Exploring cinemagraphs, looking at the work of Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck

Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck are two American artists who started working together in 2009 and the pair went on to invent the 'Cinemagraph' in 2011. A cinemagraph has been described as "More than a photo but not quite a video" by model Coco Rocha due it containing an image with parts that move which causes brilliant effect.

After researching their work together, I stumbled across a YouTube compilation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9KiIjyCTpI) of some of their cinemagraphs and was in pure amazement at some of their pieces.

In particular the clip at 4:21 in the video which contains a never ending wine bottle. It's such a clever technique that questions reality and is therefore intriguing for many people including myself. It's also a very intelligent way to show the movement of everyday objects.

After seeing the work of Burg and Beck, I tought myself how to create cinemagraphs through Photoshop.

https://vimeo.com/207770532

The link is an example to one of the pieces I did in which I recorded my watch whilst doing work on a computer. Through Photoshop, I edited the video so the only movement recorded would be on the watch. By doing this I tried to get across the message that time is continuously ticking however life is at times very passive which I have tried to get across by freezing my hand. On reflection, I'm quite impressed with the composition of the video in which I have captured the watch level with the lens to try and make it a distinctive point for audiences to look at.

https://vimeo.com/207772216

This is another example of one of my pieces in which I have captured a running tap into a sink. However I have frozen the water inside the bowl and only kept the movement of the running tap which I believe kind of relates to Burg's and Beck's wine cinemagraph in which a never ending liquid is shown. Unfortunately Vimeo doesn't loop videos so we can't see the cinemagraph over a long duration. I'm not overly keen on this cinemagraph myself as I believe the composition is poor with such things as the angles and the lighting.

Although they were fun to do and create, I don't believe the results of my cinemagraphs were satisfactory to the point where I would have liked them to have been. I'm not overly confident it's a way of getting my intended messages across as I believe they have to be performed and edited with perfection as well as being done with great thought, creativity and imagination which is not something I am sure I can provide especially to tie into everyday objects,