How to Star in a JibJab Animated Video

The wacky boys at JibJab are at it again with a new animated political satire. A supporting cast of political luminaries including George W. Bush and the Clintons sing along as McCain and Obama square off. Now YOU can have a role in the video, too!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• A computer-stored photo of yourself (like your E-How avatar).
• An account with JibJab (similar to setting one up with E-How).

1. Your face here. It's equal time political parody as ancient and infirm warmonger McCain
   states his case and Obama utters "change" every other word while prancing through a land of rainbows and unicorns. President Bush, on banjo, begins the musical by singing "Time for Some Campaignin'" set to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are A-Changin'".
2. Animating the mouth. If your favorite cable station is MSNBC or Fox; if you collect campaign buttons; if you were a fan of the so-sadly late Tim Russert or the McLaughlin Group - i.e. if you're a political buff, you will love to add your animated self to this video!
3. For best results, set your computer search engine for JibJab It's Time for Some Campaignin'. Watch the video and at the end, Arnold Schwarznegger will tell you to put yourself in the picture; "It's easy." Like saying the word "Kal-eee-faurniiia", I suppose! For best results, however, subscribe to the site first. As with E-How, this involves creating a 4 character+ user name and password and entering your first name, birth date, gender and e-address.
   Now your're ready to go. Follow the step-by-step instructions, starting with browsing, attaching and uploading a photo of your lovely puss.
   Next, a line with several points will outline your avatar, which you use to shape tightly around your head. They are quite flexible and you can add movable points. I was even able to get my Goffin's cocaktoo Pippy in on the act.
   You will be given another outline with points to manipulate around your lower jaw in order to animate your mouth. Take your time and do it right!
   The final steps tend to be maddeningly slow, so relax and grab a beverage, feed the fish, brush your teeth or something while you're waiting.
   The end result is hilarious and you'll want to share with your friends! The site continues to show how to e-mail.

Tips & Warnings

• Brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis founded JibJab in Venice, California in 1999.
• JibJab burst onto the scene in 2004 with the equally hilarous Bush vs. Kerry slugfest to the tune of "This Land is your Land". One of the biggest online video hits; now it seems like ancient history!
• You can also personalize greeting cards for every occasion and other videos through JoibJab!
• If you're a non-practical type like me, it's really easy to hit the wrong icon and navigate out of the site, losing all your work. (Very frustrating - happened to me several times before I got it right.)
• Uploading your head and other steps can be quite time consuming, so don't start this project if you don't have an hour or so to spare.
• The JibJab enrollment procedure is tricky and doing it before working o the video presents high risk of losing the work and time put into adding your designer touch.
• The visual quality is much better in the video than I could capture with my illustrative photos (sorry).