Motion Design: Animated GIFs

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. Course will include introduction to creating GIFs with Adobe Photoshop.

• Course Intro + Design Principles
• In this first session, we'll go over the course syllabus and take a look at some student examples of animated GIFs. We'll also dive into a basic introduction to composition, design elements and principles within a motion design context.
• Shoot your GIFs
• In this session, we'll be learn how to create GIFs within a makeshift studio setting. We'll also go over some more animation principles and studio tips.
• Storyboarding your GIFs
• This session will discuss how to sequence and storyboard your own GIF projects.
• Build Your GIFs
• In this last session, we'll be working with Photoshop to create, edit, and export your GIFs.