new method

gistfile1.txt

#!/bin/bash

# rotate it 90 degrees
mencoder -vf rotate=1 -o rotated.avi -oac pcm -ovc lavc IMG_6259.MOV

# stabalize the jitter because james can't hold a camera stable
transcode -J stabilize --mplayer_probe -i rotated.avi && \
transcode -J transform --mplayer_probe -i rotated.avi -y raw -o stabilized.avi

# crop it
mencoder -o cropped.avi -oac copy -ovc lavc  -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1 \
         -vf crop=600:900:180:320,scale=120:180 stabilized.avi
mencoder -o cropped.avi -oac copy -ovc lavc  -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=2 \
         -vf crop=600:900:180:320,scale=120:180 stabilized.avi

# write out as images
ffmpeg -i cropped.avi image%3d.png

# duplicate frames 235 to 1 in reverse order
for n in $(seq -w 1 235); do
    m=$(expr 235 + $(expr 236 - $n))
    cp image$n.png image$m.png;
done

# convert to animated gif that loops once
convert -delay 5 -loop 1 *.png once.gif