Team member Ellie describes how she uses three popular cloud platforms – Canva, Vyond and WeVideo – to create interactive content with Near-Life…
Create interactive content quickly, easily, and cost-effectively
One of the best things about Near-Life is that it can be used by anyone, regardless of their level of experience, to make engaging, interactive content. Essentially, if you can make a PowerPoint presentation (or equivalent), you can make an interactive video. This is why it works so perfectly with other easy-to-use, cloud-based platforms.
Together, they allow you to create professional interactive content without the costs or complexity of traditional video production technology.
All you need to consider is:
- What will the purpose of your video be?
- What insights do you wish to gain through the tracking data from your video?
- How best should you employ the other platforms to get the results you want?
I would recommend coming up with a plan before you start trying to create your video. Perhaps in the form of a flowchart or storyboard. This makes it far easier to work out how your video will look and which platforms will result in the best final interactive video. It will also help you clarify the different media you need to create.
Canva
Canva is a really useful tool for creating eye-catching graphical content. Its easy-to-use layout and huge number of free elements (such as templates, photos and graphics) makes it perfect to take your content to the next level.
To create my first ever interactive video, I used Canva to create a slide for each stage of the video with exactly what I would want on the screen at that point. For example, for the first slide I included the question I wanted the viewer to answer. Then a “yes” graphic and a “no” graphic. I could later use the Near-Life technology to hotspot the yes and no, meaning the user would click on one to give their answer.
I just needed to export it and upload into Near-Life – simple. You can upload animated graphics, downloaded from Canva as mp4 files… And now, following some recent changes to the platform, you can also upload static images or slides.
This is a great way of doing it if you’re creating a quiz, or trying to find out and record specific information about your audience. For example, if you’re doing a Christmas quiz for a class of students, or conducting a survey for a psychology project regarding how someone’s relationship with their parents growing up affects other aspects of their life. Interactive videos like this provide data that gives huge insights into your audience’s feelings and thought processes.
To learn more about Canva, click here.
Vyond
Vyond is a platform that lets you create animated videos quickly and easily. Through the use of templates, countless props, characters, expressions and backgrounds, you can create your own professional animated video at a fraction of the usual cost. If this isn’t an exciting enough tool on its own, when paired with Near-Life, Vyond has the potential to let you create seamless, animated interactive videos that take engaging content to a whole new level.
To put the cost into perspective, you would find yourself paying several times the annual subscription to Vyond and Near-Life combined for a single animated video from a specialist. What this means is you could create not just one interactive animated video for that cost, but a whole year’s worth of animated interactive content.
Another thing to consider is your vision for the video you want to create. It’s one thing telling someone what you want the finished product to look like. The chances of someone else being able to capture exactly what you have in your head is slim to none. By using Vyond with Near-Life, you get the chance to make content that looks EXACTLY how you envisioned it… Despite having no prior experience making animated videos.
To learn more about Vyond, click here.
WeVideo
WeVideo is an online, cloud-based video editing platform that works in web browsers and on mobile devices. You can use WeVideo to arrange parts of film, animation, music and/or pictures. This makes it an ideal tool to aid the construction of your interactive video. If you’re trying to create a more professional or more personal interactive video, or perhaps you wish to make the experience even more immersive by using real life imagery, WeVideo is the perfect tool so you can arrange any film, pictures and audio you have before going into Near-Life to begin construction.
This also means you can use either of the other two cloud-based platforms alongside WeVideo. For example, if you wish to mix slides with animation or real video, WeVideo enables you to do all of this with ease.
To learn more about WeVideo, click here.
Final thoughts
There are some fantastic tools out there that will really help you get the most out of Near-Life without having to blow your whole budget. Near-Life is designed to be as easy to use as Canva, WeVideo and Vyond. So no matter how experienced you are, you’ll be able to create engaging, impactful interactive content in no time.
Want to create interactive content of your own?
If you’d like to learn more about creating your own interactive videos, check out these blogs, or get in touch with a member of our team for a chat info@near-life.tech.
Remember – you can try our platform for free for 14 days, no credit card required. Just click here.
You might also like
https://near-life.tech/canva-interactive-presentations/
https://near-life.tech/convert-your-powerpoint-into-interactive-scenarios/