So Brian Bennett (@bennettscience) sought out what Star Pulse ranks as the best episode of all The Twilight Zone series, A Kind of Stopwatch and proceeded to select a great moment from the episode to use as the basis for a GIF.
And as I looked at it, and studied it, in my mind’s eye it suddenly appeared as a two-panel GIF, and the challenge to RIFF-a-GIF was suddenly upon me.
I know that MBS has done some eloquent multi-panel GIF work with coordinated inter-panel timings — but before today, I’d not yet really risen to that challenge. The closest I’d come, I think, was the instance when I took two consecutive camera shots from This Island Earth, and put them together to create a synchronous GIF. Did I ever post it? (Looks like I didn’t. Along with most of my other GIFs from that movie. There’s another project I have to finish.)
As I got into this one, the nuances became more and more important. Like limiting the movement of the chopper body. Like having the appearance of the passing of time while the chopper blades weren’t moving. And then having the appearance of the same passage of time while they were moving. So pacing and rhythm became important. And then the clouds were moving with the rotors, so I worked to sort them out. And then making it look like Patrick McNulty was having a manic kind of fun messing with time. When all was said and done, I was happy.
Therefore, I submit for your consideration:
“Drive the Chopper Pilot Nuts,” synchronized two-panel animated GIF, by aforgrave, from “A Kind of Stopwatch.”
I think this fits into the @cogdog‘s Animated GIF Assignment 859: Riff-a-GIF assignment as well as @iamTalkyTina‘s Animated GIF Assignment 920: From the Twilight Zone, and Beyond …“
Holy cow, that’s quite the riff. My GIFing skills aren’t nearly that advanced yet, but this definitely sets a new bar for me as #ds106 starts up next week.
…and thanks for props at the start of the post 🙂 This is all new to me, and I appreciate the encouragement.
Still learning, Brian. I have a GIF that I started months ago that I have yet to finish, because when I started to do it, I realized I didn’t know half of what I needed to know in order to do it. And so I undertook @cogdog‘s December GIFfest (or as @GrantPotter called it, 12 Days of GIFestivus), which I just shortened to GIFestivus) with the express purpose of sorting out the techniques necessary to be able to make that one GIF. Along the way, while sorting out various techniques, I became afflicted with what one might call GIF-eye-tis: being drawn to see things that are inherently GIF-able. I’m still undergoing treatment… 😉
Andrew,
Again, you are pushing the envelope for #ds106zone. I have to try the two scene GIF for a few twilight zone episodes, you are ruling the ds106zone school.
Isn’t pushing the envelope what it’s all about?
I’ve not really kept my eye out for multi-panel GIF opportunities — my focus tends to be on the single panel, no-camera-motion shot that can tell a story via a cinematicization of a still. But the two-panel shot has its place — and I also have plans to do a few synchronized multi-panel GIFs down the road (maybe on the timeframe of December), like MBS’ wonderful Robin Hood GIF.
Maybe there will be some benefit to keeping an eye out for a triptych GIF situation as well …
Another brilliant piece of GIF’ery Andy – again, you are filling my head with some sync-gif ideas.
Yes — I’m now trying to “see” GIFs that might be better as synced multi-panel representations. Technically harder to implement (I don’t yet have a technique for placing the sequences in different locations in a single “paste” — but I think I’ve learned how to move a whole sequence simultaneously by grouping the layers that will form a particular frame), but I think they will have their place.
Looking forward to seeing GIFs!