What is cinemagraphy?

Answer 1

Cinemagraphy is a subcategory of of the popular GIF art form. They are the missing link between photographs and video.

Like GIFs, cinemagraphs are a sequence of image stills that are either broken down from a video file or taken separately that are then put into chronological order and looped together to animate motion.

However, they appear to be more fluid than GIFs and tend to be more voyeuristic and open to interpretation than a GIF which tries to tie itself with a popular meme or collective thought.

The current aesthetic of cinemagraphy is to make it so it appears that one is viewing a photograph but, on closer inspection, there is subtle movement somewhere in the stillness.