On the Set

15.12.11 – 29.4.12

The Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen is commemorating the 100-year existence of the Babelsberg Film Studios in 2012 with an exhibition of the Cinémathèque française, which largely displays unpublished vintage photographs made during the early years of the major film studios. Concurrently, in an independent exhibition on feature films, it presents photographs that originated within the last ten years in Berlin and on the studio grounds in Babelsberg.

 

Paris – Babelsberg – Hollywood, 1910–1939

The genre of set photography in German, French and American studios from 1910-39, which has received little attention until now, will be introduced in an abundance never shown before. The still photographers became witnesses to the times through their photographs, documenting the general practice of film professions in the studio. Their images tell of the construction of film sets, of the work of the directors, the use of light and numerous details about filming conditions.

The photos capture both directors, such as David W. Griffith, King Vidor, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch and René Clair, as well as stars like Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and Charlie Chaplin.

Following an introductory section on still photography, the exhibition is devoted to technical and artistic aspects of film production: “Studios,” “Lighting,” “Cameras,” “Sound,” “Scenery,” “Directing Actors,” “Stars and Apparatuses.”

 

Berlin – Babelsberg, Today

The exhibition of the Deutsche Kinemathek documents the search for film locations and their modifications for filming, while focusing on the theme of set construction both in the studio and on outdoor grounds. This presentation, in combination with photographs of the actual shooting locations, offers a small kaleidoscope of the film region Berlin-Brandenburg during the 21st century.

The spectrum of films made here spans from productions of the “Berlin School,” such as Christian Petzold’s Gespenster (2005), to elaborate Hollywood productions, such as Stephen Daldry’s The Reader (2008) and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds (2009).

Key aspects

Paris – Babelsberg – Hollywood, 1910–1939

Two collections form the starting point of this project: the extraordinarily rich Photothèque of the Cinémathèque française, comprised of more than 500,000 photographs, and the collection of Gabriel Depierre (1929-2004), a leading film connoisseur and collector. After 1951, Depierre was an assistant and friend to the still photographer Roger Corbeau, whose work is now preserved in the archives of the Médiathèque de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. In addition to their outstanding quality, these images were also chosen because of the information they contain about the amazing metamorphosis that swept filmmaking in three decades and across three countries, namely in France, Germany and the USA.

Only thirty years went by between wooden hand-cranked cameras and powerful electric Mitchells, packed in soundproof casings. However, for the history of film, this interval can be compared to a jump from the Stone Age to the dawn of the modern day. Lighting also rapidly developed. The differences between the trompe-l’oeil paintings of the early days of cinema and the gargantuan Hollywood sets of the 1920s and 1930s is staggering. The first talkies, in 1927, ushered in another radical change both for films and the movie theater experience. Everything was affected, from filmmaking techniques to aesthetics, and particularly economics.

The photographs in this exhibition are invaluable documentation of the hierarchy on a film set, showing how film crews work with one another and how directors interact with their teams. Some of the images have been created by great masters, such as Roger Forster, Raymond Voinquel, Walter Limot, Roger Corbeau and Sam Lévin in France, Horst Von Harbou, Rudolf Brix and Curt Oertel in Germany, and George Hurrell, Ruth Harriet Louise, Clarence Sinclair Bull and Laszlo Willinger in the USA. Others, however, will undoubtedly remain anonymous. Professional portrait and still photographers appeared on sets at the beginning of film history, but became essential in the 1910s when “film publishers” were also responsible for printing posters and catalogues, and the star system was starting to flourish, particularly in the specialized press.

These photos take us right to the core of those image factories, to a day and age when cameras inspired genuine awe and were considered to be “intelligent machines,” as the director and theoretician Jean Epstein once expressed it.

Berlin – Babelsberg, Today

Berlin is a movie city. Stars parade across red carpets during its international film festivals, international productions are filmed at the Babelsberg Studios located just before the gates of the capital, and every resident in the city knows the barricades, spotlights and catering vehicles that sometimes more and sometimes less frequently block a street for a film shoot. Photography is playing a larger role than ever during the preparation and marketing of a film. Location scouts seek motifs and sites, while still photographers produce pictures, which will later be used as press photos, posters or DVD covers to advertise a film. However, such photographs also document what happens on the set. The exhibition “On the Set: Berlin – Babelsberg, Today” shows such photographs, which have been created over the last ten years during local filming.

