Still image film

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A still image film, also called a picture movie, is a film that consists primarily or entirely of still images rather than consecutive still images in succession, forgoing the illusion of motion either for aesthetic or practical reasons. These films usually include a standard soundtrack, similar to what is found in typical sound films, complete with music, sound effects, dialogue or narration. They may also use various editing techniques found in traditional films, such as dissolves, zooms, and panning. [1]

Contents

History

This filmmaking technique is more common in historical documentaries, where old photographs may provide the best documentation of certain events. Ken Burns is well known for having used it repeatedly in his films. [2] It is less common in narrative films, but has been done occasionally. Such films are typically considered experimental or art films. Perhaps the best known narrative still image film is Chris Marker's 1962 film La Jetée , which was the inspiration for the 1995 film 12 Monkeys . [1]

In narrative filmmaking, the vast majority of still image films are short films. Many student films are still image films, and the making of these films is a requirement in some film school courses. George Lucas's first film, the short Look at Life , was made up of only still images heavily influenced by films from Arthur Lipsett like his Oscar-nominated Very Nice, Very Nice . [1] Robert Downey Sr.'s 1966 feature film Chafed Elbows is constructed primarily from still photographs, with a few live-action sequences. Additionally, the 2007 Mexican film Year of the Nail is made up entirely of photographs taken by the director, Jonás Cuarón, over the course of one year. It is perhaps the only feature-length narrative film consisting exclusively of still images. [3] However, many narrative films still employ this technique for individual scenes. Some notable examples are John Cassavetes's Husbands (1970), [4] Gordon Parks Jr.'s Super Fly (1972), [5] Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View (1974), [6] Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998), [7] and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010). [8]

In a 1961 letter to The New York Times , photographer-filmmaker Louis Clyde Stoumen surveyed earlier uses of the technique by himself and others:

“Curt Oertel made his ‘Michaelangelo,’ with important storytelling use of still material, in 1940 (released as Robert Flaherty’s ‘The Titan’ around 1949). Belgium’s Henri Starc began imparting dramatic film form to still images in 1936, and his lyric ‘World of Paul Delvaux’ (1947) is an acknowledged classic. Paul Haesaerts made ‘Rubens’ in 1948. Americans Paul Falkenberg and Lewis Jacobs made ‘Lincoln Speaks at Gettysburg’ entirely out of nineteenth-century engravings, 1950. Ben Berg and Herbert Block of Hollywood have for years been making a series of story-telling dramas out of paintings and prints, including a life story of Goya. I myself pioneered the dramatic use of still photographs (rather than paintings or prints) in a story-telling sequence for Arch Oboler’s 1950 Columbia feature ‘Five,’ and have for more than a decade continued development of this form--in my independent feature ‘The Naked Eye’ (1956), the featurette ‘The True Story of the Civil War’ (an Academy Award winner, 1956 [9] ), Warner Brothers’ ‘The James Dean Story’ (1957), and most recently...for...ABC-TV’s ‘Winston Churchill, the Valiant Years.” [10]

Style

Filmmakers working with still images may do so out of necessity, such as when resources are limited and they are only able to shoot still photographs, rather than moving pictures. However, it is also sometimes chosen for stylistic reasons, and can allow the filmmakers to do things that would be impossible with traditional moving pictures. In Chafed Elbows, for example, the filmmakers had the freedom to improvise their lines during post-production. Additionally, the use of still images made possible a scene in which one character appears to throw another out of a high window, while the actors remained safe. Additionally, in Year of the Nail, the director pieced together unstaged photographs from his real life and was able to build a fictional story from these. Furthermore, still image films may decrease the filmmakers' limitations, as dialogue and sound effects need not be synchronized with moving images.

Burns has credited documentary filmmaker Jerome Liebling for teaching him how still photographs could be incorporated into documentary films. [11] He has also cited the 1957 National Film Board of Canada documentary City of Gold , [12] co-directed by Colin Low and Wolf Koenig, as a prior example of the technique. [13] [14] [15] Winner of the Prix du Documentaire at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award, [16] [17] City of Gold used animation camera techniques to slowly pan and zoom across archival still pictures of Canada's Klondike Gold Rush. [18]

Perception

As most audiences are unaccustomed to still image films, many viewers are initially turned off by them, but one study has shown that people adjust to the style after about seven minutes, as long as the story is engaging. [19] There is some debate about whether or not still image films should in fact be considered as genuine motion pictures, since they do not in fact employ the illusion of motion, with some considering them more akin to the slideshow.

The term photomontage has also been used to describe still image films, although that word actually refers to something else entirely.

