Week 6: Exploring Adobe Spark Videos

Exploring Adobe Spark Videos

My Experiences Working with Adobe Spark

I enjoyed switching gears this week and working with Adobe Spark. I wanted to take a break from the usual education projects I have been working on and wanted to focus on something for myself instead. I chose to create a video with Adobe Spark using some quotes that I see daily at my school and have provided some inspiration for me, especially on those days when I ask myself "why am I here?" 😱

Last year my school focused on building an environment of community and lifting others up. So, in response to this challenge the staff decided to paint murals and quotes all around the school as a way to encourage and lift up our students, as well as ourselves! As I walk down the hallways I am constantly seeing these uplifting quotes and images so I wanted to collect some of my favorite quotes and create a way I can see them anywhere instead of only at school. I figured putting them into a video with some calming and relaxing images would fit the bill.  That is why Everyday Inspiration was created.

Creating Everyday Inspiration

Before creating the video for this assignment, I explored with Adobe Spark for a bit, played around with images and sound before actually starting on my creation. I wanted to initially use my desk top to create the video because I figured it would be easier to save and then embed into this blog. However, when I was playing around with sound in the video, I realized that my microphone on the desk top was not working so I had to go to Plan B.....the iPad. 

I downloaded the Adobe Spark app onto my iPad and started to explore again with the video. I was pleasantly surprised when I began the creation, the iPad app was user friendly and worked similar to the desk top version. I really did not run into any issues as I created the video, overall I think the process was pretty straightforward. It helped to explore the app before trying to create the video to get familiar with the options. 

Here are the details of how I created the video on Adobe Spark: 

1.  I started by choosing what kind of video I wanted to create--by choosing the story template

• There are several story templates to choose from
• Creating your own story template is also an option

For this project I decided to use one of the story templates--Promote an Idea

2.  Next I started to create my inspiration video

• I started by locating the video options on the top right of the screen
• There are many options for Layouts, themes, sizing, and music
• Here are the options I chose to begin creating my video--I chose these before I began putting in pictures, text or slide sound:
• Layout:  Caption--this puts the image as full screen and has text as the caption over the image
• Theme:  Tidal--the theme changes the font of the text and how the slides and text appear on the screen
• Resize: Widescreen--the options here are widescreen and square
• Music: Sunlit Valley--there are numerous music choices here, they are grouped into categories; there are also options for choosing from iTunes or from a file

3. Now it was time to start choosing the quotes and images I wanted to use. I remembered parts of the quotes I wanted to use but could not remember the authors so I conducted a google search for positive, uplifting quotes and found the ones I wanted to include in the video. Then I started searching for the images I wanted to use that are inspirational, relaxing and calming. Here is information on how I selected the images I wanted:

• First, I clicked on the first/top plus sign, clicked on photo to add the images to each slide
• There are many options for choosing images to add to Spark: Access your own photos on the device; find free photos from Adobe Spark; take a picture; and syncing to various apps to collect images--Facebook, Google drive, Dropbox, light room, etc.

• I chose to Find Free Photos on Adobe Spark
• I entered in phrases such as waterfall, path at beach, dreams that would provide me with images that would match the quotes I chose
• I ended up selecting 3 images to go with the 3 quotes I chose and an image for the title slide
• Once I found the image I wanted I clicked on the image and it automatically appeared on the slide
• I went to each slide and added the photos I wanted using the steps above

4. After adding the images I needed to add the quotes to the slides, here is how I did that:

• After adding the images, there is only one plus sign left on the slide, this is for the text of the slide
• Click on the plus sign and a text box appears so you can enter in the text for the slide
• I added text on each slide with the quote I chose for each image; the first slide is the title slide and has the title Everyday Inspiration; I added quotes on the other slides 

5.  Once I created the slides I wanted I went back and deleted the slides I did not use, leaving the last two slides for credits

6. After I had the images and quotes ready on each slide it was time to add the voice over for each slide; I simply said the quotes for each slide:

• Press and hold the red microphone button under the slide 
• Read the text on the slide or add any instructions, explanations, etc that you want
• Let go of the button when finished
• Move to the next slide and follow the same steps

7. I then went to the credits slide and added a credit for the websites I located the quotes from; the images I used in the video were already in the credits

8.  Once I thought I had the slides complete I hit play to see how it looked; Something that surprised, and I had forgotten I chose was the music. Even though I had spoken on each slide, the music kept playing throughout the video. I think this added a great effect to the finished project. 

9.  Once I was pleased with the video, I hit the share button on the top right, there were several sharing options:

• Save to Camera Roll
• Post to Facebook
• Post to Twitter
• Send an email
• Send a message
• Copy link to clipboard

I copied the link the clipboard and then tried sending it to one of my own email addresses. After several unsuccessful attempts of sending an email I decided to save it to my camera roll. From the camera roll I could then access it and send it by email. After I sent it to my email, I downloaded it to the desk top and saved a copy to my documents. From there I was able to access the file when I clicked on Insert a Video on blogger and added it here to my blog. The finished video is below👇

How I will use Adobe Spark

I liked the ease of using Adobe Spark, I think it is a straightforward and simple way to begin creating videos. I really liked the selection of images that are free to use as well as the music choices. The options they have to select images, music, etc. from other sources will be useful to complete a variety of creations. 

I would like to incorporate the use of Adobe Spark in my classroom by using it to create review videos, picture stories of our classroom activities, and end of the year slideshows for parents. Adobe Spark will be a great resource to use to create short videos of special projects we do in class that I can share with parents. Spark will be useful in creating documentation of student work and as a means to review concepts. Using Spark as a means of introducing concepts will be a creative way to grab student attention. I would also like to explore using Spark as a way for students to be creative in their own work by creating their own story videos, classroom story video, and concept videos. I may explore the use of Spark in creating a video of the Friend book we completed a few weeks ago in class. It would be great to show their work in video form--and to let them talk on the video to explain their own pictures. 

Overall I enjoyed working with Adobe Spark and plan to continue to explore the possibilities it holds for my classroom.