Document Type
Assignment
Publication Date
Fall 2016
Published In
Introduction To Film And Media Studies
Abstract
In this assignment, students in Introduction to Film and Media Studies performed shot-by-shot analysis of a film scene using GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) images in place of traditional short-by- shot analysis formats. Why use GIFS? Because they not only force students to deconstruct a film scene into its segmented layers of time and place, into individual shots and even frames (using Photoshop software, in this case), but also make the semiotic codes (e.g. use of lighting, camera distance) apparent through the repetition of movement in the completed GIF. The complete GIF can be embedded in an essay on a course site, allowing the reader to compare interpretations and analysis with the moving image, not just the still of a screen capture. This assignment was supported by a workshop in which students learned the step by step process of creating GIFs before being asked to create their own.
Funding Agency
Swarthmore College Provost Office
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Sunka Simon.
(2016).
"GIF-Based Shot By Shot Analysis".
Introduction To Film And Media Studies.
DOI: 10.24968/2476-2458.germ.60
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-german/60
Comments
Professor Sunka Simon was awarded a Digital Humanities Curricular Grant from the Provost's Office for use in her fall 2016 course, Introduction To Film And Media Studies (FMST 01). The course syllabus, assignment instructions, and completed student examples are made freely available here courtesy of the author.