Photography and Cinema
sharon
(sharon)
#1
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