September 2009 Newsletter
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Welcome to the Photo to Movie NewsletterSeptember 2009Welcome to the 2009 edition of the Photo to Movie newsletter! In this newsletter:
Using Photo to Movie for SchoolFor many of us--parents, students, teachers--September is back to school time. It's exciting, but it can be a bit daunting, too. How to keep things exciting and fresh is a challenge for teachers--and how to keep up the GPA is a challenge for students. But Photo to Movie is a tool that can help with that. You're only limited by your imagination--assemble visual essays, record interviews, create photo comic strips, or a simply make a slideshow to supplement your lecture. TeachersTeachers can use Photo to Movie to create exciting, visually stimulating lessons. It's a great way to keep kids engaged, and it's easier than ever to create lectures and assignments that can be posted on the web. Demonstrate the principles of your subject clearly and pictorially, and ensure that the lessons reach the students through words and images both. StudentsStudents can find plenty of ways to use Photo to Movie for school projects; remember, it's not just photos you can use in Photo to Movie, it's any kind of picture file that you can arrange in a slideshow with a slide-keyed soundtrack, and stunning transitions. Science projects, essays, backdrop for oral assignments in English or foreign-language classes--use Photo to Movie to bring all of these to life. Parents and GraduatesFor parents, it's time to grab the camera and record the sights as they head to school--and if the kids are college-bound, use Photo to Movie to organize your pics of the big moving-in day. For those of us who aren't in school anymore, and don't have children attending, September is the start of a season of glorious colors. Why not head out and record the beginning of nature's amazing yearly fireworks show? Telling a Story with Your SlideshowHere are some tips and techniques for telling a good story with your slideshow. Narrative/PlotChoose a narrative to build your show around. This can be, and often is, solely according to linear time, but there are other ways to do it. If you have multiple subjects, tell each persons story in order, or follow one person into a big event, and another person away from it. Remember, the story is what actually happened, the plot is the way in which you choose to tell that story. Music and SoundUse music to establish the proper mood, something that's appropriate to the themes of the events. For a slideshow that covers a whole year, Vivaldi's Four Seasons is a composition that is evocative of the different quarters of the year, iconic and timeless. Or for graduations, remember Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Don't forget, too, that the sound function can be used for things other than music. As long as you have a microphone, and recording software, you can add narration. You can also find other sound effects on the web to spice up your slideshow. Effective EffectsDon't overuse the effects. Think of each picture as a story. Identify the key elements in that picture, and find the best way to reveal them--the best way, in other words, to tell that story. Picking the right effect, and the right transition between photos, will help you tell that story in the best way, just as overusing the effects can distract from your message. PacingPacing is essential. People typically only need about 5 seconds to take in a photo, so 12 pictures per minute of show is Photo to Movie's oft-expressed rule of thumb. But playing with that can be a fun way of building excitement. For earlier, or less important events, a slightly slower pace makes it feel like the beginning of the journey. As the action heats up, make it faster and faster. A big finish might be a really quick review, at 2 or 3 photos per second, of all the pictures you've used in that part of your slideshow. Submit Your User ProfileLQ Graphics would like to call for volunteers for a series of user profiles to be featured in upcoming newsletters. What creative, ingenious uses for Photo to Movie have you found? What kind of cool job or hobby do you have, in which you use Photo to Movie or Motion Pictures? Basically, if you're using Photo to Movie for something fun or interesting, we'd like to profile you. Our readers and users love our user profiles and use them to provide ideas for their own slideshows. To get started, we need a brief email from you with your name, where you live, and your story. Detail is good, but we'll do the interviews later., so you don't need to tell us everything up front. Also, if you have links to movies you made--that relate to your story, of course--with Photo to Movie, please include those as well. Email this to us at software@lqgraphics.com, and if we like your story, we'll get in touch and feature you in an upcoming newsletter. Special Deals Mailing ListDue to numerous requests, LQ Graphics now has a special mailing list for special deals, offers, and discounts on LQ Graphics products and 3rd party products. This is a great way to SAVE MONEY on software. We're negotiating with several other companies to offer special DISCOUNTS to our customers on their products. We expect the first special offer to be available in early December -- SIGN UP NOW. This special deals mailing list is opt-in only. You must click on the link below and check the appropriate box to be included. Photo to Movie Facebook GroupAs a place for further discussion of tips and techniques, video samples, support, feature discussions, and more, we host the Photo to Movie Group on Facebook. It's a great group so check it out and get in touch with other Photo to Movie users for tips, samples, and help. Visit the group home page by clicking on this link: Photo to Movie Facebook Group Newsletter ArchiveAll of our previous newsletters are available on our website. Check them out for tips, news, and information items. Browse through the Photo to Movie newsletter archive NoticesTo unsubscribe from this list click here. LQ Graphics, Inc., 7172 Regional Street #297, Dublin, CA 94568 |
