7 Ways to Customize a Video Template

Animoto’s templates offer a launching pad for your marketing videos. For example, check out our Product Brand Story template below.

You can start with a template like this to swap in your own media and replace what you see, or leave any of the template images and clips in place. All photos, designs, and video clips in a template are yours to use!

But did you also know that there are lots of customization options to help you make a marketing video your own even if you decide to start your project from a template?

Read on to find out how to take advantage of all the options at your fingertips.

1. Edit font or colors

Don’t be thrown off by a template’s font or color scheme. It’s easy to adjust the look of your template so that it matches your brand or the video’s message with just a few clicks.

You can edit the default template text and text accent colors by clicking directly on the text field of a block, and then choosing the desired colors one block at a time. This approach is especially useful if you plan to make the text in each block a different color for example.

However, if you'd like to apply selected colors or a chosen font to all of the blocks in your project, tap the Design button from the top menu bar. From there, scroll down to find the Text Settings section where you can change the font or adjust the size, colors, accent colors, and Text Styles of your project.

2. Put a photo in a Video block

Though a block might have a video clip, that doesn’t mean you can’t change it. Drop a photo on a video clip or Text block and the block will adapt to the new content. This works for any basic block — you can add video clips to photo or text blocks, or delete a photo or video clip and leave just the text behind.

3. Add or delete blocks

If the template you’ve chosen isn’t quite the right length, go ahead and add or take away blocks to create a video that’s a good fit for your content. Click the trash icon that appears when you hover over a block to delete it, or select the plus button to the left of the your video timeline to add a new block to your project.

4. Switch from landscape to square

Say you’ve found the template you want such as the Real Estate Explainer template shown above. However, it’s landscape, and you want a square video. No problem! Just go to the Ratio button from the top menu bar and select from the square, landscape, or vertical aspect ratio options.

5. Change your video theme

Do you like a template, but the themes or transitions aren't quite what you want? Here's how to change it. Click the Design button from the top menu bar to access the Design Settings.

Hover over each theme to see a preview of some ready-to-use color, font, and style combos. Click to apply a theme to see how your project looks with a new theme. Don't worry - you can always hit the undo button if you change your mind.

6. Pick a new song

Your Animoto subscription comes with more than 2000 licensed songs — why not use them? Though each template comes with a default song, you can easily change it by clicking the Music button from the top menu bar to open the music library.

From there, you can browse the full library of music tracks by genre, mood, or keyword. Alternatively, you can tap the Your Music tab to upload your own licensed song.

7. Change up the story

When you’re choosing your template, you don’t have to look for one that fits your business or the purpose of your video exactly. Instead, look for a template that you like the look of, then simply replace the text you see with a narrative your own. You can turn an education template into an ad for a fashion line, or a non-profit campaign template into a teaser for your blog. Use the customization tools we shared above, and you’ll be able to create a video that fits your business, no matter what that business is.

Did you learn a new way to adjust your templates based on the ideas in this post? Let us know in the comments below!