Cinemagraphs

The History of Cinemagraphs
A Cinemagraph is an image that contains within itself a living moment that allows a glimpse of time to be experienced and preserved endlessly.

Visual Graphics Artist Kevin Burg began experimenting with the .gif format in this style in 2009 but it wasn't until he partnered with photographer Jamie Beck to cover NYFW that Cinemagraphs were born. Marrying original content photography with the desire to communicate more to the viewer birthed the cinemagraph process. Starting in-camera, the artists take a traditional photograph and combine a living moment into the image through the isolated animation of multiple frames. To quote supermodel Coco Rocha "it's more than a photo but not quite a video".

Beck and Burg named the process "Cinemagraphs" for their cinematic quality while maintaining at its soul the principles of traditional photography. Launched virally through social media platforms Twitter and Tumblr, both the style of imagery and terminology has become a class of its own. The creative duo are looking forward to exploring future display technologies for gallery settings as well as pushing this new art form and communication process as the best way to capture a moment in time or create a true living portrait in our digital age while embracing our need to communicate visually and share instantly.

How to Make a Cinemagraph
The videos below demonstrate how to create a cinemagraph using Adobe Photoshop. Some of them have been created using Photoshop CS5 Extended. While the features they use are available in the version we use, you might have to do some searching in order to get it to work. media type="custom" key="29055771"

Sample Files
You can dowload sample files using the link below. Although we cannot get the exact version used in the tutorial, there is on that involves bubbles that is quite similar. Use the other files provided for practice. @https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B427i-qrSwaEemJVMUlwVzdCRVk?usp=sharing

Your Project
Create a cinemagraph using Adobe Premiere and/or Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop. Each student is expected to create a ‘set’ for capturing their video footage.

Requirements

 * Begin with a plan
 * Tell a story
 * Filmed with Tripod and proper lighting
 * Must loop seamlessly
 * Mask is clean
 * Image Adjustments have been made
 * May include use of filters. See the Pioneer Woman for examples
 * Final file is saved as an animated gif

Setting Up Your Project

 * Create a folder on the local disk
 * Put all your files in this folder (video footage, psd file).
 * Open Up Adobe Premiere
 * Create a new AVCHD project that is 1080p 24fps
 * Edit out the footage you do need
 * Export the entire sequence as Targa files
 * View the images in Adobe Bridge
 * Choose Tools --> Photoshop --> Load Files into Photoshop Layers
 * Group every layer accept the first layer
 * Make your mask on the group layer
 * Make Image Adjustments

Once Complete

 * Go to File > Save for Web
 * Save it as a gif file
 * Export with looping as forever
 * Copy and paste to the handin folder

Evaluation

 * Image is visually appealing and communicates well
 * Set is well staged, props are used as needed
 * Tripod & Lighting are used successfully
 * Image is planned properly (sketches, samples, etc...)
 * Clean loop of action
 * Image adjustments play into highlighting action
 * Footage is well framed
 * Mask is clean
 * Image Adjustments menu has been used
 * Additional filters have been added to manipulate photo (example. blur)

@http://cinemagraphs.com/ @http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2011/07/cinemagraphs.html @http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/cinemagraph/ @http://www.buzzfeed.com/thegeshow/the-60-most-beautiful-cinemagraph-gifs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmOKI_o50Eo#t=21 and @http://www.videostatic.com/blog/2013/05/28/how-make-cinemagraph-music-video
 * Links**