Gif vs zine
2014
For my bachelor thesis I focused on two media: ‘animated GIF’ and ‘zine’. More precisely, the zines represent elements of an animated GIF whereas the animated GIFs incorporate elements from zines. In the first ‘translation’ I highlight the endlessness of the animated GIF, resulting from the infinite repetition, which is in sharp contrast with the straightforward beginning and ending of a zine. For that reason, in this project my animated GIF has a clear beginning and ending, whereas for my zine I created the impression that there is no starting point and no end.
In the second translation, the volatile character of an animated GIF is emphasized. Eventhough a GIF is often very beautiful and interesting, most people spend less attention to it than a valuable, hand-crafted zine. Thus, I created an animated GIF with very little motion. The audience expects a motion, but can only observe it when it fully focuses its attention on the GIF. My zine for this translation consists of an image which is repeated over and over again. As a result, the viewer, upon realizing that he has already seen everything there is to see, will decide to close the zine and move on.
The third translation treats the sequence of the images in the two media. In a zine you each time have to wait until you have turned the page before you can see the next image, which in a sense slows down the rhythm. An animated GIF, on the contrary, continuously beams its images on your retina, without giving you the chance to decide on the pace of this sequence. As a result, you get the impression that a fluent motion is shown instead of a sequence of frames. My zine is made of transparant paper, which allows the viewer to already get a sneak peek of what’s on the next page. In contrast, my GIF is a rather straightforward translation of a zine: the viewer has to wait for the page to be turned to see the next frame.
In the second translation, the volatile character of an animated GIF is emphasized. Eventhough a GIF is often very beautiful and interesting, most people spend less attention to it than a valuable, hand-crafted zine. Thus, I created an animated GIF with very little motion. The audience expects a motion, but can only observe it when it fully focuses its attention on the GIF. My zine for this translation consists of an image which is repeated over and over again. As a result, the viewer, upon realizing that he has already seen everything there is to see, will decide to close the zine and move on.
The third translation treats the sequence of the images in the two media. In a zine you each time have to wait until you have turned the page before you can see the next image, which in a sense slows down the rhythm. An animated GIF, on the contrary, continuously beams its images on your retina, without giving you the chance to decide on the pace of this sequence. As a result, you get the impression that a fluent motion is shown instead of a sequence of frames. My zine is made of transparant paper, which allows the viewer to already get a sneak peek of what’s on the next page. In contrast, my GIF is a rather straightforward translation of a zine: the viewer has to wait for the page to be turned to see the next frame.
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