Ryerson University Digital Commons @ Ryerson Theses and dissertations 1-1-2008 The ps ace between photography and film : an object study from the Warner Bros.-First National Keybook collection Frances Cullen Ryerson University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ryerson.ca/dissertations Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Cullen, Frances, "The space between photography and film : an object study from the Warner Bros.-First National Keybook collection" (2008). Theses and dissertations. Paper 583. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Ryerson. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Ryerson. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SPACE BETWEEN PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILM: AN OBJECT STUDY FROM THE WARNER BROS.-FIRST NATIONAL KEYBOOK COLLECTION by Frances Cullen Honours Bachelor of Arts, Cinema Studies, University of Toronto, 2006 A thesis presented to Ryerson University and George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Program of Photographic Preservation and Collections Management Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2008 © Frances Cullen 2008 PROP!ffiTY OF RVER& ON~ &mf~W\RV. I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. I authorize Ryerson University to lend this thesis to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I further authorize Ryerson University to reproduce this thesis by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. 1l The Space Between Photography and Film: An Object Study from the Warner Bros. -First National Keybook Collection Frances Cullen M.A. Photographic Preservation and Collections Management, 2008 Ryerson University and George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film ABSTRACT Historically and conceptually, film stills occupy a precarious position between two academic disciplines: cinema studies and the history of photography. They are overshadowed in collections by more prominent and "valuable" cinematic or photographic objects competing for the same space and money; and they have received relatively little attention in scholarship, exhibitions and publications. But the film still is a unique and distinctive genre of object, possessing its own history, physicality, and aesthetic. After establishing a historical and descriptive context for understanding the film still as an object with multiple incarnations - commercial, nostalgic, historical, educational, artistic - this thesis transitions into an analysis of actual stills. By examining the physical and aesthetic characteristics of a small selection of stills from George Eastman House's "Warner Bros.- First National Keybook Collection," drawn from the keybooks of Other Women's Husbands (1926), Lights of New York (1928), and 42nd Street (1933), an argument emerges for the establishment of the film still as a genre of photographic object distinguishable by its physical and aesthetic characteristics as much as by its origin. lll Acknowledgements Many thanks to the film still collections professionals who so generously shared their time and knowledge with me: Robert Cushman, photograph curator and photographic services administrator for the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Manoah Bowman, also of the Academy; Jeffrey Paul Thompson, archivist for the Twentieth Century Fox Photo Archive; Sandra Joy L~e, curator of the Warner Bros. Archives at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts; and Anthony L' Abbate, former stills archivist and current preservation officer in the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. Thanks to my friends and proofreaders Tom Proietti, Nadia Kousari and Andrew Henderson for their time and encouragement. Thank you also to my second reader Alex Anderson, professor of film at Ryerson University; and most especially to my first reader and advisor Nancy Kauffman, film stills archivist for the Motion Picture Department at George Eastman House, for her input, enthusiasm and guidance. I could not have had a better advisor. IV Contents Illustrations V l Introduction 1 Part One: Understanding Film Stills IN CATEGORIES 3 IN HISTORY 5 IN SCHOLARSHIP 8 IN KEY BOOKS 11 IN COLLECTIONS 15 Part Two: Looking at Film Stills GENERIC CONVENTIONS 29 THE WARNER BROS .-FIRST NATIONAL KEYBOOK COLLECTION 31 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 33 OTHER WOMEN ' S HUSBANDS 34 LIGHTS OF NEW YORK 34 42No STREET 36 AESTHETIC CHARACTERISTICS 38 OTHER WOMEN ' S HUSBANDS 39 LIGHTS OF NEW YORK 41 42No STREET 43 Conclusion 47 Notes 49 Annotated Bibliography 52 v Illustrations 42No STREET ( 1 933) V ll Figures 1 . 1 INTACT KEYBOOK FROM THE WARNER BROS . -FIRST NATIONAL KEYBOOK STILLS COLLECTION 12 1 . 2 A BOX OF 42No STREET STILLS FROM THE GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE COLLECTION 18 2 . 1 FILM STILLS VAULT IN THE MOTION PICTURE DEPARTMENT AT GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE 31 2.2 BOX ES B0620-B0624 , WHICH HOUSE THE 42No STREET STILLS 32 2 . 