Film still
They can also consist of posed or candid images taken on the set during production, and may include stars, crew members or directors at work.
Many of these have self-explanatory designations: seasonal gag shots, leg art, fashion stills, commercial tie-ups, poster art, clinch shots (special posing for print advertising) candids (done normally with one source lighting—think snapshot) and in-costume studies (most economically done off-stage in a sound stage corner or more formally in a studio setting).
All details of the set, the costume and the cast make-up have to be exact, and these stills serve as a useful resource to get that accomplished.
Background "plates" or "stereos" (not a reference to stereoscopic 3D, but to large-format stereopticon 2D slide projection), another type of still, enable the studio to create location scenes without leaving the premises, thus reducing the ultimate cost of production.
The still photographer is primarily concerned with capturing dramatic photos that will draw attention when used on posters, DVD covers, and advertising.
Studios "sent out tens of thousands of scene stills and portraits to newspapers, magazines, and fans each year.
The distinction is relevant: "While the scene stills and on-the-set candid shots would be used to sell the movie, the portraits could be used to introduce a would-be star to an international audience.
Typically, a film still included a separate profile sheet describing the physical details of the actor along with a brief bio.
We have proof of their consummate ability to capture in a single image the essence of a star, and to communicate that information to a film viewer, magazine reader or studio executive.
Hollywood portrait photographers were not seen as artists or creators, yet one has only to examine their legacy to be convinced of the enduring quality of their vision as well as their craft.
Archives will lend these images for a fee to publishers and producers of documentaries for 'editorial' uses, in keeping with the original intent to publicize the movie or promote the actor.
Seeing these images in print years later, some photographers, or their heirs, attempt to assert rights that most believed to be extinguished or abandoned.
Although Warner Bros. argued otherwise, the court found that these stills did not share the films' valid copyrights, and that the images' dissemination constituted general publication without notice.
Other arguments related to derivative uses of the images were upheld, and an injunction against X One X was granted because certain "products combining extracts from the public domain materials in a new arrangement infringe the copyright in the corresponding film".
The decision quoted from Nimmer on Copyright, which explains that, while films were generally registered for copyright protection, "much less care was typically exercised during production and in the publicity office" with photographs taken of the actors on set being "sent off to newspapers before the film's release, in order to generate a buzz about its opening.
"[18][19] Kristin Thompson, reporting as the chair of an ad hoc committee on fair use organized by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, contends "that it is not necessary for authors to request permission to reproduce frame enlargements.
[and] some trade presses that publish educational and scholarly film books also take the position that permission is not necessary for reproducing frame enlargements and publicity photographs.
"[20] Thompson also notes that even if such images are not already public domain, they could be considered "fair use" under provisions of US law: Most frame enlargements are reproduced in books that clearly fall into the first provision's categories of "teaching," "criticism," "scholarship," or "research," and hence there seems little doubt that such illustrations would qualify as fair use by this criterion.
