Film-Stills - Reenactments for the Photo Camera - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

Film-Stills - Reenactments for the Photo Camera
Women and seduction seemed to have a prominent role when it comes to the reenactment of a film for the photo camera. This is obvious in a number of examples which are on screen at the museum Albertina exhibition "Film-Stills", like the famous photo of Marylin Monroe on the subway grate in „The Seven Year’s Itch“, a film still by the set photographer Sam Shaw.
Besides film stills, star portraits played an essential role for the image of an actor or actress, as the one of Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg‘s „Shanghai Express“ of 1932, made by Don English, also on display in the exhibition.
Often the advertisement pictures became more famous than the movie itself, but the photographers remained anonymous, many of the pictures were associated with the film director rather than with the photographer. Only a few had some recognition - Robert Shapiro, who made the film stills of Robert de Niro in „Taxi Driver“ is one of them.
Many pictures of these unknown photographers became iconic, like the scene staged for „The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari“ (1919).
As the exhibition in the Albertina demonstrates, film stills can become art works in their own right. If the viewer feels like seeing one on these movies after visiting the show, the photos would have fulfilled their originally intended purpose of promoting the film again, after all these years. (written by Cem Angeli)
Albertina Museum | www.albertina.at
Eine CastYourArt Produktion | www.castyourart.com

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