How To: How you can create vintage videos with the iPhone

I'm always looking for new apps that enhance my experience with the iPhone. In my quest I found this neat little app called "Silent Film Director". Like the name, the app automatically converts your videos into a beautiful vintage piece of work with almost no input from you. All you have to do is select the settings and press record. That's pretty simple, right?

The app has several recording settings like sephia, vintage sephia, 20's, 60's, and black and white. All these settings make your video look very vintage and antique.

It also has different sounds like piano 1, and 2 and movie projector which gives your video more credibility.

There are also settings to change the video time scale making your video either faster or slower. Play with these settings, they make it more fun.
All these settings make your video look similar to a Chaplin movie.
You also probably want to select the quality of the video depending on where you'll host it or for what occasion you're producing it.
After you select your settings then tap the Take Video button to display the recording screen.

All you have to do now is press record and stop just like you do with the standard video on the iPhone. After you're done, all videos are automatically saved to your library.

Check out these short videos I created while testing the app.
Me :O)



My four legged son Gordo.




My four legged son Oreo.




My daughter.



The price for this app is only $0.99 and if you're into making videos I think it's well worth it.

Download it now:


Let's recap; select settings, record and stop and you got yourself a professional vintage video with almost no work on your part.

Have you tried this app? If so, please share some of the videos you produced in the comment section.

My kind of Social Network

For those Web 2.0 fanatics like me out there... if there is any book you buy it should be Blogs, Wikis, and More by Terry Burrows. The book categorizes the different types of technology, provides a list of the most popular sites in each category and explains them in plain English. It also gives you steps on how to use at least one application in each category and gives you tons of sites. It's my kind of book. It's also a great guide for those that are starting to learn and work with Web 2.0 applications.

MySpace

I haven't read the entire book but I went through most of the categories, and looked at some of the sites and I've already have about 20 applications that I want to test so stay tuned to this blog for updates.

Now knowing me, I had to at least try one today. The one that peeked my interest was Singshot.com, it was in the Music category and it's classified as a Karaoke Social Network. OK you got me, I admit I'm a singer wanna be.... Not that I can sing but I still hurried over to the website to look around and of course ended up creating an account.

To my surprise the site was much more than just a Karaoke Social Network. You can also record yourself telling a story, doing stand up comedy, and even poetry reading. All you need is a working microphone and a webcam if you want to record the picture as well but that's optional. You can also create mashups.

I was ready to record a clip of myself singing but unfortunately I can't find my microphone but trust me, you'll have the option to hear me soon enough. I will continue to look for that microphone : )

As any Social Network, you can make your clips public and allow other members to comment and rate your performance. Boy, there are a lot of people that have a very nice voice.... but also a lot that don't :(

It looks like the site changed URLs after the book was published because Singshot.com directs me to The Sims on Stage but who cares, the site is great and it's lots of fun.

Is there an instructional use? Well I think so, maybe not in Corporate America but I can see a teacher using this in school. Children can write their own stories or poetry and create videos to share with classmates and in turn their classmates can rate their work. Works for me.

If you come up with any uses for corporate training let me know....

So sing and write away!

Do you know which web 2.0 application to use?

I'm always testing new web 2.0 applications and services and some times I forget why I don't use some and why I use others a lot. So I decided to do the logical, document it. I created a Wiki called Web 2.0 Applications to keep track of these software and services and at the same time add a quick review of each and make it available to everyone.

In my Wiki I explain what that service is, how can it be used in training, and provide videos and tips when applicable. I also list the services I've tested along with a review which includes their ease of use, fees (if any), URLs, if customization is allow, my star rating and any other information I think will be helpful.

Hopefully my trial and error will help others.

Is there any software or services you use or wouldn't use because of a bad experience that you would like to share with us? You can post your reviews here or add them to my Web 2.0 Applications Wiki.

Going Web 2.0 or not?

My organization is ready to embrace the addition of Web 2.0 tools in our training programs. Will we take that leap? I sure hope so.

Currently our Training department is the one that owns the development and maintenance of our Corporate University, and of all classroom and virtual training programs so the shift to Web 2.0 will bring new and exciting changes that I think we can all embrace.

Last year we attended the Learning Conference 2006 which is all about using Web 2.0 tools that enable learning. We came back with so many ideas, and we put together a team that was in charge of researching blogs, wikis, social networks, videos, podcasting, avatars, and audio. The result of this research lead to incorporating audio in our eLearning courses and to beta test an mLearning module which we had great results with but I think not too much chance was given to blogs, wikis, and other tools.

We just came back from the Learning 2007 Conference and this year the speakers focused more on actually examples of how to use Web 2.0 tools in your training programs so can you feel the excitement? After presenting all our ideas to Management, it looks like we will try to implement some of these tools. So I’m very excited, I’m a loyal advocate of these new tools. I've used them with my kids, siblings, friends, and for my professional development. I've learned more through blogging, wikis, communities then by reading books and attending seminars. And of course, thanks to Google I have found great resources.

Going by my experience and what I’ve heard from teachers, trainers, and other educators it seems that this technology is working. So why not give it a try? The concerns we have I know are the same that other corporations and educators have. We are very concerned about wrong information being posted on our wikis and bad comments being left on blogs. We don’t have too many resources that can continuously monitor these tools so it’s a little scary.

The fear is there and they only way it will go away is if we leap into this new world and we don't fall flat on our backs. I think we just need to let go of the ownership of the content, and let others contribute to our success. Like Brad Anderson from Best Buy said “Getting other points of view and other pieces of knowledge into our learning system that might otherwise have escaped is key to our success as an organization." And I think we understand this now.

From my research and experience with some of these tools, I’ve compiled a list of concerns and solutions that I think will help us deal with these issues. These will be posted in other articles so check back with us soon.

What has been your experience with Web 2.0 tools in the classroom? What tools work best for you? Any one?