Author Topic: Cameras in the Movies (Read 15616 times)

Ed Wenn · « **on:** August 07, 2007, 10:29:53 PM »

Ron's recent post on the Ruth Snyder ankle-cam got me thinking of Weegee and from there it was a short mental jump to the movie starring Joe Pesci, The Public Eye. Which in turn reminded me that I've been meaning to start a thread about movies in which cameras feature significantly. The more I think about it, the more there are. Here's my starter list:

Blow Up
City of God
Pecker
The Public Eye
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Italian For Beginners - dubious inclusion but there's a big scene at the end with a Diana which is cool

...and there are more; I've forgotten a load that I thought of last week. Which ones have I missed?

astrobeck · « **Reply #1 on:** August 07, 2007, 10:35:18 PM »

Closer comes to mind.....

eddie · « **Reply #2 on:** August 07, 2007, 11:42:45 PM »

Not sure if the cameras feature significantly but a couple of movies where cameras figured that caught my eye were:- A Hard Days Night, Ringo goes walkabout with what i believe was a Pentax Spotmatic. The Bridges of Madison County included my favourite a Nikon F.

artpunk · « **Reply #3 on:** August 08, 2007, 02:16:50 AM »

Memento! An interesting use of a Polaroid SLR to take integral photos so you can try and remember who you may or may not have accidently murdered because you can't remember who you may or may not have accidently murdered because you can't remember... (etc, etc)
...bloody silly really, the photos didn't help at all did they?

moominsean · « **Reply #4 on:** August 08, 2007, 03:00:30 AM »

the notorious betty page has a scene where she is shooting with a brownie hawkeye on the beach. other large format cameeras in the film, too.

i started a thread awhile ago on tc.com about brendan frasier using different polaroids on the tv show scrubs (as cox' brother). turns out he collects them for real and has gallery work.

Francois · « **Reply #5 on:** August 08, 2007, 04:10:00 PM »

I know I read somewhere that the kids in the first Harry Potter movie carry around an Argus C3 Matchmatic... though I couldn't really tell for sure since I'm not a Pottermaniac

There are always cameras in the James Bond movies. Whether it be a Minox B, a Nikon FE (In a view to a kill if I remember) or some super8 movie camera that turns into a machine gun

(I always wanted an uncle like Q when I was a kid... he was so cool).
I just love those movies (especially the early ones with cheesy special effects).

I remember in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the detective Eddie Valiant borrowed his girlfriend's folder to take pictures of Jessica Rabbit in her room at the Ink and Paint Club (she was caught playing Patty Cake... how naughty

). It looked like some sort of 6x9 camera. Probably an Ansco or a Kodak.

There was also a camera in 2001, A Space Odyssey. In the moon scene, when they discover the Monolith (just before they are given knowledge by the object), they have some kind of strange camera to take pictures of their find. It used some kind of twisting motion for film advance. It's about the size that would be needed for either 120 or 70mm (most probable)... though I can't recognize the model... Not to mention that, as I read somewhere on the Medium Format Library, that HAL was actually a Kenko fisheye adapter

not quite as scary as in the movie.

There were also plenty of cameras in old TV series.
In Columbo, there was always at some point some guy who was a crime scene photographer.
And in the old Mission Impossible series, the Minox B was used a lot.

There are also photo stuff in some cartoons. In Ruby Gloom, they have a slide projector which uses Fireflies in a jar as the light source and the slides are on little arms that swing in front of the jar... funny but unlikely.

Karl · « **Reply #6 on:** August 08, 2007, 05:14:17 PM »

Roman Holiday

formica · « **Reply #7 on:** August 09, 2007, 07:08:10 PM »

i've heard the mermaids singing. sheila mcarthy plays a girl friday who spends her spare time cycling around toronto taking shots of things she likes.

in wayne wang's smoke or blue in the face(i forget which one, and hope i got those titles right) harvey keitel goes out to shoot a certain intersection every single day at the same time and compiles an album of each nearly identicle shot.

hairspray(the original) there's a few scenes where they are using a brownie hawkeye flash.

in the superman movies jimmy olsen is seen with a camera in most seens i believe.

in the spiderman movies peter parker is a photographer.

there are some still cameras in some of derek jarman's super 8 films.

in blue velvet one of the characters makes a pinhole camera to do some spying.

i suspect there was probably some sort of camera in a large part of the king kong movie(i'm thinking in the original, but the remakes probably do as well)

in the orkley kid, there's a great scene of crispin glover's character's mom taking a shot with a polaroid as she goes into shock seeing her son dressed as olivia newton-john up on stage in front of the whole town..

i'm sure there are a lot more. i'll have to think on it some more.

william

Francois · « **Reply #8 on:** August 09, 2007, 10:07:41 PM »

In Dr.Strangelove, the Russian diplomat carries 2 spy cameras.

