Ever seen a film like this? Limited motion/Cinemagraphs

[kaylee]

hi guys!!! im wondering if youve ever seen a "cinemagraph" film... a short or whatever. a narrative

for the uninitiated, cinemagraph is a term that has become popular for a certain style of gif – stuff like this

i would describe a cinemagraph to a novice who hasnt seen one simply as a still photo where part of it is moving

what i find interesting about all this boils down to a notion of controlling motion, and less motion in film. limited motion

as gifs so often do, cinemagraphs often utilize a looping effect – a repeated loop of motion. something simple, iconic

it reminds me of animation

anyway guys, my question is: has anyone ever seen a film like this?

does this ring any bells? if theres something similar to what im working on out there, id definitely like to know!

happy holidays ??????

[Kisaha]

There is an app doing that. You have a photo, and then you can adjust some of these stuff. It is interesting for a while. This is like video with minimal movement, in various scenes in animation, or other, there are moments and scenes that seem like these.

I do not have specific examples right now -there are in most animation films anyway, but I remember this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear(s)_of_the_Dark to have a more minimal sketches.

[Snowfun]

Most of my holiday films (friends & family stuff only) are based on this. I often characterise my work as being “moving photographs”. I find it a challenge to assess just how little movement is required in a scene to maintain the sense of dynamism and interest. It is fascinating, I think, just how even the slightest movement can bring a scene alive.

Ideal for films which don’t have an obvious story but are intended to portray beautiful scenery or architecture whilst travelling.

Tim

[Axel]

In a museum, living "paintings":

I am very interested in this. Am working on an elaborate storyboard for a short for months now. A sequence of scenes, each told within one frame, taking "every frame a painting" almost literally. Like a slideshow of cinemagraphs, some stills with sound, some extreme slomos, some smooth timelapses, morphs. You can combine various techniques, use burst mode to capture raw images, make comps, CGI. Very exciting indeed.

[Teemu]

This is a nice cinemagraph  "story":

Not so much story involved more like beautiful images in one scene. But like it as it is. I also myself like to do cinemagraphs. Also really like to make cinemagraph moments from movies that I love. That way give them new feeling and the respect those need. Those I just upload for my instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/vinovinkkeli/

 

[kaylee]

1 hour ago, Snowfun said:

I find it a challenge to assess just how little movement is required in a scene to maintain the sense of dynamism and interest

an interesting challenge! i agree

1 hour ago, Snowfun said:

It is fascinating, I think, just how even the slightest movement can bring a scene alive.

it REALLY is

58 minutes ago, Axel said:

Am working on an elaborate storyboard for a short for months now. A sequence of scenes, each told within one frame, taking "every frame a painting" almost literally.

sounds really interesting! that "'living 'painting'" is a trip

20 minutes ago, Teemu said:

This is a nice cinemagraph  "story":

awww yiss, than you so much, this is just what im talking about!!! – stuff like this. im just curious to see whats out there...

20 minutes ago, Teemu said:

Also really like to make cinemagraph moments from movies that I love. That way give them new feeling and the respect those need.

ykno, i was just looking at some gifs ppl have made from movies on tumblr the other day, like classic beautiful films, and it really does bring a new level of appreciation and respect for the depth of these works. and theyre awesome. like the gifs in and of themselves are awesome. ive learned more from a single one second loop gif of psycho than i have entire lengthy bullshit clickbait filmmaking articles lol

 

[Hans Punk]

Cinemagraph technique can look great to visually study a nuance of a specific moment of time, I'm still waiting for ultra low power high resolution OLED picture frames to enable you to upload your own looping 'moments' and hang on the wall. Iconic moments from your favourite movie or interpolated still frames from a burst mode from a camera could look very nice as a hanging picture when slowed right down. Not sure the medium holds up for a 'traditional' narrative tool...as  the looping nature of the image is purposely infinite. 

I think ultra slow motion can be more visually arresting - given the right subject and composition, the end result can be as stunning as a painting...

 

[PannySVHS]

 

There is a shooting and editing style using 1 to 4 second segments of slow motion. It gives an effect of animated stills. It is often used by DSLM/R shooters, to present their vision.expression. Due to short length of the shot in combination with slomo and with only one animate subject in the frame, this largely popular shooting style has a strong reminiscence to cinemagraphs. A lot of times that are walking backs  of heads. Wedding videos often combine characteristics of stills photography and videography. The cinemagraph is the most consequent approach of moving photographs and fits the popular shooting style of videographers around the world. In the video below we see the actress like posing for a photgraph, sometimes it could almost have been a cinemagraph as well. I typed GH5 in youtube search, this shooting style goes along with test videos for a new camera.

 

[kaylee]

good thoughts here guys

10 hours ago, Hans Punk said:

Not sure the medium holds up for a 'traditional' narrative tool...as  the looping nature of the image is purposely infinite. 

indeed. my intention isnt to loop the movement of the main characters per se – im thinking about other things, particularly patterns in nature

imagine a little 5 second video clip of a girl lying in a field reading a book in a bed of flowers. a day with a bit of wind creates all kinds of movement in those flowers over that 5 seconds, but what if the flowers were a LOOP of movement for 1 second, repeated 5 times. thats the kinda stuff im talking about. and she has her own movement and the clouds have their own movement – etc. its all separate and compartmentalized. pain in the ass? yes lol. but it also opens up a new freedom once youre controlling ALL the motion in your film like a god

in a way i guess im suggesting that imposing some of the practical limitations of traditional animation on motion picture photography could be quite fascinating...

simplicity. repetition.

[kaylee]

to folks who havent watched this, its really worth a look

@Hans Punk getting normal people to SLOW DOWN (pun intended lol) enough to watch something like this in its entirety (a whopping 8 and a half minutes) is a miracle, but ~ i ~ LOVED it

i think this piece is really something. the visual is so much like a piece of music, a symphony. so powerful

not unlike what im suggesting in this thread: super slo mo could be used for all kinds of creative purposes, and it has a beauty in and of itself that i think hasnt been explored in cinema very much outside of battle/fight scenes

 

[kaylee]

as far as loops of motion, check out this dope music video. never heard of the band but it looks like it was made in after effects

 

[Kisaha]

Bill Viola has done unlimited such stuff.

http://channel.louisiana.dk/video/bill-viola-cameras-are-keepers-souls

EDIT: never heard of that band either. Must be some of the iPad-making music crowd.

 

[Thpriest]

I liked this one

[Don Kotlos]

1 hour ago, Thpriest said:

I liked this one

Yeah that looks good. Sounds good as well

[andrew00]

Not exactly the same, but La Jetee always stands out for me. It's an amazing time travel short with dialogue and still photos.

 

[Kisaha]

have nothing to do with anything, just wanted to post it somewhere for some time know!

[kaylee]

14 hours ago, Thpriest said:

I liked this one

thats dope. really pretty. funny, on the surface it seems like this video has nothing in common with the beatles animation i posted above, and yet it does

7 hours ago, Kisaha said:

have nothing to do with anything, just wanted to post it somewhere for some time know!

thats kewl, ykno we should have a thread for random stuff where you can post a sicc pic or video or whatever and have discussion w/o starting a new thread. kno what im sayin

[Kisaha]

I think this is that post!

I wanted to write "..for some time, now." !

[kidzrevil]

??? challenge accepted

[IshootbeforeItalk]

Back in 2013 I still used to own a menswear label. For that label we did a collaboration with Gshock, that video was based on cinemagraphs as part of the concept. Directed by Hesdy Lonwijk, DP was Tibor Dingelstad.