I know that I had a horrible time with Mozilla Popcorn Maker, and from some of my classmate’s posts, it seems like they did too. So I decided to make a tutorial to help future DS106-ers at the task.

Maybe I was alone in this, but one of the most difficult aspects of the project, for me at least, was just figuring out how to edit the project! It took me an embarrassingly long time before I noticed that the recycling image in the bottom right hand corner is the symbol for remixing it. Click that, and it will take you to the editing page where everything can begin.

 

The goal of the project is simple: throughout the video, you recieve prompts to insert various media types into the video. Throughout the project, you need to insert:

• An unusual image or video on the laptop screen.
• A SoundCloud music track to start playing when the turntable appears.
• A Google map and wikipedia article when the map is opened.
• A twitter search over the twitter screenshot.
• A photo or video of a valuable object insider the drawer.
• Text to fill in your information on the screen of the ds106 grade assignment.
• An image or video of something unexpected inside the suitcase.
• A video to show at the end of the video that shows the destination.

UNUSUAL IMAGE ON LAPTOP SCREEN:

First up is the unusual image, which is probably one of the easiest parts of the video.

Click on the first red camera image that you see. It will bring you to a picture of a computer screen.

Select the photo you want to go inside of it, and then crop and change it accordingly, so it looks like it is on the computer. Try to select a more rectangular picture, as that is more likely to fit. The finished product should look something like this:

SOUNDCLOUD LINK:

Search around SoundCloud for a track that you enjoy and think would sound good layered over the audio in the video. Once you have it, upload it to Popcorn Maker and place it within the video right as Alan puts the needle down on the record.

To edit the clip, click on the song and it will show you the audio controllers on the right hand side. From here you can control the sound level, when it starts, when it ends, etc. I highly recommend placing the audio at 50% or lower, so that you can still easily hear Alan speak.

If you want to, you can delete the record player image all together, or you can do what I did and keep it, and add a pop up to show what song you chose. I kept the photo in my video, as it helped keep the timing accurate.

MAP & WIKIPEDIA SEARCH:

The timing and placement of the map and Wikipedia article can get a little dicey here, but luckily they are very easy medias to import. I decided to just insert the map and Wikipedia article over the video and keep Alan talking in the background, effectively cutting out the video footage of him opening the map. To insert these, go to the right hand tool bar, click on ‘events’ and select the event you want.

For the google map, click on the icon and then type in the destination you want to show. The toolbar gives you the ability to make it full screen, change the type of map, or change the destination very easily. As you can see, I typed in ‘Mount Everest’ into my search, which was a little vague, but the maps picked it up perfectly!

For the Wikipedia article, go back to events and select Wikimedia, and then place it in the video at the spot where you hear Alan talking about looking online. Because I sent Alan to Mount Everest, I searched for the Himalayas. Like the Google Map feature, you can make it full screen and customize the way it looks using the toolbar.

 

 

TWITTER SEARCH:

There are two ways to do the Twitter search that I know of, but there is no absolutely correct way. The easiest way is to do a Twitter search for your destination, screen cap it, and then place that imagine in the video instead of the pre-existing picture of the laptop and Twitter page. I did that first, and it looked like this:

The second way to do it is to keep the original image of the laptop with Twitter open, and use a pop-up to represent the search. You can switch it to a thought or speech bubble, and put the text for your search in there. You can take it even farther and include a link to the search and make it clickable.

 

 

A PHOTO OR VIDEO INSIDE THE DRAWER:

I highly suggest using a transparent photo for this section of the video (and the section about the suitcase). Once you decide what you want, you can google it and add “transparent” on the end, and you will usually be able to find a photo that you like. Upload it just like any other image, and then place it on top of the picture of the empty drawer. This is where timing gets really important though, as you don’t want to make the object appear on top of his arms or anything. To make sure that the photos line up perfectly, you can use the slider in the bottom left corner. This will allow you to edit the timing of all your media more closely, to ensure that the timing lines up precisely.

I would suggest doing the exact same thing for the “Unexpected object in suitcase” portion.

 

TEXT TO FILL YOUR INFORMATION IN:

This part is pretty straightforward and simple- the hardest part for me was finding a way to change the size of the text! You’ll probably want to make three separate text boxes for the various parts you need to fill in. On the side, you have two tabs “basic” and “advanced.” If you select the advanced tab, you can change the size, color and type of your font, and more! Play around with this to make it fit your boxes perfectly, but I found that size 4 or smaller worked the best.

FINAL VIDEO OF YOUR DESTINATION:

Select a Youtube video that showcases where you sent Alan, and upload it using a link. Place it in the video and use the slider to match up the timing perfectly. Using the toolbar on the right, you can lower the volume so that it doesn’t compete with the background music and Alan’s speaking, and you can also trim the video to start and end in the specific place you want it to.

 

….AND YOU’RE DONE!

You can check out my final version below, and be sure to check out the Help Page for Popcorn Maker, which can answer a lot of questions you may have about the program.