{
 "slug": "ken-burns-still",
 "name": "Ken Burns on a still",
 "category": "effect",
 "group": "Zooms and reframes",
 "media": [
  "image",
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-11-13",
 "effect": "A photo gains depth and time.",
 "use_when": "Photo galleries, case montages, archive material.",
 "phrase": "a slow push and pan across the still photo, which resolves from blurred and dim to sharp as it appears",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "In our teardown of 30 showreel templates the repeated signatures were a slow Ken Burns on every photo and a blur-in on photo reveals.",
   "evidence": "practitioner",
   "source": "Director Chair field notes on motion graphics"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "slow-drift",
  "slow-zoom-in"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "practitioner",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Own words from Director Chair field notes on motion graphics"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": {
  "slug": "slow-zoom-in",
  "name": "Slow zoom in",
  "category": "move",
  "label": "Shown with: Slow zoom in",
  "site": "aicameramovements",
  "credit": "AI Camera Movements (aicameramovements.com)",
  "source_url": "https://aicameramovements.com/previews/hq/05-slow-zoom-in-hq.mp4",
  "media": {
   "video": "/media/aicameramovements/05-slow-zoom-in-hq.mp4",
   "card": "/media/aicameramovements/05-slow-zoom-in-hq-card.mp4",
   "poster": "/media/aicameramovements/05-slow-zoom-in-hq.jpg",
   "card_poster": "/media/aicameramovements/05-slow-zoom-in-hq-card.jpg",
   "width": 1280,
   "height": 720,
   "duration": 15
  }
 },
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/effect/ken-burns-still",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/effect/ken-burns-still.md",
 "prompts": {
  "chat": "Give me an edit brief: where it goes on the timeline, the exact settings, and what to check before export, for a short video about [your product], for [your audience]. The technique is ken Burns on a still: a photo gains depth and time. How it works: a slow push and pan across the still photo, which resolves from blurred and dim to sharp as it appears. It is right for: photo galleries, case montages, archive material. In our teardown of 30 showreel templates the repeated signatures were a slow Ken Burns on every photo and a blur-in on photo reveals. Be concrete: numbers, seconds and settings, no theory. Ask me one question first if something you need is missing."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}