Photography and Cinema

ThePhoto-StoryContinued

Intheimmediatepost-waryearsdocumentaryphotographyrefinedthe

photo-storyformatthathadborrowedheavilyfromnarrativecinema

inthe 1930 s.Inparticular,LifeandLookmagazinesintheUnitedStates

synthesizedformsofshootingandeditingintosequencesthatwere

formulaic,containableandsaleabletoothermagazinesinternationally.

Theywererarelystoriesinthelinearsense,butprofilesofpeopleor

places,orchestratedacrossseveralspreads.Theyweremadeupofimage-

typesfamiliarfrompopularfilm:theestablishingshot,narrativeshots,

close-ups,cut-aways,detailsandsummaryendings.^38

Inafewinstancesthemagazineswereatraininggroundforfilm-

makers.TheyoungStanleyKubrickworkedforLookinthelate 1940 s,

producingdramaticstories.Prizefighter( 1949 ),oneofhislastassign-

ments,describesaboxer’slifeashepreparesforamatch.Thelighting

resemblesfilmnoirandtheimagesofthefightitselfhavethedramaof

filmstills.Kubrickreworkedthestoryforhisfirstfilm,thedocumentary

shortThe Day of the Fight( 1951 ),whichhemadewiththesameboxer.

Betweenthe 1940 sand 1960 sitbecamepopulartotransfermovies

directlytothepagebycombiningfilmstillswithdialogueandcaptions.

Thesephotonovelswereproducedinlargequantities,particularlyin

Italy,France,Spain,ChinaandLatinAmerica.Cheaplyprinted,they

weresouvenirsforfilmgoers,buttheyalsoextendedthereachofcinema

culturetoruraltownswithoutmovietheatres.Thepublishersalso

inventedtheirownstoriesandhiredaspiringactors.InItaly,where

theformatwasmostpopular,severalfamousactorsstartedoutas

fotoromanzomodels,includingSophiaLorenandGinaLollobrigida.^39

Ingeneral,theformatwassafe,supplyingthenarrativestructuresof

Hollywoodonaregularbasis.Theytendedtoreducecinema’svisual

systemtoclose-upsandtwo-shotsgraphicenoughfortheirsmallpages.

Inmanywaysthephotonovelpresentsphotographyatitsmostobviously

cinematic,butitisalsotheformwiththemostlimitations.Initsdirect

aspirationtotheflowoffilmicstorytellingitrisksbecominganimpover-

ishedversion,alltooliteralandmechanistic.Theimpliedmomentumis

undercutbytheunavoidablestillnessofeachimage.Itisalsotheform 83