No fancy title here. The art speaks for itself.

March 8, 2017 1:33 PM

The Art of Movie Stills
posted by brokeaspoke (7 comments total)

It's almost as if... every frame were a painting.
posted by gwint at 1:36 PM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

I find his choice of stills pretty interesting, they are not always the obvious choice or what I might have picked. I guess, intentionally, they are not always the most "beautiful" or even (seemingly) the most "put together" frame (though they are all beautiful and put together in their own way). It's a good reminder that a film is more than its most "showy" shots and there's things to appreciate in every frame.

He has some writings here, of which the first one I randomly picked on happened to somewhat address my reaction/impression and it's expanded my appreciation for the project. I think what I like about this blog is it forces you to think about what someone else saw in this frame, and in doing so, expand your appreciation for both the original movie/still, and the craft itself.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is: this isn't what I expected exactly, but after allowing my mind to expand, I appreciate it even more for the difference.
posted by Flaffigan at 2:34 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

These appear to be frames cut from the films themselves. Traditionally, stills were shot by on-set photographers, so they didn't exactly match the movie's framing. With modern-day digital equipment I assume you can easily clip high-resolution frames and display them like stills. But that's not how it was done when the term "movie still" was coined.
posted by QuietDesperation at 2:56 PM on March 8, 2017 [6 favorites]

The images are frequently not the most evocative choices from each of the films. Or at least they're not the frames I would have chosen, for whatever that's worth. The exception is this one from Silence of the Lambs, which is exactly what I would pick to represent that movie.
posted by wabbittwax at 3:15 PM on March 8, 2017

The omissions are interesting. Maybe I missed "The Godfather" (Gordon Willis, cinematography), or Piotr Sobociński, who worked with Krzystof Kieslowski, memorably on "Red." Of course you could have just Ozu and Malick and I would be happy, so, not complaining, just observing.
posted by PandaMomentum at 5:51 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

This called FilmGrab to mind.
posted by mr. digits at 6:27 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

Look for, "If We Don't, Remember Me" for awesome movie GIFs.
posted by ITravelMontana at 9:20 PM on March 10, 2017