this power, they created over 1,000 videos from the contents of Wikipedia all in under 59 minutes. If you have no clue what XML is or have no interest in editing XML code, you can simply stick to the graphical editor to make your videos.

Here is a quick example where I took an existing demo created from Wikipedia and added some background music by editing the XML.

Video is a very powerful method of promotion. Whether your just trying to get the word out about your blog, selling a product, or promoting a cause, having a video can make the difference. Using Animoto or Stupeflix makes it that much easier to put a professional-looking video together  with minimal effort. Once again, technology lowers the bar for entry into rich media. If you’re serious about your success, you now have one less excuse about why you don’t do video.

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
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