Welcome to the Fixation Database

This is a visual database of film. Each fixation is created by arranging every frame of a film into a grid with a ratio of 3:1. No matter the length of a film the fixations are standardized so that films across genres and of varying durations can be compared and contrasted. The result is a color-banded timeline that reveals the underlying palette and the pattern of light variation of a film. Although divorced from plot, action, character, story, and sound, the fixations reveal visual clues of the filmmaker’s use of color design in film.

The cinematic fixations database currently houses 2000 film fixations. The website was begun in 2012, with a small spattering of films. On April 9, 2014 the database was 200 film fixations. On November 27, 2015 the database reached 800 film fixations. Working collaboratively, we hope contributors across the United States, and across the world will begin to submit films to achieve our goal of a complete visual database of film history. More about the project