Film Still - Types of Stills

Types of Stills

Shots can be taken as part of the filming or separately posed. During the course of filming, the still photographer shutters on-stage scenes. These photographs are called production stills. Another type of still generated during filming is the off-stage shot. The photographer makes these while actors are between takes, in costume, perhaps smoking a cigarette or drinking a coke or a cup of coffee. Separately posed stills include a wide variety of shots. 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). By far the most popular of these many kinds of film stills are those portraying glamour, menace or gag interpretations.

Other separately posed images include “set” stills, make-up stills and wardrobe stills. These stills are used for matching from scene to scene, or for recreating a scene later for a re-take. 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”, another type of still, enable the studio to create location scenes without leaving the premises, thus reducing the ultimate cost of production.