Photographer : Bouzz @ flickr
You may not realise it, but you probably already have all the tools you need. You can take photos and record sound with your mobile phone, take video with your digital camera. You can get a microphone attachment for your MP3 player. So don’t say you don’t have the equipment (although if you do, it’s time to brush the dust off and use it). All you have to do is whip out your owner’s manual and figure out how to work all those buttons that you don’t know how to use.
Most new computers have some form of video editing software. If you have a PC, you probably have Windows Movie Maker. Or if you’re a Mac person, you have iMovie. Or find a mate who does have it. Jumpcut is a great resource too- it’s a free online video editing Web site.
You can edit photos with iPhoto, although if you have access to Photoshop, you can make easy-peasy flash audio slideshows that are pretty much point and click.
iTunes is a free download so you can podcast audio and video creations. Google “free editing software” and see what comes up (if you’ve made it to ActNow then I know you know how to google something). You can get all the software you could ever want.
And here’s the best bit: you can put this all online for practically nothing. Youtube revolutionised sharing video. Blogspot, livejournal, Wordpress, and about 100 others I don’t have space for, are all FREE ways to publish your words, your photos and your video. Sites like flickr and photobucket are great for photography. And ActNow is always looking for new and intelligent content.
It’s not like you can’t write because “youtube killed the Zine star”. Write, but perhaps put it on a blog. And take a photo to illustrate and make it more visually engaging. Or instead of transcribing an interview, record it and stick it in a podcast. The new media is about being creative: taking video, audio, words and photos, mixing them however you please, and sticking them on the internet for everyone to see.
In this online world, everyone is a producer of information and opinion. And with all these tools, and more, there’s no excuses for not getting in on the action.
Get the Goods Online
Digital Video Sharing and Editing
YouTube
Jumpcut
Avid Free Video Editing
Digital Photo Sharing and Editing
Flickr
Photobucket
Blogging
Blogger
Livejournal
Wordpress
iTunes Download
This work is licenced under an Attribution licence.
© 2008. First published on actnow.com.au
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