Travel Alberta: repurposing video to create stunning cinemagraphs

Cinemagraphs catch people’s attention. They highlight a scene, both subtly and effectively. That’s why brands should use the medium to produce more engaging content. Travel Alberta has created stunning cinemagraph campaigns by using existing footage from the film below.

Taking a look at the video campaign above, you will not only notice stunning footage of Alberta, but also clips from the video that have been repurposed into cinemagraphs. See 1:30, where hikers are jumping across an icy blue glacier river. Or at 1:46, where a man and son are fishing on a still, reflective lake. Travel Alberta took existing B-Roll from this video to create stunning living photos.

“Movement catches the eye, it puts us in the moment and it feels authentic. So if motion is almost always the more successful choice for digital advertising, then why isn’t everybody leveraging video? In short, the answer is cost.”-Travel Alberta

Media buys are expensive, especially for video. When it comes to banner ads, most use Flash-based video, where the motion is often mechanical or animated. Cinemagraphs have a small file size, but still retain the quality of a photograph. This is because only small portions are moving, significantly decreasing the weight of the video file. Cinemagraphs are short looping videos, making them a great asset for advertising, where you want to catch the viewer’s attention and hold it in just a few short seconds.

Repurposing work is cost effective and time efficient

We live in a content driven world. Being able to produce one piece of work in multiple different ways is critical. Turning existing video content into cinemagraphs not only produces new and eye catching content for your brand, but it’s also fun and easy to create with Cinemagraph Pro.

“We focused on finding those key moments where the subject matter moved, but the camera was still. With those shots found and catalogued, we had a library of Cinemagraph-ready files just waiting to be mastered.” – Travel Alberta

We did some quick tests with an existing Target commercial. Check out the results below.

Original Video

4 Tips for Choosing the Right Video Content

Picking the right content to turn into cinemagraphs is easy, once you know what to look for. Check out our tips below for creating your own cinemagraphs from existing video.

1. Stable shots

In order to create a cinemagraph, you first need video that is recorded on a still surface, such as a tripod. Panning movements or handheld shots will not work. When browsing through your existing video, always look for stable shots.

2. Eye catching content

Search for those moments that make you catch your breath; that you want to watch over and over again. These are the moments that make the best cinemagraphs.

3. No overlapping movement

You can have a stable shot, with beautiful imagery, yet the movement you wish to highlight crashes with something in the foreground/background. To easily create a cinemagraph, pick scenes with no overlapping movement, where the movement is clear and precise.

4. The shorter the better

You may come across a long scene that has all of the components listed above, but that you just can’t seem to shorten in length. Ideally, cinemagraphs are anywhere between 2-5 seconds in total. The shorter the better. You want to tell a story in the shortest amount of time, while holding the viewer’s gaze. The longer the loop, the more people stop watching, and the harder it is to tell your story.

Now that you have the tips, go out and start creating your own cinemagraphs from existing video with Cinemagraph Pro. If you have any more tips, let us know in the comments below!