Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg

Cinemagraphs - Living images created by Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg.

Cinemagraphs are still photographs in which minor and repeated movement occurs. They are published in either animated GIF format or as video, and can give the illusion that the viewer is watching a video.

How it was made:
Cinemagraphs are made by taking a series of photographs or a video recording, and, using image editing software, compositing the photographs or the video frames into a seamless loop of sequential frames. This is done so that the motion in part of the gif is perceived as a repeating or continued motion, in contrast with the stillness of the rest of the image.

The term "cinemagraph" was created by U.S. photographers Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck, who used the technique to animate their fashion and news photographs beginning in early 2011.

What it deals with:
Jamie and Kevin's cinemagraphs hold a very unique aspect. They're mesmerising and pretty to look at. They deal with the fashion industry in most of their moving images, taking a pretty model and making the world around her move, which is somewhat a metaphor for her actual life.

How it differs from traditional media:
Gifs have been around for awhile now, and are quite easy to make. Cinemagraphs are a little more complex as there is a lot more editing involved. Cinemagraphs takes the basis of film/photography a traditional art form and brings a modern, interesting light to it. Instead of a mini film with a person stood still as possible, you can edit them to not move and it actually makes it more interesting to look at it.

What equipment, software, approaches, techniques, effects and methods of presentation are used:
Equipment:
Jamie and Kevin use cameras and editing software.
Software:
Adobe Premiere and Photoshop
Approaches/Techniques:
They take a short video if their subject using a tripod and intense lighting (in some cases) to produce footage to use for their cinemagraph. They then cut the video to how they want and convert it in to photoshop layers which they then use in a timeline format to create the gif/cinemagraph. In photoshop they use multiple touch up tools to make sure the cinemagraph looks pretty and professional.