What designer / filmmaker Kurt Ralske has done is to create a program which searches two full-length films and finds the two frames which are most similar, one from each. The programs compares only shapes within the image, yielding wild results the naked eye might never have glued together. Most excellent! This post contains all 8 published examples of the machine in action, starting with Joan of Arc / 2001 : A Space Odyssey (above.)

It’s in the numbers. Fate and probability reign.

The Inevitable
Video, duration 4:00
Edition of 5

“The Inevitable” was created with custom software written by the artist: the program searches through a database of movie files, comparing each frame with every other frame, looking for pairs of frames that resemble each other the most. “The Inevitable” presents the run-up to these pairs of matching frames. The program compares only shapes within the image (not color or content), leading to some pairings that resonate in unexpected ways. In the end, the inevitable twinned conclusion, regardless of genre, age, or nationality, is not simply a delightful coincidence: instead it has the claustrophobic and humbling quality of less-pleasant inevitabilities, like death and taxes.

“The Inevitable” was made possible in part by The Media Arts Fellowships (a program of Tribeca Film Institute, founded and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation) and The Experimental Television Center’s Finishing Funds program (supported by the Electronic Media and Film Program at the New York State Council on the Arts).

This post is from the World Famous Design Junkies found category.

The 39 Steps / 2001 : A Space Odyssey

One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest / Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Paris, Texas / The Golem

Breakfast at Tiffany’s / The 7th Seal

Valley of the Dolls / 2001 : A Space Odyssey

A Clockwork Orange / Rashomon

Taxi Driver / Superfly