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[Andrew999]

I stumbled across an appreciation today of fotoromanzi - a quintessentially Italian phenomenon, born in 1947, though adapted in various forms worldwide:

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=https://www.rockit.it/articolo/fotoromanza-storia-cantanti-italiani-tutti-pose-fumetti&prev=search&pto=aue

The genre started with movie adaptations but quickly developed into dedicated magazines with the same models popping up in various stories:

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fotoromanzo&prev=search&pto=aue

The genre is best viewed through its imagery:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?sa=N&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=fotoromanzi&client=opera&ved=2ahUKEwjK95ui__bqAhXeRhUIHariD5Y4ChCwBHoECAkQAQ&biw=1821&bih=853

Odd thing is, I'm pretty sure my drippy sister used to read a similar English-language magazine in the early sixties - but can't for the life of me remember what it was called. (I rarely read my sister's stuff - except for Bunty which had some terrific sci-fi stories - and of course her secret diary when she was out (hidden inexpertly beneath a pair of gloves in her sideboard (top drawer left hand side)))

[paw broon]

Oh, good man, Andrew.  it's a weird, highly enjoyable version of comics.  Fotoromanzi, or, I think,fotonovelas in Spanish, are out there in abundance.  There is a site with lots of of South american fotonovels - I'll try to find the link but I lost it when my pc went down. We have a couple of Santo fotonovelas on site, incl. the one with the rocket pack - not quite Adam Strange.
The best known British series was Blue Jeans, wasn't it? But Pearsons published a short couple of series, TV Photo Stories and Continental Film Photo series.
Off to excavate.  Fingers crossed.

[Andrew999]

Blue Jeans - that was it! Paw - you are a walking comicpaedia!

[paw broon]

https://www.tebeosfera.com/documentos/las_fotonovelas_de_cinemisterio.html
Worth a read.
Not sure if I should be posting this link but...........Lots of fotonovelas here:-
https://fotonovelas2011.wordpress.com

[Andrew999]

Thanks, Paw! I'll be settling down tonight with a box of soft centres and doing my brain a real mischief!

[crashryan]

I believe it was in the 1970s that some American publisher tried to introduce fotoromanzi into the US. They were translations of Italian magazines. At the time grocery and drug stores still had general audience magazine racks. The fotonovels were shelved with the confession and women's magazines. They were full color printed on thin glossy paper. I don't recall how many pages--48? An odd thing is that the balloons were black with typeset text in white (the result of some cost-cutting stunt, I suspect).

I bought several of these out of curiosity and because I thought they'd provide good photos of people in action to add to my reference file. I was wrong about the latter point. Though technically competent, the photography was dull as ditchwater. The stories were mostly a series of shots of people standing around in medium or close shots. Actors were shot from exactly the same angle (usually with the same expression) in panel after panel and the few action poses were laughable. When I followed Paw's tebeosfera link I was shocked by the high production values enjoyed by The Arizona Kid and his friends. Budgets had definitely shrunk by the time the 70s rolled around!

It was through these comics that I came to know about Franco Gasparri, "The Prince of the Photo-Romance." He appeared in two thirds of the stories and received star credit. Other actors were also credited, but as I recall most of their names sounded like made-up "genuine American" names.

I don't think the project lasted out the year. I stopped buying them once I realized I wasn't going to find useful scrap. However Franco did show up in a couple of my Dallas strips.

[crashryan]

I ran across a clipping from one of those old US photo romances. Someone somewhere swiped that first panel but I never got round to it. I don't remember the story, only that it had a fantasy gimmick. The umbrella lady waving at the camera is supposed to be some sort of guardian angel. She reminds me of the women in Juliet of the Spirits.



Edit: I've tried four times to get the image to post, using first the Attachment feature, then linking to a Flickr image. Neither has shown up. I'll keep trying.

[The Australian Panther]

Try these!

Hollywood Film Stories
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=76926

Cheers!

[Andrew999]

I loved this - thanks

I don't think I mentioned that there used to be a programme on BBC radio (the Light Programme as the station was called) back in the sixties. They would take a movie and condense it to thirty minutes with voiceovers linking scenes together seamlessly. No images obviously but still a good effect and a great way to catch up on missed movies.

[Andrew999]

Finally - instant fotoromanzi!

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-automatically-comic-movies-videos.html

At last, my life is complete!

[crashryan]

Their balloon-placer algorithm seems to have been trained on British picture libraries. Crowded against borders, covering important stuff while leaving dead spaces. As an art fancier, I don't know how "engaging" I'd find these. People have tried movie frame grab comics forever but they've always been an awkward mess, without the motion, drama and scope of a movie or the imaginative art and layout of a comic.

In the early 80s there was a series of Star Trek fotonovel paperbacks using screen grabs from original series episodes. The format emphasized how repetitive the direction was on those shows. Lots of talking heads, always shot from the same side and usually the same angle. This sort of TV storytelling was driven by the limitations of broadcast TV and TV receivers. As screens became bigger and definition improved TV direction became more movie-like. Today there's hardly any difference.

It makes me wonder, though, whether the fotonovel algorithm would generate a lot of old-fashioned talking heads as it tries to identify the "most important" part of a scene. That certainly is the case in these samples. Also, what informs the decision to make a panel wide or narrow, or to put three panels on a row rather than two? It's an interesting stunt but I'm afraid all it would do would be to produce dull, generic film adaptations.

[narfstar]

The editor probably had some discretion and todays would probably make better choices with more options available