In Hitchcock's Rear Window, the guy in a wheelchair took pictures of his neighbors being convinced they committed murder (I slept through this one on a plane

)

Also, Robin William's 1 hour photo.

In Apocalypse Now, Dennis Hopper played a war photographer using some Nikon F.

Is it just me or was there more cameras in the older movies?
I don't watch many and never go to the cinema, so my repertoire is kind of old.

Tammy · « **Reply #9 on:** August 10, 2007, 04:00:39 AM »

Julia Roberts plays a photographer- shooting a Hasselblad I think, in "Stepmom"

"Photographing Fairies" - full of large format cameras. Strange movie.

"1 Hour Photo" movie is odd!

Interesting thread.

moominsean · « **Reply #10 on:** August 10, 2007, 05:05:19 AM »

the dvd for 'red dwarf' season 1 has an extra that is just a polaroid photo developing for like a minute and a half. it's of the guy that plays lister and his kids.

formica · « **Reply #11 on:** August 10, 2007, 02:33:24 PM »

remembered another one. in almost famous penny lane takes polaroids through much of the movie(most notably on the tour bus). i forget which camera exactly, but i want to say it's some form of sx-70.

william

Karl · « **Reply #12 on:** August 10, 2007, 02:51:15 PM »

Quote from: formica on August 09, 2007, 07:08:10 PM

in wayne wang's smoke or blue in the face(i forget which one, and hope i got those titles right) harvey keitel goes out to shoot a certain intersection every single day at the same time and compiles an album of each nearly identicle shot.

It's Smoke. Brilliant film, he uses a canon AE1 i think which makes me kind of nerdy to remember such a thing

Also, Salvador, James Woods plays journo in civil war torn Nicaragua and John Savage a photo-journalist. Good film

beck · « **Reply #13 on:** August 11, 2007, 02:10:43 AM »

I don't have cable or a TV....but Charlie Tolnay from Lubricated Goat, Grong Grong....likes a sticky shutter too. Is that a Diana Deluxe?? Probably his mamas porch anyhow. I tried emailing him for a possible interview if he does indeed snap pictures with neat cameras. In typical LG fashion...he has not responded as of yet.

moominsean · « **Reply #14 on:** August 11, 2007, 02:55:19 AM »

man, is that what happens to 80s punks?! makes me feel oooold.

eyecaramba · « **Reply #15 on:** August 11, 2007, 03:31:05 AM »

Nobody has mentioned The Omen?!? The original had a photographer who played a significant role... not sure about the sequel.

G.

Alain G. · « **Reply #16 on:** August 13, 2007, 07:56:02 PM »

I've recently saw a movie that was inspired by the life of Diane Arbus :FUR. (w/N.Kidman)
We see a nice Rolleiflex in it.

Not a movie but a video clip by Wax Poetic feat. Norah Jones, where they clearly pass a Holga all along the song

Francois · « **Reply #17 on:** August 13, 2007, 10:31:04 PM »

Video clips are stock full of camera scenes!

From Snoop Dogg (shaking that Polaroid for some odd reason) though I'm not entirely sure since I'm not a Hip Hop fan...
to Enzo Enzo where she sings to some jazzy tune next to a learjet with a guy taking pictures of her (she is really a good looking girl) with a Rolleiflex.

formica · « **Reply #18 on:** August 14, 2007, 05:56:21 PM »

another for the list. flirting. there's what looks to be a brownie starflash used off and on through the movie. there's a brownie hawkeye flash(with flast attached) in the boxing scene, and when the girls are saying goodbye towards the end of the movie there appears to be another kind of brownie. could be a bullet but i'm not certain.

william

Ed Wenn · « **Reply #19 on:** August 14, 2007, 11:25:52 PM »

I loved Flirting...whatever happened to the third part of that supposed trilogy? Did he ever make it? Hmm.

