From the course: Creating Cinemagraphs and Plotagraphs

A look at the dynamic content movement

From the course: Creating Cinemagraphs and Plotagraphs

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A look at the dynamic content movement

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- The cinemagraph movement is really catching on at this point, and it's due largely, in fact, to increased bandwidth. We're seeing more and more people having fast internet, both at home and on the go with mobile devices. It's getting easier and easier to consume content. Now video, of course, is popular, but what we're seeing here is that content that's somewhere in-between. Cinemagraphs are really popular. That's because you don't have the same download times or needs for compression and streaming that often are tied to video delivery. A cinemagraph, because so many parts of it are static, often leads to a much smaller file size. You get the benefits of motion without all of the overhead that can really slow things down. Another driving force is the increase in social advertising. We're seeing that social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular and it's been proven time and time again that cinemagraphs or plotagraphs inserted into these streams stop people in their tracks. In working with both Flixel and Plotagraph Pro, I've seen then share data that shows that these types of content are significantly, sometimes 10 times or even more effective than a static image. It causes people to pause. What you typically see is that people on their mobile devices are flicking through their social media feeds, and when they see this dynamic content, it causes them to stop and they engage. Now, eventually, all things will lose some of their effectiveness, but subtle motion is so much better at stopping people on the tracks. Plus, it doesn't take the same time commitment and intelligence or attention commitment that watching a complex video does with sound and audio that has to be processed. A cinemagraph or a plotagraph simply pulls people in and captures their attention. Now, with the word cinemagraph, this is being used to describe many formats. Cinemagraph Pro is a product, and Flixel is behind that, but the same can be said of other types of art forms that are really cinemagraphs. This was a word that was in use before, but has now been used by the company to describe their product. Microsoft calls it a cliplet, but it really is a cinemagraph. Plotagraph calls their content plotagraphs, and it's simply a marketing distinction. Many people will use the inclusive phrase dynamic content to cover all of these things. The key here though is to strike a balance. You want to use this when it's effective. Don't make every image that you put online a cinemagraph, but use it for content where it's motivated. If you shoot the content a specific way, or you're choosing images that have a sense of energy and dynamic intensity, things going on in the image, well, then a cinemagraph makes sense. It's going to pull people into the content and truly engage them. And you're going to see these more and more as you look around. The next time you're at the airport, hop in the back of a taxi, or stream through Facebook or Instagram, you're going to see these continuing to pop up, and today we're going to walk you through all the things you need to know to make them. So with that in mind, let's start to explore some of the composition and shooting techniques that you'll need to consider when gathering or creating images to use with dynamic content.

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