Animated GIFs Capture Stanley Kubrick's Most Immortal Scenes

If you’re a child of the ’70s, you can probably attribute a few nightmares (and fantasies) to Stanley Kubrick, whose impressive and disturbing oeuvre includes such cult faves as The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Part of Kubrick’s genius was in crafting moods, not just scenes — a mastery on full display in these animated GIFs created by Gustaf Mantel. In a single gesture, they capture an indelible moment in film history in a way no film still possibly could.

Dr. Strangelove:

"Mr. President, I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops."

These types of animated GIFs, dubbed "cinematographs," ripped up the Internet earlier this year when the photographer Jamie Beck and the motion graphics artist Kevin Burg began creating them as a way of splitting the difference between a still photograph and a video. They’ve managed to elevate the format into something of an art form, by taking series of photographs and then using image-editing software to select the area that will appear to move. (Read John Pavlus’s excellent post about Beck and Burg’s work here, and a tutorial on how to make your own animated GIF, here.)

These GIFs don't carry the pretense of artwork and are by no means as polished and fluid as Beck and Burg’s, but they convey the iconic power of Kubrick’s scenes — and the deft performances of his actors — in a way that mere film stills cannot.

2001: A Space Odyssey:

"Deliberately buried. Huh!"

"Dave!" A Clockwork Orange:

"Viddy well, little brother. Viddy well."

"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening."

"Naughty, naughty, naughty! You filthy old soomka!" The Shining:

"Come play with us, Danny." Full Metal Jacket:

["They're paying for it. You eat it!"]

[See Mantel's entire series of GIFs, based on classic films, here. For even more Kubrick moments, check out Filmmaker IQ; to see more GIFs]

Click here and here to see the superb animated GIFs of Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg.