Webshots Partners with Animoto to Help Consumers Bring Photos and Videos to Life with Picture Shows

CLEVELAND, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Webshots.com, an American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) company, and Animoto, the maker of innovative and award-winning online video services, have partnered to create Picture Shows for the Webshots community.  Launched more than 16 years ago, Webshots is one of the largest photo and video sharing sites on the web and is noted for maintaining the convenience visitors love while leveraging the latest technologies to introduce new ways for members to enhance the experience of enjoying and sharing favorite photos and videos. The latest example of these efforts is the introduction of Picture Shows. The new capability, powered by Animoto, allows members to easily turn their photos and video clips into video slide shows complete with music and personal messages.

With Picture Shows, anyone can easily produce and customize their own professional quality video slideshow with unique styles to fit the content or theme and a large music library to add the perfect soundtrack. What makes this high production value available to the everyday end-user is Animoto's proprietary Cinematic Artificial Intelligence that thinks like an actual director and editor, using the same sophisticated post-production skills and techniques that are used in television and film.

To get started consumers just have to set up an account at Webshots.com and select the Picture Shows option on any of their personal albums. They then follow the easy guide to add favorite photos and complement their selections by choosing from a collection of tunes in several different genres. From there the technology will finish off the presentation in style. Once completed, users can download their customized video slideshows and create keepsake DVDs, upload them to personal blogs, or even post them to Facebook.

"Webshots has always been focused on helping people make a more perfect emotional connection through photography, and Picture Shows is a natural evolution towards that goal," said Radhika Balasubramaniam, Webshots senior brand manager.  "By combining ultimate convenience and wonderfully intuitive technology, we're giving people a fun, fast, and easy way to create compelling video slideshows and celebrate life's special moments."

"With the Webshots partnership, Animoto is bringing our award-winning service to one of the largest communities of photo enthusiasts on the web," said Brad Jefferson, chief executive officer and co-founder of Animoto.  "Webshots' implementation of Animoto's video creation functionality is uniquely tailored for its user base so we're excited to watch the reaction from the Webshots community to this new and innovative product."

Consumers can learn more about Webshots and this exciting new way to commemorate favorite memories by visiting the newly re-designed site. You can also visit them on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information on American Greetings, including store locations, please visit us at www.corporate.americangreetings.com. You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanGreetings and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/amgreetings.

About American Greetings Corporation

For more than 100 years, American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) has been a creator and manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships to create happiness, laughter and love.  The Company's major greeting card lines are American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings and Papyrus, and other paper product offerings include DesignWare party goods and American Greetings and Plus Mark gift-wrap and boxed cards.  American Greetings also has one of the largest collections of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc. (the Company's online division).  In addition to its product lines, American Greetings also creates and licenses popular character brands through the American Greetings Properties group.  Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings generates annual revenue of approximately $1.6 billion, and its products can be found in retail outlets worldwide.   For more information on the Company, visit http://corporate.americangreetings.com.

About Animoto

Animoto  (www.animoto.com) is the video creation service that enables consumers, professionals and businesses to easily make and share professional-quality videos that amaze friends, family and clients. The Animoto team, which includes entertainment and technology industry veterans, has leveraged its expertise to develop a web-based service that makes it easy for people to quickly and easily create and share their stories through video using their own photos and videos. The heart of Animoto is its Cinematic Artificial Intelligence™ technology that thinks like an actual director and editor, using the same sophisticated post-production skills and techniques that are used in television and film. The company has over 3 million users who create over 750,000 videos each month. Animoto Productions is based in New York City with offices in San Francisco and Singapore.

SOURCE American Greetings Corporation