Images

Iconographic materials presented in the database are of many different kinds, yet most of them can be classified into three main groups: promotional stills, film posters, postcards, and film frames. As of now, the database has over 6100 images. The majority of those are images published in the trade press. Postcards from private collections (many of them come from my own collection) often correlate with promotional stills but present their content in a better quality (see Figs 5 and 6).

These were the basic tools for film producers and distributors to advertise a film. They were published widely in film and theater periodicals and on handbills, as well as distributed as window cards, of which very few have survived. For scholars, promotional stills turn out to be the main source for reconstructing the visual style of a film that has been lost. They give an idea of the setting and costumes; often they identify the actors. However, one should not rely on promotional stills too much; these photographs were rarely printed from the film itself—they are not frame enlargements. Usually, the studio photographer made them specifically for advertising purposes. The lighting and setup are different from what one could see in the actual film.

That is why it is necessary to add frame enlargements to the database when it is possible to do so. One of the most valuable parts of the database is the collection of frame enlargements for the film The Death of Gods that was mentioned above.

Overall, it is important to highlight that work on different database sections has been done in teams by reviewing various primary sources from which the trade film journals turned out to be the most comprehensive. We have found it more effective to divide sources between team members rather than asking each person to do research on specific films. In the future, we will apply the same methods when turning to new sources.