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Session 4: Build Your GIFs

Introduction to Motion Design: Animated GIFs
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Introduction

Animated gifs are kind of like the flipbooks of the digital age. Quick and easy to produce and distribute, but with almost endless creative possibilities, the creation of animated gifs is a great way to begin to explore both digital and traditional time based media. The popularity of animated gifs in social media and advertising, the rise of short form video sharing sites like Vine and Instagram, and the ability to easily create short animations and videos with mobile devices make this kind of "micro cinema" an important part of our contemporary media landscape.


Project Overview

  1. Photoshop Introduction
  2. Storyboarding
  3. Shoot your GIFs
  4. Build your GIFs
  5. FINAL SUBMISSION - Animated GIFs Project

In this session, we'll finish up with the Build your GIFs project, and you'll submit and critique your final work in the Animated GIFs Project!


Final GIF Requirements

  • Each gif MUST contain exactly 15 original photographs and be 15 frames long
  • Contain stop motion animation (not frames pulled from video) with smooth and/or "appropriate" movement
  • Seamlessly loop
  • Include either visual adjustments, enhancements, or additional animation added in Photoshop
  • Utilize design elements Color, Texture, Value
  • Utilize design principles Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Balance

Human Gif
Must express a human gesture or movement
Gesture must be preformed by part or all of an actual human person
Can include other inanimate objects or props

Mechanical Gif
Must express a mechanical movement (machines, factories, devices, tools, etc)
Movement should be preformed by inanimate man made objects
No humans, animals, or natural or natural-appearing objects may appear!

Natural Gif
Must express a natural movement (wind, water, sun and moon, animal movement, etc.)
Movement should be preformed by natural, or natural-appearing, inanimate objects only

No humans, actual animals, or man-made objects may appear!

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