The Babelsberg Studios are celebrating their 100-year existence in 2012. Both exhibitions at the Museum für Film und Fernsehen intend to commemorate this long tradition. Even today, photographers document filming, produce still photographs and occasionally also make portrait photos of the stars. Still photographers must proceed as unobtrusively as possible, so as not to hinder a shoot. They should also bring in less of their own artistic style as adapt and communicate the visual imagery image of the film. The numerous photographs, many of which have been unpublished until now, attest to the complex creative and technical work being done on 21st century sets in Berlin and Babelsberg.

Credits

Paris – Babelsberg – Hollywood, 1910–1939

Paris
La Cinémathèque française: Costa-Gavras, Präsident
Serge Toubiana, Generaldirektor
Curators: Isabelle Champion, Laurent Mannoni
Project management: Christine Douin, Marie Naudin, Prune Blachère

 

Berlin
Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen: Rainer Rother, Künstlerischer Direktor
Coordination: Kristina Jaspers, Peter Mänz, Vera Thomas
Audiovisual media program: Nils Warnecke
Text editing: Rolf Aurich
English translations and editing
Wendy Wallis, transART, Berlin
German translations from French
Ralph Eue, Ariane Mondon, Vera Thomas, Laurence Wegener
Design of the advertising graphics: Pentagram Design, Berlin
Design of the exhibition graphics: Jan Drehmel, befreite module, Berlin
Production of the exhibition graphics: PPS, Berlin and Bartneck Print Artists, Berlin
Exhibition design: m.o.l.i.t.o.r. ART IN MOTION, Berlin
Conservational supervision: Sabina Fernández, Berlin
Technical supervision of the camera equipment: Karsten Seyfert
Audiovisual media editing: Stanislaw Milkowski, Concept AV, Berlin
Technical services: Frank Köppke, Roberti Siefert, Stephan Werner
Communication: Sandra Hollmann, Tatjana Petersen, Heidi Berit Zapke
Museum education: Jurek Sehrt
Financing: Uwe Meder-Seidel

Berlin – Babelsberg, Today

Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen
Rainer Rother, Artistic Director
Curators: Kristina Jaspers, Peter Mänz
Coordination: Vera Thomas
Text editing: Rolf Aurich
English translations: Wendy Wallis, transART, Berlin
Design of the advertising graphics: Pentagram Design, Berlin
Design of the exhibition graphics: Jan Drehmel, befreite module, Berlin
Production of the exhibition graphics: PPS, Berlin and Bartneck Print Artists, Berlin
Exhibition design: m.o.l.i.t.o.r. ART IN MOTION
Technical services: Frank Köppke, Roberti Siefert, Stephan Werner
Communication: Sandra Hollmann, Tatjana Petersen, Heidi Berit Zapke
Museum education: Jurek Sehrt
Financing: Uwe Meder-Seidel

Lenders

Stefan Arndt (X Filme Creative Pool GmbH)
Klemens Becker
Wolfgang Becker (X Filme Creative Pool GmbH)
Silke Buhr
Beate Dannhorn (Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF e.V.)
Vera Engelhardt (Desert Flower Filmproduktion GmbH)
Guy Ferrandis
Gerald von Foris
Hans Fromm
Bernhard Henrich
Nick Hertwig
Peter Herrmann (Desert Flower Filmproduktion GmbH)
Ute Krämer (Desert Flower Filmproduktion GmbH)
Jürgen Olczyk
Tobias Palmer
Christian Petzold
Rommelfilm
Hans-Christian Schmid (23|5 Filmproduktionen)
Florian Schneider (X Filme Creative Pool GmbH)
Schramm Film
Christian Schulz
Kristina Stelter (X Filme Creative Pool GmbH)
Manfred Thomas
Walter Wehner

Acknowledgements

Paris – Babelsberg – Hollywood, 1910–1939

Special thanks to:
Volkmar Ernst, Anke Hahn, Martin Koerber, Daniel Meiller, Julia Riedel, Silke Ronneburg, Heike Schlasse, Werner Sudendorf, Wolfgang Theis, Gerrit Thies and all colleagues at Deutsche Kinemathek

Berlin – Babelsberg, Today

Special thanks to:
Studio Babelsberg AG (Christoph Fisser, Eike Wolf, Bianca Makarewicz)

Partners

Paris – Babelsberg – Hollywood, 1910–1939

This exhibition is sponsored by
Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien
in accordance with a decision of the German Bundestag

An exhibition of
La Cinémathèque Française 

Media partners:
kulturradio rbb
berlin poche

Berlin – Babelsberg, Today

This exhibition is sponsored by
Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien
in accordance with a decision of the German Bundestag

Media partners:
kulturradio rbb
berlin poche