3 COVER FOR THE FORWARD PASS ( 1 920) 32 2.4 PRODUCTION STILL " PUB A" FROM LIGHTS OF NEW YORK 35 2 . 5 CAPTION FROM 42No STREET STILL " FS-PUB-A 14 " 38 Galleries OTHER WOMEN ' S HUSBANDS 20 LIGHTS OF NEW YORK 23 42ND STREET 26 Vl 42nd Street (1933) Introduction In one sense, a film still is a simple thing to define: it is any still photograph taken in association with a film production, movie star, or film studio. However, when pressed beyond this domain of basic description and identification, understandings of the film still can become multi-faceted and complex, even conceptually abstract. Although film stills are commercial in origin, they are valued as objects of nostalgic desire due to their relationship with the star or film that they depict, or with the studios and people that produced them. They have been written about, reproduced, and collected as documents of film history, as tools for analyzing films and the system that produced those films. In an attempt to elevate their status and value as art objects, some argue in favor of the artistry and craftsmanship of which they are a result. Finally, some conceptualize them in terms of such abstract ideas as spectatorship, memory, and iconography. Film stills have the potential to don a variety of faces, but their legitimacy in these roles is obscured by the fact that they have yet truly to find their place. The film still exists in a type of limbo between the academic disciplines and institutional categories of photography and film. This is perhaps the reason that film stills have rarely been written about as objects in their own right. Instead, they appear in academic and popular publications as tools serving the purposes of other disciplines, their uses almost exclusively determined by agendas that fail to consider them as individual objects. In this thesis you will find a consideration of film stills as images and physical objects for their own sake, shaped by their origins and uses but also distinguishable by unique material and visual characteristics. This discussion will take place in two parts: "Part One: Understanding Film Stills" and "Part Two: Looking at Film Stills." The second part consists of a closer analysis of a specific group of stills from the Warner Bros.-First National Keybook Collection, which is housed in the Motion Picture 1 Department at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. 2 Part One: Understanding Film Stills IN CATEGORIES At the turn of the twentieth century, the first filmmakers quickly learned the value of photographs for publicity.* As the industry developed and the Hollywood studio system emerged, still photographs became equally pivotal for the publicity of movie stars, who attracted large numbers of people to see their films. In fulfillment of the latter need, each studio established portrait photography studios on their lots; but in fulfillment of the former, the studios hired crews of stills photographers, who took on­ set photographs of every film production. The majority of these production stills, referred to here as "scene stills," were reproductions of scenes from the film. "Behind­ the-scenes shots" captured backstage activities of the cast and crew, usually staged. In addition to the studio portraits, on-set portraits were taken, but for different purposes: on-set portraits and photographs of the set were necessary to document costumes, hairstyles, sets, and props to ensure narrative and visual continuity in films. Photographs were also taken of publicity events organized as part of the campaign for certain films, such as the appearance of movie stars at premiers. Regardless of type, these production stills were then accumulated and bound by publicity departments into "keybooks" for each film, to be used both for publicity and reference. Stills photographers were further expected to document studio events, grounds, and activities. They became involved during the pre-production stage of film projects, photographing potential locations, props and set pieces, and costumes. Should a * Initially, film studios used both still photographs and frame enlargements from the film print to publicize films. Even though frame enlargements did not require the use of cumbersome still cameras on set, the use of photographs became the industry standard because of their superior image quality. 3 photograph be necessary for use within the diegesis* of a film, the stills photographer was responsible for creating this image as well.l New categories of stills have now emerged based on contemporary uses. The most obvious of these are the stills from lost and incomplete films.** Stills are sometimes our only remaining visual document from these films. They can be used to inform us about the film that once existed, or even to reconstruct portions of storylines in films for which only partial footage remains.