From some of my favourite shots in Exceedraft E13, I've created a GIF and a collage. The two visual forms are distinct enough to invite different ways to view the same shots. I'll compare the advantages for each form along with the effects when a still or moving image is posted on BSky and also share examples from my Exceedraft BSky fan account.
A moving image sucks in a viewer's attention. A still one compiled from multiple images directs it up, down or sideways. Both effectively nudge viewers to look at images in a non-linear manner that disrupts the linear flow of infinite scrolling.
A Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) image appears like a looping video with no sound. Yet it covers more space in a BSky post than an actual video. GIFs posted on BSky are still until a break from scrolling cues it to begin moving. The GIF delays the return to scrolling by changing what's immediately visible. Like with a video, continuous images build on one another to create a coherent sequence.
The image's movement encourages stillness as we wait for the subtle changes in what we see. The moving image that's actually composed of layers of images directs the energy for registering and interpreting visual details through its layers as if sucking it inwards.
A collage inverts a GIF's effects as it's a still image that directs the movement of its viewer's eyes. Collages created out of the same shots in a GIF are like picspams which used to be popular on LiveJournal. As the term implies, pics are 'spammed' in a single post, seemingly to excess.
My picspam collages feature images that follow one another and are separated by a second or less in Exceedraft E13. Based on their original sequence, I've arranged the images in this one from left to right, then diagonally down to the left and extending to the right.
For this other one, the images' sequence starts from the left column's top image and down, then up to the right column's top and down again.
Subtle changes differentiating the images nudge the flow of attention sideways, up or down. Within the same image bringing together the different images, it's possible to vary the typical pattern of just scrolling downwards when browsing posts.
Once a GIF is created, its raw material, that is the images used for its creation, could be repurposed for a collage.
Both are worth creating for encouraging a non-linear approach to media that's the basis of interpretation and analysis, which is also the kind of approach common for developing stories in police procedurals like Exceedraft. Making two creative works from the same material also puts into play meaningful repetition — one of the pillars supporting the creation of tokusatsu TV shows.
Exceedraft E13 itself repeats elements from the Red Spade two-parter to create an extra layer of meaning in the main trio's characterisation and growth as a team. More on the comparison of Exceedraft E13 and the Red Spade two-parter in this essay.
Exceedraft E13 offers not just images for creating new images, but also a demonstration on the layering of image upon image. We see that in the images constructed out of the roles Ken take on and in him looking like a figure painted in ink during the sunset showdown.
