C. M. Franke | Photography

Most of the project ideas that I have been working on with Single Shot Cinema thus far have been dramatic: Images of people contemplating something, or stewing in some emotional state; the exact definition and reasons for these being largely ambiguous, and left up to the viewer to decide. The catalyst for these dramatic images was a photo in one of the text books I had while studying with the New York Institute of Photography. It was a black and white image that showed two people sitting at a table - one looking downward sheepishly while the other seemed to be glaring at him from the distance. It was within that simple, yet intriguing photograph that I realized the capacity of a single image to paint an entire dramatic "movie" in the mind's of viewers.           However...  I am coming to the realization that these one-shot-movies need not be strictly limited to high human drama and nuanced emotional subje...

For me, part of the fun of sitting in that darkened multiplex has always been in waiting to see the title of the feature presentation appear on screen. From the visually arresting intro of any given James Bond film, to the three hour wait before those plain white letters labeled the last shot of Inception , the titles have a certain magical quality to them. An aura that is part of the movie-going experience.            So, that having been said, I have been toying with the question of whether "Single Shot Cinema" images should contain titles; and if so, where? After all, the whole idea is to mimic the feel and texture of a motion picture, using a single photograph. So why not have titles? The key is not to have them overpower the image. Locating them in the bottom corners, or in the letterbox margin seems to be the most logical solution, for the most part.    ...