Introduction to Tableaux Vivants

Tableau Vivant is the French term for a ‘living picture’. It is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit. It therefore combines aspects of theater and the visual arts.

Examples:

Creating a Response

To create my own Tableau Vivant I have chosen to re-create one of Tom Hunter’s photos (which will be on another blog post), and also re-create some of the iconic scenes from Stand By Me. Stand By Me was a coming of age film released in 1986, it was directed by Rob Reiner. The film is based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body. Its title is derived from Ben E. King’s song, which plays over the ending credits. Stand by Me tells the story of four boys in a small town in Maine, USA who go on a hike to find the dead body of a missing child. The film was nominated for one Academy Award (for Best Adapted Screenplay) and two Golden Globe Awards (for Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Director, respectively).

These are the stills from the film which I have chosen to re-create:

Apart from the obvious plot of the film, it is mainly about friendship and loyalty. This can be seen through the photos I have chosen, especially the first one where Chris is comforting Gordon and the other photos where the boys are seen together, laughing and joking with each other. This creates a nostalgic childhood atmosphere upon first glance which fades once the film continues and the insecurities between the boys start to appear.

For the location of my shoot I have chosen to do it on an old railway walk as this is the closest I can get to the actual film, it includes a wide road and lots of trees which matches the background in the photos. For the models I am going to have a different number of them (3) and I am going to use all girls instead of all boys. Below are my final outcomes for each re-creation:

Outcomes: