Animoto, QR Codes, and Cartoons

I used Animoto.com to create a book trailer for In the Wild Light, by Jeff Zentner.

Zentner, J. (2022). In the Wild Light. Random House Children's Books. ISBN 978-1524720278

Plot Summary:

Life in a small Appalachian town is not easy. Cash lost his mother to an opioid addiction and his Papaw is dying slowly from emphysema. Dodging drug dealers and watching out for his best friend, Delaney, is second nature. He's been spending his summer mowing lawns while she works at Dairy Queen. But when Delaney manages to secure both of them full rides to an elite prep school in Connecticut, Cash will have to grapple with his need to protect and love Delaney, and his love for the grandparents who saved him and the town he has to leave behind. (Zentner, n.d.)

Using Animoto was fun and intuitive. There were several templates on the site with a fair amount of options available. I was happy to see that some background music tracks were included in the free version.  I wanted to upload pictures from the web to use in my trailer. A quick online tutorial helped me learn how to filter google images to find some Creative Commons or Copyright free options. Animoto was relatively easy to use, and I can see potential there for student use. This came together pretty quickly, and I had fun exploring the site. If I was using this for a project, I would spend more time developing the text, which was the hardest part for me. Condensing my thoughts down to a few sentences was a challenge!

I have used QR codes quite often as a teacher. I try to include several ways for parents to access information that I send home. I utilize email with links and QR codes, and also provide good-old-fashioned paper copies (with QR codes included) when there is something important I need them to see. Many of my parents are more likely to scan a QR code with their phones than read the content of an email, so I try to provide the most convenient options when I can. There are several free QR code generators online, I have used www.qrcode-monkey.com several times. I like the customization options they offer.

You can click here or scan this QR code to view my book trailer.

FotoJet.com

I created this comic in FotoJet.com. The site had several templates, but the application was a little clunky for me. The photos were not easy to resize and re-order. To make changes, I had to undo my work with the "undo" arrow, rather than being able to delete just the element that I wanted to adjust. The pictures were not the variety I had in mind, so I uploaded from other websites. 

app.pixton.com

Pixton was fun, they have a cool avatar feature with a lot of customization. I enjoyed creating my comic, but unfortunately, there is a paywall blocking downloads. I took this screenshot of my work. I really like the app, it would be a lot of fun for students to explore.

makebeliefscomix.com

Makebelief took a little getting used to. The website is cluttery, and there is a lot going on on the home page. Once I got my bearings, it was fun to make a multi-pane comic. There are a lot of creative features, but the characters are very limited. It was fun, but it wasn't something that I will go back to often.

I can see myself sharing these comic apps with teachers and students. They are fun to make, and spark creativity. These would be great to assign along with SEL lessons. These are useful tools for expression. The nature of comics forces you to distill the message down to the true essentials. By far, my favorite comic app was Pixton, I plan to explore and see if they have a tool for multi-pane comics.