Jeffrey Moser

Audiovisual Media Artist

Fixation Database of Time-based Media

Fixation Database of Film and Animation Fixation Database of Music Videos Fixation Database of Video Games

The Fixation Database of Time-based Media is a visual database of movies, animations, art films, music videos, and video games. Each image in the database is constructed from every frame of a video file, arranged into a grid with an aspect ration of 3:1 (a rectangle three times wider than its height). The image presents a visual timeline of dominant colors in the video, from left to right, revealing rhythms and patterns that indicate narrative, visual, and compositional structures.

Regardless of the length of the video, the image size and aspect ratio remains the same, allowing for the comparison of full-length motion pictures with short, pop-song music videos or video game franchises with their inevidable film adaptations. Database users can compare video game titles across platforms, music videos made by a specific director, short films made in 1962, or movies that contain the color red. The database allows users to download and share the images, with the goal of starting discussions about color the story arc and opening new areas of academic research.


Jeffrey Moser
The Fixation of the Wizard of Oz
Single Channel Digital Video, Color, Stereo
2013

Housed in the Research Repository of the West Virginia Univserity Libraries, the 7,035 images in the database are categorized into Film and Animation, Music Videos, and Video Games. As of Mid 2023, the database has accumulated 100,000 global downloads.


The Fixation Database of Film and Animation.





The Fixation Database of Music Videos.





The Fixation Database of Video Games.



The project was inspired by the pioneering work of Dr. Robert Steele, a Boston University Film Professor, who performed the first scientific study of light in film in the mid-1960's. In his experiments he projected light from a 16mm film projector through a cardboard tube and onto a photo detector. Converting light levels into electrical signals, he made 'seismographic' charts of entire films. He speculated that he could detect areas of light rhythm that would uncover the secrets of great filmmaking.


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