Stupeflix.com is a new web based application, currently in Beta testing and free, which allows you to combine images and audio in order to create impressive videos for use in the classroom or as video podcasts.

Video podcasting can be very intimidating, as it requires a fair bit of ICT knowledge as regards file formats and file conversion for example.

Stupeflix.com simplifies this process considerably with its intuitive upload, drag and drop interface and automated file conversion. Let me show you how to create a video podcast like the one above in minutes:

1 Upload pictures and audio

Choose pictures from your own collection or from Creative Commons repositories such as Flickr or Stock.XCHNG and then rearrange them and group them by simply dragging and dropping them in place. Look for the + icon to add text and sound either individually to each picture or to groups of pictures. See illustration below:

In the example above, I have attached a backing audio track to the video as well as an individual audio clip to each group of pictures depicting each item of vocabulary. I made these recordings using GarageBand, but you can make them just as easily using Audacity (with the Lame encoder).

2 Generate your video

Once you have added text, audio and arranged your content how want it simply chose the format you need, simply click the Generate Video button at the bottom of your screen. In this case I chose .mp4, as I intended to broadcast my video as a podcast. Rendering times, meaning the time it takes  the service to generate your video, are really very fast.

Stupeflix has an intuitive drag and drop editor which will fulfil most users’ needs, but it also has a more advanced xml editor which allows you to tweak and fine tune your video, allowing you greater control over effects and transitions, durations, font colour and audio. For example, using the xml editor, below, I altered the font colour and eliminated the fading in and out of sound clips, as this was rendering some sections of the recording inaudible.

3 Podcast your video

As well as generating a unique URL for your video, Stupeflix allows you to download your video for off line viewing. However, in this case, I am making a true podcast, i.e. a recording which is available for download via syndication (RSS). This means that your students can subscribe to your podcast via iTunes, for example, allowing them to receive any future updates automatically without any further intervention from you.

In order to broadcast/podcast your video you will have to sign up to a podcast publishing service. I use Podomatic, as it supports both audio and video podcasts and it is free for the first 500 MB of storage. If you want to know more about true podcast and how to make your own, why don’t you watch this short video tutorial?

So, there you have it. A video podcast in minutes. What do you think? Can you see yourself making your own podcasts? Why not teach your students to make their own?

Many thanks to Catherine Moore (@camoore) from bringing Stupeflix.com to my attention via Twitter.

This post is tagged Audacity, Creative Commons, Podcast, Podcasting, RSS, Stupeflix, video, Video podcast