Screentime per character and per episode in S4

[CrazyLatin007]

I've been working on a little project for some time now. I've rewatched all episodes from 401 to 413, and I set up an excel workbook that notes when an actor entered a scene and when they left it. The sheet then calculates how many seconds the actor was on screen and adds up the total time per episode.

A summary sheet adds up the actor's onscreen time for all episodes and calculates what % of time the actor was on screen given the total amount of minutes aired. If anyone wants this sheet, you can download it here: http://www.zshare.net/download/174080525fc1f123/ (at the bottom of this post are Flickr links to screenshots of the spreadsheet and the rules I applied when counting screentime seconds)

Here's how the characters ranked according to total screentime during season 4:

1. Jack - 2: 28: 20 - 25.34%

2. Kate - 2: 15: 01 - 23.07%

3. Sayid - 1: 56: 44 - 19.94%

4. Ben - 1: 55: 58 - 19.81%

5. Hurley - 1: 50: 19 - 18.85%

6. Locke - 1: 39: 38 - 17.02%

7. Desmond - 1: 25: 17 - 14.57%

8. Juliet - 1: 22: 55 - 14.16%

9. Sawyer - 1: 08: 51 - 11.76%

10. Sun - 1: 05: 27 - 11.18%

11. Dan - 0: 57: 19 - 9.79%

12. Frank - 0: 55: 11 - 9.43%

13. Miles - 0: 45: 30 - 7.77%

14. Michael - 0: 40: 55 - 6.99%

15. Jin - 0: 38: 42 - 6.56%

16. Charlotte - 0: 36: 34 - 6.25%

17. Claire - 0: 36: 12 - 6.18%

18. Charlie - 0: 02: 29 - 0.42%

Here are the links to screenshots of the spreadsheet, one for the summary sheet and one for every episode spreadsheet, where I tracked entrance and exit times and calculated the amount of seconds/minutes a character was on screen in that episode:

Summary Sheet, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413




The rules I applied were the following:

• Entrance time started as soon as a body part entered the screen or we heard the actor's voice.
• Exit time is recorded as the time the actor exits the scene, or the scene changes to another set.
• During group scenes, it would have been too painful to stop and start for every time someone was off / on screen, so I logged in the time of first appearance and let the timer run for the entire scene, provided that the actors remained in the background and part of the scene (even if their bodies were off screen for a few secs.)
• If there was a break in a scene where two or more people from a group sort of go off into their own conversation and no one else can be seen (are not part of the conversation) I logged those actors off the scene.
• If a scene changed to a FB or FF and the character featured in island time was the subject of said FB / FF, I did not stop the clock.
• Phone conversations count as screen time.
• Pictures of the actors don't count as screen time as they are only flashed for a second or two and in very few occasions.

What do you guys think?


ETA: Someone uploaded it into google spreadsheets, where people can view it without having to download it. Google Spreadsheet Version: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...XkAZxuaa4nTIVA

[lulinha_k]

Wow Cl, very impressive!
I´m glad to see Sayid in #3.
And of course, Jack in #1 (However I´m not surprised .)
Interesting I felt like Ben had a lot more screentime than he actually did. Probably because ME is such a stronge presence on screen.
Thank you for posting this!

[saska]

Since the focus of the past season was on the 06, particularly Jack and Kate, I would have thought these results would be obvious.

[CrazyLatin007]

Originally Posted by saska

Since the focus of the past season was on the 06, particularly Jack and Kate, I would have thought these results would be obvious.

You'd be surprised by some comments out there on the net, then

[workingmom]

Cool. I suppose it makes sense that the O6 are in the top 10 since the FF's focused on them and they tended to pop up in each other's flashforwards. Ben and Locke were together so much in the season, but I guess Ben's role in The Economist FF pushed his time up above Locke's. And this sort of gives statistical verification that Jack and Kate are the leads of the show.

[CrazyLatin007]

I think it'll be interesting to compare this to other seasons and I've been chasing Remus for his stats, which he kept for Seasons 1 through 3, but he's gone and got himself a social life, so I haven't been successful

I'll try to do the same thing with other seasons when I find some spare time though, and I will definitely do it for S5. This sort of analysis is my drug... I'm such a nerd!

[Krystal]

Originally Posted by CrazyLatin007

You'd be surprised by some comments out there on the net, then

Yeah, I actually thought Michael Emerson had more.

[ozge]

Great Job CL
Thanks for doing that


I'm so glad to see Jack in #1, Kate in # 2 and Sayid in # 3
But im surpised that Locke is #6, i mean i never thought Hurley got more screentime than Locke in S4...

[lyly ford]

I felt sad for some actors i hope the next season will not be another o6 season -_-"

btw good job but it make me sad to see it for some actors
sigh
not fair at all some characters were reduced like that the last season...

[lemers718]

This is one of the things I find so disappointing. This show started off with this great cast of characters. It was bad enough with the long breaks but then they started killing off favorites and then reducing other favorites to background characters. I was so excited with season one and have watched every eppisode atleast 8 times. It was a team effort and a great one. That is what I Loved about the show. I found most of last season terribly wrtten and just hard to sit through. All the exciting characters have disapeared to make room for what I find the most boring one of them all.