Category: Tutorial

It’s never been easier to create high-quality GIFs and capture frame-perfect still images from a video. This article will show you how to do both in Kamua. In just a few clicks, you can create GIFs and capture still images from almost any online platform, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo and more.

How to Capture Still Images

1. Add your video to Kamua, and watch AutoCut do its thing. It will automatically cut the video into all of its component Shots, making it super-easy to visualize.
2. Use your mouse wheel to browse the Shot List and find the Shot containing the image that you want to capture.
3. Add the Shot to the Timeline as a Clip, by clicking it once, or dragging it to the Timeline.
4. Click on the Clip in the Timeline to enter Preview Mode. You can now play the Clip to preview it, by clicking the Play button, or hitting the Space Bar on your keyboard.
5. Position the Playhead at the point that contains the image to be captured. You can fine tune the exact frame you want to capture by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, to browse the video frame-by-frame.
6. Once you have determined the exact frame you want to capture, click on the three dots in the top-right corner of the Preview Window and select Capture Current Video Frame.
7. The image will now open in a new tab. You can right-click the image to Copy to Clipboard, or save to your computer.

How to Create GIFs

👑 THE GOLDEN GIF RULE 👑

⌚ To convert a video to a GIF in Kamua, it must be no longer than 15 seconds in duration. ⌚

1. Similar to steps 1-3 above, add your Shots to the Timeline by clicking or dragging them. To select multiple consecutive Shots at once, click the check on the first Shot. Hold SHIFT on your keyboard, then select the last Shot. All Shots in between will be selected and you can click the Add Shots to Timeline button above the Shot List.
2. It’s now down to you to decide what your GIF will look like, using the host of features Kamua has to offer. It can be as simple as one shot taken from the video, with no changes applied to it, or a sequence of shots, carefully edited with AutoCrop, CustomTrack, Keyframes, Captions, Color Adjustments, and Black Bar Removal.
3. Once your video is ready to go, select either Draft Render, Full Render or Multi-Render from the Green button in the bottom-right of the screen. You will be taken to the Outputs page, where the your rendered video will be displayed.
4. If your video’s duration is 15 seconds or less, you will have the option to download as a GIF underneath the output. Clicking on this will give you several quality options for the GIF. There is also a Custom Quality GIF option, where you can set your desired Resolution, Frames-per-Second (FPS) or Dithering. Dithering affects how the GIF is compressed. Some options are better for graphics and some are better for video. Have a play around to see what works best for you!

Level up your video editing, using this classic Match On Action technique

Ever feel like your editing needs that extra pizazz to take it to the next level? A great way to smash it with your editing game is to use a technique called Match On Action. This is where action begins in one shot, and then continues or finishes in the next shot.

So do I have to be making an action movie for Match On Action to work?

No. Before we start, let’s get one thing straight. Action is not just about explosions, car chases, helicopters and fist fights. Yes, these are definitely examples of it, but action can be any movement, no matter how small, such as a head turn, a hand gesture, or simply standing from sitting. All of these major and minor points of action are what make movies and videos what they are.

So how does Match On Action work?

Most movies and many TV shows are filmed with one camera, so all the shots are filmed at separate times, and cut together in the edit to create continuity within a scene.

“Say whaaat?” Yep, that’s right, movie making is one big magic trick. But the Match On Action technique creates the illusion that the action in the shots are all taking place at the same time.

By using Match On Action , you can make the edit flow beautifully, and allow the audience to focus on the story without noticing all of the hard cuts in between.

Match On Action can work in several ways:

1. Action and Reaction – One of the best examples of this is a fight scene. In one shot, you see a person moving to hit someone, then in the next shot, you see the other person being hit, all as one continuous piece of action.

2. Continuous movement – This could be anything from a person running or walking, to a car driving by, to someone travelling down a zipwire, or literally any type of movement you can think of.

3. Camera movement – The director, Edgar Wright is a master of this one (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World). He often uses whip pans and crash zooms to transition between shots and scenes. In a whip pan, the camera will quickly pan to one side and cut to another shot that is already panning in the same direction, before landing on the next shot, which is usually a completely new scene. Because the cut is right in the middle of both pans, you barely even notice it. The exact same principle works for crash zoom transitions too.

Get Creative!

Now for that extra pizazz we talked about at the start. You can also use the Match On Action technique in videos that don’t need continuity, such as trailers, montages, compilations, music videos or mash-ups.

Take a look at this Batman and Joker mash-up.

• [Action] Starting with the 1989 Batman movie, we see Batman throw the punch.
• [Reaction] We then cut to the Dark Knight, where the Joker gets punched by Batman.
• [Action] It then cuts back to Batman as he throws another punch.
• [Reaction] The joker gets punched in the Injustice video game.
• [Action] The Batmobile comes in and knocks the Joker to the left.
• [Reaction] We then cut back to the 1989 Batman to a shot of the Joker being knocked through a wall, in the same direction, completing the final Match On Action.

Cutting two unrelated shots together with a Match On Action makes it impactful and lets it flow. But most important of all, it looks super cool. So go ahead, what are you waiting for? Try it!

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About Us: Kamua is a technology startup headquartered in London with engineering operations in Bucharest. With Kamua you can cut, crop and repurpose videos faster, all in a browser, assisted by our AI.