Purpose
I have designed a multimedia video using the cloud-based video development platform Raw Shorts to introduce the concept of object lessons to visitors to the site NoBoringLessons.com, which targets lay teachers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The video will be associated with a blog article on the same topic. Viewers of the post are gospel teachers who are interested in learning more about what an object lesson is and why they might use one in a classroom.
After evaluating Toonly, Doodly, VideoScribe, and Raw Shorts, I went with Raw Shorts because it is a cloud-based development platform with a single-download purchase option. Toonly and Doodly are both applications you must install on a computer. VideoScribe is also a cloud-based service, but its fee structure put it out of range of my budget. Raw Shorts had a unique function that translated the text of my existing blog post about object lessons to voice, which meant I didn't have to create my own audio track to go with the video. Raw Shorts has an extensive library of photos and videos that relate to Mormonism, which no other service offers.
I logged in to the Raw Shorts website with my Facebook login. When prompted, I chose the webpage-to-slides option. The service automatically downloaded the title, text, and images from my existing blog post. I selected each sentence that I wanted to use in my multimedia presentation. After that, I selected a theme for the output. Using the Media tab, I began searching for pictures and videos that related to the information in my video. I was able to find pictures of LDS Church buildings and numerous stock videos that worked perfectly with my text, like the picture of bread or the video of a father teaching his son how to garden.
I used the text button to add keywords to some slides. At the bottom of the page I was able to use a slider to select when to have the text appear on my slide and how to transition the text in or out. I chose to have text appear after the words could be heard on the audio track to help with reinforcement of key terms during the presentation.
I clicked save at the top of the page, and then tried to share the video. I could not share the video without payment. Eventually I found the text link to do pay-per-download option instead of paying a monthly fee at the bottom of the page. I chose that option, entered my payment information, and returned to the project tab to download my video. I downloaded the video in MP4 format, and then I logged in to my YouTube account to upload it. Once it was uploaded and processed, I added relevant information like a keyword-rich title and tags that will help the video be found in searches, and I added an embedded video block to my existing WordPress post.
Conceptual Framework
Since this multimedia video accompanies an already existing blog post, I used the Q&A structure of the existing post to create and order the slides for this post. Conceptually, the term object lesson is in the center of a mind-map, and important words like "short", "teaching like the Savior", and "links tangible and abstract concepts" form the surrounding levels. Each of these outer level items is converted into a sentence that defines what an object lesson is and describes its application in the gospel classroom.
The Raw Shorts software automatically provides storyboarding, which helps organize the material into small sequential chunks in timeline form. Each sentence of the blog post is assigned to a slide and then converted to audio automatically. By splitting the source material into small chunks, I was able to select appropriate stock images and video to accompany the audio that reflected key terms and concepts. The result is a cohesive video that uses motion video, still photographs, text, and audio to convey the definition and application of an object lesson to viewers.