Also, the more I think about it Smoke - along with City of God - is probably the film that made me start this thread, but by the time I'd gotten round to actually doing it, I'd forgotten half of the films on my list. Thanks for the reminder. To celebrate, here's one picture from each:

BTW, I should have said at the start that spy cameras don't count. Too many of them. My thread. My rules.

Oh, I just thought of another one Road To Perdition....Jude Law's character is an evil photographer (in another nod to the mighty Weegee). See photo below.

Also, I have a vague recollection of a Melanie Griffith film (Something Wild?) where there's some camera stuff going on. And wasn't there some photography in Desperately Seeking Susan?

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Ed Wenn · « **Reply #20 on:** August 14, 2007, 11:33:39 PM »

Ooops! Just remembered another one. Jennifer Connelly ("down boy!") wielding a tasty looking RF in Blood Diamond. Quite frankly, it doesn't get much better than that.

moominsean · « **Reply #21 on:** August 15, 2007, 07:31:35 PM »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1vVnoSRR78&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ejoystiq%2Ecom%2F

cameras and music in this trailer! and poop-eating (no it's not gg allen).
sean

Skorj · « **Reply #22 on:** August 17, 2007, 12:13:36 PM »

This was where they shot Babel, or parts of it anyway (my old company office building frame left)...

tread · « **Reply #23 on:** August 17, 2007, 09:27:54 PM »

REAR WINDOW! It's been mentioned but the best photographer movie ever...
THE PHOTOGRAPHER! Low Budget comedy about and down and out fine art photographer...worth a look.
HARD CANDY! A must see-touches on fashion photography as it relates to a potential pedophile. Not for the faint of heart but a real winner nonetheless.
WICKER PARK--lame thriller about an area of Chicago I dig that has a photographer as a main character.
THE PUBLIC EYE--Joe Pesci loosely playing Weegie. I went up to Cincy when they were filming this...bad.
BARRY LYNDON--okay, not a movie about photography but a movie that you should see as a photographer. Kubrick had lens crated for NASA by Zeiss, a 50mm f0.7 that he had fitted to his film camera and shot many candlelit scenes without any artificial light. There are long scenes that play out like classic portraits by candlelight. Gorgeous work.
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE--The original, from a Polaroid cameo to the camera type transition sound effects. Every frame is a still shooter's wet dream.

Andrea. · « **Reply #24 on:** August 19, 2007, 11:05:36 AM »

The Flying Scotsman. Usual journo cameras

NancyB · « **Reply #25 on:** August 21, 2007, 08:14:08 PM »

A little known movie starring Minnie Driver and Tom Wilkinson, called The Governess. It's about a young Jewish woman who pretends to be a Gentile to become a governess for a Christian family after her father dies. She begins an affair with Tom Wilkinson's character, who is experimenting with the early science of photography.

astrobeck · « **Reply #26 on:** August 21, 2007, 11:25:55 PM »

there's a folding camera used by the reporter that follows Lawrence around in "Lawrence of Arabia"

david b · « **Reply #27 on:** August 22, 2007, 11:01:11 AM »

There's a Kieslowski film called 'Camera Buff' - it's more to do with moving pictures, but the theme of someone who prefers to look through a viewfinder at life rather than living it himself might be relevant! I should say though that it's pretty rubbish, easily the worst thing I've seen from the usually astonishing Kieslowski.

moominsean · « **Reply #28 on:** August 22, 2007, 02:59:57 PM »

just saw one of those butt-ugly spectra 1200 cameras, the one that "stands up", on episode 2 of the tv show 'dead like me'.

moominsean · « **Reply #29 on:** September 11, 2007, 05:43:40 AM »

Just watched "art school confidential"...very funny movie, and sadly so true. every stereotype in the movie, i could identify with some classmate/teacher i've known in the past.

but, there is a classy scene of a guy taking photos of his genitals with an sx-70...from the...uhh...nut angle.

beck · « **Reply #30 on:** September 11, 2007, 09:10:39 AM »

One of my favorite films, Sunset Boulevard, in the opening scene with Joe dead in the pool, there are gads of reporters using these huge press cameras/speed graphics and dispensing flash bulbs to the ground like spit. Really great scene showing those neat cameras and huge flash guns...and of course the final scene with Norma and friendly lens people on the staircase and her most memorable and famous line.

