If you are already way over the excitement of Google Similar Images, may we recommend The Inevitable, a 2007 film installation project by New York video artist and programmer Kurt Ralske which used custom software to search through movies, looking for frame-by-frame similarities in shape, and leading to some unexpected matches. The results different films were run across six synchronized video monitors, the stills freezing when they converge at their matching frames.
Ralske writes, “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.” Check out some stills from the project below, as well as an excerpt from the video piece.
Joan of Arc / 2001: A Space Odyssey
The 39 Steps / 2001: A Space Odyssey
Valley of the Dolls / 2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange / Rashomon
Paris, Texas / The Golem
Taxi Driver / Superfly
Breakfast at Tiffany’s / The 7th Seal
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest / Breakfast at Tiffany’s