Images that come to life

In photography's history, it is clear over time and technical advances allowed to capture the movement of human beings and the world around them. This allowed the human eye to have access to images that before it could not have conceived. The world began to capture images like "Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare" (1932) by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The strengthening of the photographic techniques granted the creation cinema, as a result of the capture and projection of thirty images per second of a moving object. The new industry fascinated the world with its ability to reflect what the human's eyes cannot see. Although, many believed that it could only be limited to reality, directors like George Melies, were pioneers creating fantasy worlds.

In this way, photography and cinema were consolidated as two separate arts, even though in one way or another, they connected or complemented each other. However, due to the lack of technological advances, it was very difficult to have match static images with moving in the same frame. Then, digital photography and the internet were created. This opened the possibilities to play and experiment within film and photography elements.

The experimentation with different digital media leads to what we know today as Cinemagraph. Cinemagraph is the technique that explores movement and stability in a single image. Kevin Burg & Jamie Beck define this technique as "A cinemagraph is a living image - a still photograph that contains an element of movement looped seamlessly to create a never-ending moment" (Burg & Beck, 2018). Meaning that is a motionless picture that has movement in it because a video layer has been put in.

Thanks to the internet it has been a trend that has expanded rapidly and has been growing in popularity. Owing to it is a technique that mixes the best of both worlds. Cinemagraph has caused so much impact because it is a technique to which the viewer has not been bombarded with it and because it allows seeing objects differently. Additionally, it is a format that works perfectly with the dynamics of the internet, since it is a short video or a GIF that can go through any platform.

I consider that Cinemagraph is a reflection of life and how we perceive time. Daily, we can see where everything moves at different speeds. Also, situations, people and places are frozen on time in our memories. The theory of the reality of Albert Einstein explains it very well, time passes for all living beings, nevertheless everyone perceives it differently, depending on their situation. Besides, Einstein concluded that as a body moves faster through space, time tends to slow down, almost like it stops.

I strongly believe that Cinemagraph is a great medium to experiment with and dissect movement, to see mundane and common thing differently. Especially, because when we are editing it, we decide what elements come to life. Allowing to go beyond what our minds and eyes can. On the other hand, is a way to immortalize moments and run from the tragedy that our lives are momentary.

Moreover, it is necessary to keep in mind that Cinema is considered by authors like Lev Manovich cinema is considered a way of painting with time. He classifies Cinema as a portal where all the dreams can become in reality, due goes it goes beyond logic and reality. This point is reinforced by Hugo Musterberg says that cinema "obeys the laws of the mind rather than those of the outer world" (Silva, 2015). Meaning that Cinema creates a reality that does not exist.

Taking all this into account we can conclude that the project explored the movement. The main focus was to discover daily life and the small details that go unnoticed. In this way, a wide variety of shots and angles were found since the objective was to have multiple options and to be able to play with them in post-production. Based on what has been investigated to date, it can be considered that one of the biggest challenges will be the editing process, since obtaining great results that captures natural movement can be a hard to accomplish.

References

Burg, K., & Beck, J. (n.d.). Cinemagraphs. Retrieved from http://cinemagraphs.com/what-is-a-cinemagraph

Jones, A. Z. (2018). Does time exist? - Andrew Zimmerman Jones. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3tbVHlsKhs

LIN, J. C. (2014, 02 19). When Photos Come to Life: The Art of the Cinemagraph. Retrieved from TIME: https://time.com/3388024/when-photos-come-to-life-the-art-of-the-cinemagraph/

McKinnon, P. (2017). How to make your pictures COME TO LIFE using a CINEMAGRAPH. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dD_yeVMUzo

Peter Flixel. (n.d.). The History of Cinemagraphs Includes David Bowie. Retrieved from Flixel: https://blog.flixel.com/history-of-cinemagraphs/

Silva, J. (2015). CINEMA: Painting in Time. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcSfm5RL-24

Silva, J. (n.d.). Expanding Our Perception. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzZJQrPPv0M