Make Any Pic Talk with Blabberize

Blabberize provides a great, free, easy to use application for making photos or images talk. You do not have to have an account to use it, but if you want to be able to access all of your prior Blabberize creations from the site in the future it might be a good idea to make one.

View student project examples of Blabberize here and here.

Necessary Materials...

• Digital Picture or Image (This is what you will make speak)
• Blabberize.com

The whole process start to finish is easy. All you have to do is follow the steps below or just view the video found at the end of this post...

1. Go to Blabberize
   **Note - The video that you will see on the homepage of the site is funny, but I would recommend that you do not have the students view it.
2. Click Make.
3. Click Browse to select the picture that you would like to use.
4. Click and drag the points around the mouth.
   **Tip - Make the side green points extend as far the edges as you want the mouth to be. The green point at the bottom will dictate the direction that the mouth moves.
5. Click the Arrow to go the next screen.
6. Select your sound source. At this point you can either record straight from your computer, upload a voice recording, or call in a voice recording.
   **Tip - If you don't like where the mouth placement is and want to make a change, click the small mouth icon, and then click the area to change.
7. Once you've added your sound, click OK to complete.
8. Save your Blabberize creation!

YouTube for Students through the Educational Video Library

I just found this site with great information from Lightspeed. Thanks to Mr. Houser for the info (and visit his site for info on creating your own YouTube channel). You may not realize that you can have students safely navigate to view YouTube videos within the district, but to do so, you need to take advantage of the Educational Video Library. To learn how to submit YouTube videos through this site within EM-S ISD click here. Visit the Lightspeed wiki (below) for detailed directions on submitting videos to the Educational Video Library.

End-User 'Safe Video' Instructions - Public Info - Lightspeed's Support Wiki

Shwup...Create Videos from Multiple Sources

www.shwup.com

Shwup provides a way to make one movie out of pics and videos from multiple people. The site has a video introduction on their webpage that I highly suggest you take a look at if this concept interests you. To begin, you do need to create an account on the site (it just asks for your name and email address). The good thing is that people you invite to contribute media to the video do not have to create an account. In fact. according to shwup.com...

"For those invited, there is no signing up, registering, or download required to view and contribute photos and video. To contribute to the album, it's as simple as replying to the email with an attachment..."

 Once people have contributed media to your album, you can create what Shwup refers to as a "muvee". You can choose the music and media that you want to include and then easily share the muvee with others.

Pixlr...Photo Editing Services

www.pixlr.com

Pixlr provides a great online application for editing photos. So you may ask...what makes it different from other online photo editors?? Well for starters, you don't have to register for an account so it is quick and easy to start using the application. 

Even better, Pixlr offers you a couple of options for editing your photos. If you're a beginner with photo editing, Pixlr Express is a great place to start. It offers cropping and resizing tools, as well as adjustments and effects that you can apply to your image. 

If you are familiar with products like Photoshop, then you will be quite comfortable using the full Pixlr Editor. The editor will allow you to import your own images and it gives you the option of creating an image from scratch. In the Tools window you will also find red-eye fix, blur, clone, and many more correction and editing tools.

When you click on either of the options (Editor, or Express) you will first see a window that prompts you to select your image source (or create a new blank image in Editor). Once you make your choice, you will see the application with the toolbox on the left. 

Enjoy!