Usually the genius of GIFs is that they capture very specific moments – a goofy face, an explosion, a reaction, Dawson Leery crying – but what if it were possible to watch an entire movie like Fight Club or Avatar in one animated graphic image? Now it is, thanks to a subreddit devoted to transforming full-length movies into GIFs.
Full Movie GIFs only launched on Wednesday, but already has GIFs for classics like Top Gun, WarGames and Aliens. (It's also got a request list for everything from Pulp Fiction to Pacific Rim. So, yeah, get on that reddit.) So far the GIFs have all been made by a someone with the handle matt01ss, who explained to WIRED via reddit message that the idea came from a suggestion in another thread:
"I thought it would be interesting to see what an entire film would look like in a quick GIF form," said matt01ss, who declined to give their real name. "You see interesting things with color changes, camera angles and overall production style when viewed in this fashion. They are not very hard to create, there is minimal editing."
This is a surprisingly accurate observation – especially with a film like Cloverfield, which was already composed of scores of hand-held camera "found footage" that was jerky and discombobulated. In the sped-up GIF version it looks like a nightmare in fast-forward – and awesome. Meanwhile, watching Finding Nemo in GIF form has the effect of watching a really, really cute, if rapid-fire, Windows 98 screensaver.
Check out some of the best full-movie GIFs in the gallery above.
