Does anybody remember VH1’s Pop Up Video? At the time, it was really cool to see music videos laden with small nuggets of trivia about my favorite artists. It’s about time something like that came to the Web, and Mozilla is more than willing to accomodate.
At the Mozilla Festival over the weekend, the non-profit announced the launch of Popcorn Maker. It’s a free Web app that lets users create their own “Pop Up Videos,” and then some. In a way, it’s like a Web version of movie maker programs like Windows Movie Maker or Final Cut Pro.
Mozilla’s Director of Popcorn, Brett Gaylor, says that Popcorn Maker makes video “work like the rest of the Web: hackable, linkable, remixable, and connected to the world around it.” It’s based on the Popcorn.js library that Mozilla made available to developers last year, but the non-profit is now putting it in the hands of users with “an intuitive interface anyone can use.”
Here’s an example of what Popcorn Maker is capable of. Pay close attention to the Google Maps embeds. It’s all kinds of magical when you can interact with Google Maps in the middle of a video.
It’s hard to say if things like Popcorn Maker will take over established video delivery services like YouTube. It’s also important to note that some content owners might not appreciate fans remixing and reiterating on their content. Even so, Popcorn Maker is pretty awesome, and it may very well have a future among developers and artists alike.
For those interested, you can start using Popcorn Maker now. For more detailed information on the development of Popcorn Maker, check out the Mozilla Hacks post from the Tech Lead for Popcorn Maker, Bobby Richter.