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db · « **Reply #31 on:** September 11, 2007, 09:25:29 AM »

OK, I'm almost on topic. The pic from Blood Diamond reminded me of this action snap of that great photographer, Victoria Beckham. I'm sure it has done the internet rounds, but if you haven't seen it...

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eyecaramba · « **Reply #32 on:** September 11, 2007, 11:50:47 AM »

Aw. come on, Don! Have you never sized up a photo with your viewfinder/rangefinder only to whip the lens cap off at the last moment to take any of your exceptional photos? This technique helps to keep geese from flying head on into the lens and scratching up the works while you are still composing the shot...

db · « **Reply #33 on:** September 11, 2007, 01:35:17 PM »

Quote from: eyecaramba on September 11, 2007, 11:50:47 AM

Aw. come on, Don! Have you never sized up a photo with your viewfinder/rangefinder only to whip the lens cap off at the last moment to take any of your exceptional photos? This technique helps to keep geese from flying head on into the lens and scratching up the works while you are still composing the shot...

Ahh sh*** of course. Damn, she IS good. I guess that's why she's rich and famous and I'm just a dumb hack.

eyecaramba · « **Reply #34 on:** September 13, 2007, 04:22:03 AM »

The saftey glasses are another sure tell that she is intense. Intense, I say.

moominsean · « **Reply #35 on:** September 13, 2007, 04:55:17 AM »

in the aqua teen hunger force 'colon' movie, meatwad pulls out a polaroid camera, pinkish in the shape of the sx-70 'rainbow stripe' cameras. but he doesn't ever take a photo with it.

yes, i only watch the classiest movies.

"On the Moon, nerds get their pants pulled down and they are spanked with Moonrocks."

Francois · « **Reply #36 on:** September 13, 2007, 03:22:28 PM »

We all know "B" rated stands for Best

Was there a camera in Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?
I can't remember.

Skorj · « **Reply #37 on:** September 14, 2007, 08:39:37 AM »

And to think once she turned down a lamb roast... Ho hum.

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LT · « **Reply #38 on:** September 16, 2007, 11:41:18 AM »

Quote from: db on September 11, 2007, 09:25:29 AM

OK, I'm almost on topic. The pic from Blood Diamond reminded me of this action snap of that great photographer, Victoria Beckham. I'm sure it has done the internet rounds, but if you haven't seen it...

that is so funny. My sides hurt I'm laughing so much

db · « **Reply #39 on:** September 16, 2007, 02:36:11 PM »

Skorj- that's a nice movie still of the icey one with the Rolli, (or whatever it is).

I Haven't seen Fur yet- Anybody care to do a film review for me? I'd be interested to hear it from a film buff who knows their photog icons too!

cheers
db

Skorj · « **Reply #40 on:** September 16, 2007, 02:56:10 PM »

Quote from: db on September 16, 2007, 02:36:11 PM

I'd be interested to hear it from a film buff who knows their photog icons too!

A damn good piece it what it is. Nic deserves credit for taking (another) chance. Great scenario (not autobiographical, but a construct), well scripted (some might say slow), well acted (mostly), with the character `Diane` presenting what might have been something that was Diane Arbus.

See it.

Skorj · « **Reply #41 on:** January 03, 2008, 10:32:25 AM »

One more for the aficionado; The Notorious Bettie Page. A moderately good bio-pic, if a bit light. I was expecting more social comment. But there is plenty for the photographer to enjoy (and laugh at).

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gothamtomato · « **Reply #42 on:** January 03, 2008, 12:39:27 PM »

Quote from: Skorj on September 16, 2007, 02:56:10 PM

Quote from: db on September 16, 2007, 02:36:11 PM
I'd be interested to hear it from a film buff who knows their photog icons too!

A damn good piece it what it is. Nic deserves credit for taking (another) chance. Great scenario (not autobiographical, but a construct), well scripted (some might say slow), well acted (mostly), with the character `Diane` presenting what might have been something that was Diane Arbus.

See it.

I was going to see it but then I saw an interview with Any Arbus who said she was upset by it & that people shouldn't see it. That it was nothing like her mother.

Author Topic: Cameras in the Movies (Read 15616 times)

astrobeck

NancyB

astrobeck