GIF Tutorial
Hi everyone! This is going to be my tutorial on how to create a gif. I don’t have any illustrations but I hope you can follow along.
The most important things to remember before starting this project: If you don’t have the software to create the .gifs I recommend downloading two programs: MPEG streamclip and gimp 2.0. In addition to the programs, I also recommend have a source to download your movie from (ex. The Wire episodes from UMW library collection). You will also need a folder on your computer ( I recommend adding a folder on your desktop.)
Download your episode from the UMW collection and save it to your desktop on your computer. This makes it easy to find. Open MPEG Streamclip. On the MPEG Streamclip, click on File–Open files. This will open a link to find your downloaded clip. Once the clip is loaded, you can play the clip. When you choose the scene that you wish to make a .gif of, push I to begin recording and O to end the clip selection. You will see the time lapse of the entire clip at the bottom (I being the beginning time and O being the ending time.) Try to stay around 5 seconds. Any longer and the file will be large. Once you have this clip, you will need to export it. Just click File–Export to other formats. This will open a window. At the top of the new window, there is a pulldown box. Select the compression type “image sequence” then select options. (botton right by image sequence) in this new box select “jpeg” and for frames per second put “8″ and click ok, then ok again. This opens up a link to save the images. Select the folder that you have created for you images. (Don’t freak out if it takes a while. The longer the seconds of a clip, the longer it takes to download it. If you watch the folder, you will actually see the images loading. :)) This ends the use of MPEG Streamclip.
Open gimp 2.0. This will open three windows. The left window is your options choices such as text. The middle window is where you image will load. The right window has all of the individual file images. If you would like to add text to your gif, click the large “A” on the left window. This will show you the font and color of your text. You can choose the font. I used either serif or san. Next choose a color. I chose yellow. (it really shows up) Now click on your image in the middle where you would like the text. (A weird box appears you can stretch it to be the area that you want your text) Begin typing your phrase and adjust it to fit on the image. If you look now on your right window above your images, there is your phrase. This phrase has only been added to the image you are on. To add the phrase to all of them, please do the following: There is a button at the bottom that will duplicate layers (looks like a computer monitor). click on your written phrase layer in the box and click on the image that looks like computer monitor. If you have 25 layers of images, you will need to duplicate your text layer 24 times. After the layers have been duplicated, use the up and down arrows to place a text layer above each image layer. (this is where the fun comes in.. not) For each layer you will need to merge the text layer with the photo image. Select the text layer in the right window and then click on the top menu box for the middle window the word “layer” then click merge down. (that is why it is important to place a text layer above each photo layer. you can only merge down) When you finally get through all 25 layers (or however many you have) you can take a sneakpeek of your video. Click on the word “Filters” then “Animation” then “playback”. You should get a demo of your clip. Next it is time to export your creation. 
Click “File” in the middle window and then “Export As”. This will open an option to save your clip. I recommend saving it to your desktop just so that it is easy to find. You will also need to name this File. I named mine a reference to the clip and be sure to change the .jpeg to .gif at the end. So example: if my clip is The Wire Episode 395, I would save as the file name TheWireEpisode395.gif it is important to save it as a .gif. This makes it officially a gif.
I hope this is understandable. Just remember in gimp, you will have three windows to work in. If it is not working, just close gimp and start again. After all, its a free program. It does occasionally have small meltdowns.
Later,
Melinda
