After hearing about these in class I decided to learn more about this medium. What surprised me is that it is not a GIF. GIFs date back to the 80s and are not able to be high quality enough to handle a cinemagraph properly. A cinemagraph is a super high-quality image that is yet much smaller than a GIF. Making them perfect for SEO on a website where you want something to catch the eyes of viewers. While being embedded on the page, helping with load times and formatting. Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg, who run the cinemagraph.com website. Are the ones who popularized the medium at the 2011 Fashion Week in New York. They also coined the term “cinemegraph”.
The highest quality cinemagraphs are often created from 4K, and sometimes even 6K video. Though cinemagraphs can be exported in multiple file formats, exporting as a video file keeps the quality very high. File formats like H.264, and the new high-efficiency video format known as H.265 are the most common.
How can you make one though? There is, of course, the hard way, but like anything nowadays someone put in the hard work to create software to make it easier for the average joe to get into it. Flixel is that software. Cinemagraph Pro, an easy-to-use cinemagraph app for iOS and macOS. The app makes the cinemagraph editing process both fast and fun. Apple even awarded Flixel an Apple Design Award in 2014 for Flixel’s breakthrough approach to cinemagraph creation.
What is a Cinemagraph and How Do They Work?
Cinemagraphs vs. GIFs: Clearing the Air Once and For All
One Response
I was also interested in cinemagraphs when they were brought up in class, and this post was very helpful in learning more about them! It’s interesting how they are much higher quality than a GIF but still much smaller. Cinemagraphs are a great way for beginning companies to create compelling content, especially since they are easy for beginners to create.