From Me To You

April 23, 2011 6:11 PM

If you like the subtle and lean animated gifs of If We Don't, Remember ME (previously) you'll probably like the ones at From Me To You (via this ask metafilter question)
posted by aerotive (22 comments total)

These are terrific! But...

I guess I can understand why, but it's sort of irritating that it's so hard to save these. The extra step isn't really that big of a deal to bypass, and it's mostly just a minor irritation.
posted by codacorolla at 6:21 PM on April 23, 2011

I love IWDRM. This one, in particular, is something special.
posted by secret about box at 6:34 PM on April 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

That is some cool stuff, for sure...
posted by ph00dz at 6:37 PM on April 23, 2011

These are great.

Is this Sharon Tate? She's heart-stoppingly lovely.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:42 PM on April 23, 2011

They're awesome. Just when I think I'm looking at good photographs, it starts moving. Woah.

It reminds me of photographs in Harry Potter movies.
posted by Sallysings at 6:42 PM on April 23, 2011

codacorolla: "I guess I can understand why, but it's sort of irritating that it's so hard to save these. The extra step isn't really that big of a deal to bypass, and it's mostly just a minor irritation."

What? I just drag the GIFs to my desktop. If you've got a Tumblr account you can just add them as a favorite, too.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:44 PM on April 23, 2011

I really like these, but I find the more subtle movements very unsettling. I imagine it hits the same spot in my mind as paintings with eyes that seem to follow you. So is there a word that means both cool and creepy?
posted by mindless progress at 6:49 PM on April 23, 2011

What? I just drag the GIFs to my desktop. If you've got a Tumblr account you can just add them as a favorite, too.

Most people would right-click-save-as, which he's blocked by making them a div w/ a background or something. It's pretty easy to inspect element in chrome and get the same effect, but still, when it's that trivial to bypass your copy protection, why even bother?
posted by codacorolla at 6:51 PM on April 23, 2011

I'm surprised they were able to find a scene in 2001 that had any motion to put into an animated gif.
posted by DU at 7:11 PM on April 23, 2011 [6 favorites]

I really like these, but I find the more subtle movements very unsettling.

I prefer the subtle ones, probably for that reason. Those ones trigger a response that this is quite clearly a still photograph, except, whoa, part of it is moving! It's like magic. The background treatment that looks like scraps of paper strengthens the impression that the images should not move.
posted by FishBike at 7:49 PM on April 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

The last time I waited for gifs to load there were boobs involved.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:57 PM on April 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

From how you guys were talking, I was half-expecting it to be a 1999 Geocities page with a right-click popup that says "ALL MY IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHTED 1997. DO NOT STEAL OR FACE THE PENALTY OF LAW!"
posted by mccarty.tim at 7:58 PM on April 23, 2011

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!
posted by cjorgensen at 8:00 PM on April 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think I may have mentioned this elsewhere before; the more subtle ones remind me of Vari-Vue lenticular 3-D. The richness of the images and the very slight motion gives them an illusion of liveliness that is missing from more kinetic gifs. Sometimes it's a little eerie.

I might just feel that way because I make animated gifs all the time.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:01 PM on April 23, 2011

I ANXIOUSLY AWAIT THE THICKEST BROWNIES EVER BAKE AT 350 FOR 3 MILLION MINUTES
posted by speedo at 8:23 PM on April 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

These are nice, but (quoted from another tumblr):

Through my new friends at tumblr headquarters I’ve recently come in contact with a very talented new photographer named Jamie. She and her fiancée create these unique images she calls “cinemagraphs” - more than a photo, but not quite a video.

Mark my words friends, this art form is the way of the future.

Just slightly hyperbolic there.
posted by kmz at 9:22 PM on April 23, 2011

This made the rounds on my tumblr dash a few days ago, specifically the bit kmz quotes. I had a little back and forth with a friend about how silly "cinemagraphs" is. A lovely gif is a wonderful thing, and I appreciate that they're made with forethought towards the final product, but I don't care how much technique you put into it, the end result is still a gif, with all the information loss and presentation variables that entails.

I kind of prefer, however, the spontaneity and punch of sampled gifs, little snippets never intended to have been looped. The ones on http://iwdrm.tumblr.com/ are kind of a mix between the two, and I like them a lot more than the From Me To You gifs. More life, I suppose.
posted by Mizu at 11:33 PM on April 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

The gifs at From Me To You have an uncanny valley feel to them for me, while the ones at If We Don't, Remember ME are just lovely.
posted by Harpocrates at 5:11 AM on April 24, 2011

Is there such a thing as a screensaver that plays random animated gifs?
posted by mrhappy at 8:45 AM on April 24, 2011

mccarty.tim: "From how you guys were talking, I was half-expecting it to be a 1999 Geocities page with a right-click popup that says "ALL MY IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHTED 1997. DO NOT STEAL OR FACE THE PENALTY OF LAW!""

Remember when clipart websites used to have these right-click popups as well? I thought I was such a clever beaver when I found out that hitting the space bar at just the right time would close the pop-up and bring up the right-click menu. Ah, the good old days.

Saving these images is a pain, but Chrome's inspect element is a good workaround as someone suggested above.
posted by Rickalicioso at 1:45 PM on April 24, 2011

Far Better Than 3-D: Animated GIFs That Savor A Passing Moment
posted by crunchland at 6:28 AM on April 26, 2011

Holy shit. The Psycho one from the first link freaked me the eff out.
posted by youngergirl44 at 4:49 PM on April 26, 2011