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At The Theatre Door
Thursday, September 8th, 2005 02:39 pmI love making screencaps. Ever since I got a computer, I've discovered another way to see films, by looking at the shots and frames individually and learning to appreciate them as works in themselves. Obviously there's great enjoyment in Pictures of Pretty Guys, but for me the real joy occurs when I find something unexpected, a frame that has a particular energy or atmosphere, a singular visual arrangement or line of movement.
In other words, it's truly enchanting to find unique works of art hidden in the current of movement that is a film. I'd like to do a series of posts on such images that I've found, as there've been several that I found arresting, each for different reasons. But for now, I'll stick to this one, which I've found just now:
At The Theatre Door - full version
To my eye this is a singularly artful still. There is a sense of solidity, of reality to it, and each of he subjects has his own focus, his own personality. There are a number of painters I can see in it - some Rembrandt, some Degas, a little Toulouse-Lautrec, others whose names I can't pick out of the air. It actually looks like a painting, with its calm lighting and the story that is hinted at in the arrangement and attitudes of the subjects. Is the little dark-coated figure a beggar? A messenger? Why is the blond man bent over him so? Is it concern, or is he waiting for an answer to a question, or can he just not hear the smaller man very clearly? And is the figure in the foreground listening to them, or is he simply walking past, steeped in his own thoughts?
All of these things contribute to the particularly classical feeling of the image. Indeed, it takes very little effort to transform it into something I would not be surprised to find hanging on a museum wall:
There is drama in this picture, the possibility of an engaging tale.
( So what is it? Click here if you want to know. )
In other words, it's truly enchanting to find unique works of art hidden in the current of movement that is a film. I'd like to do a series of posts on such images that I've found, as there've been several that I found arresting, each for different reasons. But for now, I'll stick to this one, which I've found just now:
At The Theatre Door - full version
To my eye this is a singularly artful still. There is a sense of solidity, of reality to it, and each of he subjects has his own focus, his own personality. There are a number of painters I can see in it - some Rembrandt, some Degas, a little Toulouse-Lautrec, others whose names I can't pick out of the air. It actually looks like a painting, with its calm lighting and the story that is hinted at in the arrangement and attitudes of the subjects. Is the little dark-coated figure a beggar? A messenger? Why is the blond man bent over him so? Is it concern, or is he waiting for an answer to a question, or can he just not hear the smaller man very clearly? And is the figure in the foreground listening to them, or is he simply walking past, steeped in his own thoughts?
All of these things contribute to the particularly classical feeling of the image. Indeed, it takes very little effort to transform it into something I would not be surprised to find hanging on a museum wall:
There is drama in this picture, the possibility of an engaging tale.
( So what is it? Click here if you want to know. )