Notable examples

Notable still image filmmakers

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Lipsett</span> Canadian collage filmmaker

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<i>Look at Life</i> (film) 1965 American film

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Video Editing Using Pictures and Still Images". VashtiVisuals. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. ↑ Tibbetts, John C. (1996). "The Incredible Stillness of Being: Motionless Pictures in the Films of Ken Burns". American Studies. 37 (1): 117–133. JSTOR   40642785 – via JSTOR.
  3. 1 2 "If You're Making Films with Still Images, Here Are a Few Things to Consider". nofilmschool. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  4. ↑ Snart, Stephen (August 17, 2009). "Husbands, PopMatters".
  5. ↑ "Super Fly | Larsen On Film". January 11, 2013.
  6. ↑ "DVD Savant: PARALLAX VIEW: The Incredible Montage". www.dvdtalk.com.
  7. ↑ "Run Lola Run - Film Education" (PDF).
  8. ↑ "Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives - The Culturium -". The Culturium. April 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ 1957|Oscars.org
  10. 1 2 3 “Television Mailbag.” New York Times, 2 July 1961.
  11. ↑ Kennedy, Randy (2006-10-19). "The Still-Life Mentor to a Filmmaking Generation". The New York Times . Retrieved 2007-10-11. In fact, spend any time watching the films of Ken Burns, or those of the legions of documentary makers he has inspired, and you will see Mr. Liebling's work, in a sense, even if you have never laid eyes on one of his photographs.
  12. ↑ City of Gold on YouTube, full movie, uploaded by the National Film Board of Canada.
  13. ↑ Vause, Mikel (Fall 2006). "Capturing the American Experience: A Conversation with Ken Burns". Weber Studies. 23 (1). ISSN   0891-8899. OCLC   11872924. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  14. ↑ Williams, Charles (1997). "Historical Photographs and Multimedia Storytelling". Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  15. ↑ Tibbetts, John C. (c. 1997). "All That Glitters: City of Gold Revisited" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  16. ↑ "City of Gold (Capitale de l'or)". tiff.net. Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  17. ↑ 1958|Oscars.org
  18. ↑ Glassman, Marc (1 December 1999). "Filmmaker of vision". The Free Library. Retrieved 24 December 2013. Take one's interview with Colin Low, part 2
  19. ↑ "Cuarón's son makes picture perfect film". CNN. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  20. ↑ Canada’s Documentary Essentials: ‘City of Gold’ – POV Magazine
  21. ↑ Experimental Ethnography - Google Books (pg. 254)
  22. ↑ ARTHUR LIPSETT – Spectacle Theater
  23. ↑ "The films that influenced Cindy Sherman's 'Untitled Film Stills' series". Dazed. July 16, 2019.
  24. ↑ "2001: A Space Odyssey & 9 Other Classic Avant-Garde Films Fans Need To Check Out". ScreenRant. January 18, 2021.
  25. ↑ "La Jetée". The Criterion Collection.
  26. ↑ La Jetee 1962, directed by Chris Marker|Time Out
  27. ↑ "Beyond the Photo Album: Relocating Varda's Salut les Cubains". cléo journal. 11 April 2018.
  28. ↑ Wickman, Forrest (March 23, 2012). "Watch the Early Art-House Documentaries of George Lucas". Slate Magazine.
  29. ↑ "Chafed Elbows". The Criterion Collection.
  30. ↑ "Chafed Elbows". The Criterion Channel.
  31. ↑ Walsh, M., (2021) “From Nations to Worlds: Chris Marker’s “Si j’avais quatre dromadaires””, Global Storytelling: Journal of Digital and Moving Images 1(1)
  32. ↑ Visionary Film - Google Books (pg.356)
  33. ↑ One Second in Montreal - Michael Snow - The Film-Makers' Cooperative
  34. ↑ "Santa's Christmas Elf (Named Calvin) - The Cinema Snob" – via www.youtube.com.
  35. ↑ "Santa's Christmas Elf (Named Calvin)". December 4, 2017 – via IMDb.
  36. ↑ SANTA'S CHRISTMAS ELF (NAMED CALVIN)|The Bedlam Files
  37. ↑ "From These Roots". WILLIAM GREAVES.
  38. ↑ "From These Roots". November 27, 1974 – via Internet Archive.
  39. ↑ From these roots. November 27, 1974. OCLC   5557089 – via Open WorldCat.
  40. ↑ Home To Harlem: America's Black Metropolis – maysles documentary center
  41. ↑ UCLA's Festival of Preservation Unearths From Thom Andersen to James Cagney, Among Others - LA Weekly
  42. ↑ Provenance and Early Cinema - Google Books (pgs.287-88)
  43. ↑ Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer | NW Film Center
  44. ↑ "DOGS' DIALOGUE (1984 review) | Jonathan Rosenbaum". jonathanrosenbaum.net.
  45. ↑ "MIFF Archive". MIFF 2021.
  46. ↑ "IFFR Archive". IFFR 2008.
  47. ↑ "SCIFI 4 EVER". www.scifi4ever.com.
  48. ↑ Review of Lasting Marks|IFFR
  49. ↑ Field of Vision - Lasting Marks on official Vimeo channel
  50. ↑ Cuban Cinema Classics: Santiago Álvarez|UC Berkeley Library
  51. ↑ The Incredible Stillness of Being: Motionless Pictures in the Films of Ken Burns on JSTOR
  52. ↑ Ken Burns Fights City Hall Over His New Film on the Central Park Jogger Case - Vulture
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