Follow me on Twitter: @gerik

 

As you might have noticed on my twitter feed that I’ve been I’ve been working through a project of making 100 GIFs. It’s just a creative exercise to keep me making something new everyday and sharpen some skills. Sometimes I screen capture the process. It’s sort of a Behind The Scenes look at me stumbling my way through experimenting and trying new things until I land on an idea.

Sometimes I’m a slow on the uptake but I literally just learned a couple of things that will help me speed up my iPhone video workflow.

Tip Number 1: Preserve Camera Mode Settings

I was always annoyed that after I shot a video clip and closed the iPhone Camera App that the next moment I wanted to capture I a video I would open the app and have again swipe to switch from “Photo” to “Video”. Well did you know you can preserve the last mode your Camera App was using instead of it automatically resetting to Photo? Just go to Settings > Photos & Camera > Preserve Settings.

Tip Number 2: 3D Touch Your Camera App Icon

This only works on an iPhone 6s or later. But if you 3D Touch on your Camera App Icon you can choose which mode your want to shoot in: Photo, Slo-Mo, Video, Selfie.

Tip Number 3: 3D Touch Adobe Premiere Clip

If you are a fan of Adobe Premiere Clip like I am then this is really useful. I edit a lot of video in this little app and then send it to Premiere Pro on my laptop to refine it. Anyway, if you 3D Touch your Adobe Premiere Clip app you can almost instantly get started in a new project or open your most recent project.

First a Little Background

Back in March I started a little project. I was going to make 100 looping GIFS. My goal was to try and make one each working day and post it to Twitter (@gerik).

There were several reasons why I wanted to do this project. One was that to learn something new I knew that I would need to create a challange for myself. Usually I respond better to challenges and solving problems and that is where I tend to learn most of what I do. Over the years I’ve done this before. Most recently I did a video a day for a whole month on Instagram.

Why 100?

Well I was listening to a podcast a couple months ago. I can only guess which one and with whom (I listen to a lot). If I remember right it was about finding your creative voice. The person being interviewed said the best way to find your creative voice was to create a lot of work. She mentioned doing projects, and that she once made 100 art pieces.

Another key I picked up on was that finding your creative voice is more about quantity than quality. In other words worry more about making a lot of stuff and less about how good it is, or what others will think of it. It’s in that space one will find emerging styles and tendencies that will give a unique voice to your art.

So if you’d like to see some of these GIFS I’ve been making take a look at my Twitter page and follow me for a chance to see more along the way. As I write this I’m on #48.

Helping Others

Along this journey I’ve received some feedback from people on twitter. I’ve also received some questions and notes from those who are curious about what I am doing. So I thought I would lift my skirt a little and give you a look at my messy, chaotic process. Remember I’m no expert in this. I’m just trying to figure things out and learn like everyone else.

I’m not sure what to really write about this so if you have questions leave a comment below or ask me on Twitter.

Here’s a screen capture time-lapse of a recent session of me making a GIF. I was trying to better learn using the graph editor in After Effects and some standard animation principles.

Here’s the project file from the GIF I made (seen above) in After Effects 2017 (V14.2) – Download Project File

Bonus

To wrap up here’s a little bonus. I recorded a short tutorial on 2 ways I export a GIF from After Effects Let me know if any of this is helpful. Leave a comment here, or on Youtube (Maybe subscribe?) Or hit me up on Twitter.