Recreating Film Stills

DIARY ENTRY

The darkroom work for this project went smoothly and did not take too much time, as there was no reshooting needed. All the pictures on the negatives turned out fine, so I was happy about the developing part of the project. I did not need to make any digital enhancements on the pictures, so I can't comment on that.

THEORY NOTES

This shot is taken from the 2007 movie American Gangster. It looks very similar to the shot I took of Meghan and Josh. The subjects' positions, especially the man's, are the same as Meghan and Josh's positions. The only thing that doesn't look similar is the girl's expression compared to Meghan's.



This shot is taken from the 1959 movie Ben Hur. The photo that it looks like is the one I took of Fabrizio and Heather. This photo is of Ben Hur (Charleton Heston) looking at Jesus' face as he's passing by with the cross. The differences between the two photos are that there are two male subjects in the Ben Hur one, and also that the hair covers the face of the subject on the left. In my photo, you can see both of the faces. Also, there's a bit more distance between the subjects in the Ben Hur one. Besides that, there's a
close similarity.


This shot is taken from the 40s movie Casablanca. It slightly looks like the photo I took of Heather, where she's looking off to a side. The difference is that Heather is holding a cup to her mouth, and there's a vase in the background of the Casablanca shot, but besides that there is a strong similarity. They're both standing alone and looking off to a side, staring at something.

IMAGE BANK

MIRJANA VRBASKI

Mirjana Vrbaski is a photographer who was born in Canada. She was raised in Canada and Serbia as well, and has been living and working in The Hague since 2006. She studied English Literature at the University of Guelph in Canada from 1996 till 2000. In the Hague, she works at the Royal Academy of Art in the photography section. She's had group and solo exhibitons in various places in the UK and in The Hague. Her pictures have a bored mood, portraits taken straight facing the person. Many of her photos are taken in a way that makes viewers think of old or ancient times.


I picked this photo in particular out of her portfolio, because it is a good example of how her portraiture style resembles the older style of portraiture. A serious face, with a hairstyle that seems like a hairstyle used more in older times. The subject's pose is very formal as well.

LIAM DANIEL

A London-based photographer that has been working as a film stills photographer since 1989. His first experiences working with movies was shortly after he came out of film school, when he took still photos for Derek Jarman's movie The Garden. Since then he has been working in many places taking film still photos.

This is a film still taken by Liam Daniel
of the movie The Garden.

JASIN BOLAND

Australian film stills photographer who has worked on famous movies such as The Matrix, The Mummy 3, The Bourne Supremacy, Ghost Rider, and other well-known films from 1998 till present day. His photos are widely used in magazines, movie posters, etc.


This is a film still taken by Jasin Boland from the movie the Matrix.

JAAP BUITENDIJK

A Dutch film stills photographer. He was born in 1970 in Holland, and moved to Britain in 1990. He travelled a lot during his early twenties, and became passionate for photography during those travels. He studied Documentary Photography at the Newport School of Art and received a first class honors degree in 1996. He has worked with films such as Gladiator, Harry Potter, Blood Diamond, and Wanted.

This is a film still of the movie Gladiator by Jaap Buitendijk.

PRINTING COMPOSITIONS

APERTURE: 5.6

TIME: 14 Seconds
NO FILTER

This is probably the picture that most looks like the original, except for the fact that here they're standing in the opposite directions than in the original. The shadows around Josh's chin are the same as the shadows the original subject has over theirs. Meghan's face expression is identical to the original, except that Meghan's eyes are looking down instead of forward.

APERTURE: 5.6
TIME: 8 Seconds
NO FILTER

This shot was complicated when it came to making Heather look like the original. The fur of the coat kept coming off, and the hair took a while to prepare as well. Putting aside the difficulty, it came out pretty succesfully. I would say this one's the second best.

APERTURE: 5.6
TIME: 11 Seconds
NO FILTER

I couldn't find the digital shot I took for this one. I consider this one to be the hardest one to shoot. The background couldn't be imitated, as there were simply no materials I could find to do so. The time was limited as well, so I couldn't find a time to go find the materials. Fabrizio and Heather do resemble the original positions well though.