BP8_Flixtime

When you log in to check Flixtime, you will find it looks really slick and has great presence. It reverses the trend of light colored, uncluttered looking Web2.0 tools, by being dark and flashy, though neat. It has a very stylish look about it, that holds the underlying promise that videos created would look no less. It promises to deliver "Videos in 3" - upload, choose a tune and share the video with friends. I checked this by creating my album - all promises including a very stylish video held true. Click on Bay Area Hiking to check it out.

For a site that allows you to create a professional looking video album, it has a very easy learning curve. I tried the free version - within minutes, I was able to upload my pics, title them and choose a music track to play as audio background.  It also allows you to upload your own music and videos.




I chose an electronic track - Aztek Trance to play with my pictures. They also offer a media lounge to select just beautiful images from various categories to include in your album.  I was really impressed with the amazing collection of music and images I had the option to choose from. And yes, these are available in the free version.

Flixtime does use some unique terminology such as "remix" to modify your video album and "render video" to generate a new video,  that takes a couple extra minutes to figure out . I made some changes to my album by adding pics and changing the music track. While I was able to save the changes through a save button, I had trouble locating the "Render Video" which is tucked away below the pop-up windows at the right hand bottom corner of the screen. I plan to send a suggestion for improvement. They have a feedback forum, which appears to have a loyal following. While free version lets you create video clips up to 60 seconds, Flixtime offers Lite, Pro and Reseller plans with features such as increased time, High Definition and adding voice. I have not explored the paid versions yet.


After "rendering" the video, Flixtime sends you the video link through email. You cannot download the video generated in Flixtime with the free version. However Flixtime makes up by offering to share your video across a host of social media tools, besides the usual suspects - Facebook, Twitter, My Space and Youtube. I selected Blogger. Flixtime directly opens up a new post in my Blogger account with video link embedded. I read somewhere that it helps to have the same user id across the various Web 2.0 tools. I'm happy I'm following that advice. With the multitude of tools out there, it would be really difficult to keep track of multiple user ids.




Flixtime holds a lot of promise. Unlike iMovie and Creaza, it does not have a sophisticated timeline and media window options for video creation. From a user perspective, it makes it much easier to use, though it may not offer as many editing options as the former.  If you want to create a slick looking professional photo album very quickly, without much editing needs,  Flixtime's for you.