Visual Style in Two Network Era Sitcoms

DOI

10.22148/16.043

Abstract

This essay shows how face detection and recognition algorithms, applied to frames extracted from a corpus of moving images, can capture formal elements present in media beyond shot length and average color measurements. Locating and identifying faces makes it possible to algorithmically extract time-coded labels that directly correspond to concepts and taxonomies established within film theory. For example, knowing the size of detected faces provides a direct link to the concept of shot framing. The blocking of a scene can similarly be deduced by knowing the relative positions of identified characters within a specific cut. Once produced on a large scale, these extracted formal elements can be aggregated to explore visual style across a collection of materials. It is then possible to understand how visual style is used within the internal construction of narrative and as a way to engage broadly with external cultural forces. The method is an example of an approach to large scale image analysis that Arnold and Tilton have termed distant viewing.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-19-2019

Publisher Statement

© 2019, McGill University. This article first appeared in Journal of Cultural Analytics 2019.

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Taylor, Arnold, Lauren Tilton, and Annie Berke, "Visual Style in Two Network Era Sitcoms," Journal of Cultural Analytics. July 19, 2019. doi:10.22148/16.043.

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