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how do pap walks/pics work? if they're fake, why would they need to stage them? what's backgrid? here's a long informative thread ;-)
first i'm not trying to proof anything with this! i'm just putting some info from articles here. also, yes. staged pap pics exist. have been for years. but why?
justin steffman, creator of "famous stupid people" (pretty sure you've seen their stuff) and known paparazzi from ny, explains it neatly. i'm gonna quote him from now on.
about Taylor Swift: "Certain celebrities, like Taylor, not only accept that paparazzi are a part of the business, but they actually go out of their way to use us as a tool for publicity."
why would a celebrity ever set up and stage photos?
"The biggest reason is money. But they also release photos because they want to have control of their own image.
"The biggest reason is money. But they also release photos because they want to have control of their own image.
(...) They usually try to make the photos look natural and candid, but in reality, the celebrity and the photographer are working together. It's a paid photo shoot and the celebrity gets a big check. The readers of tabloid magazines and blogs have no idea!"
"Control is another big reason for staging photos. There are certain celebs who hate being photographed by paparazzi and they will do anything to avoid it. When your image is such an important part of your career, the last thing they want is to be photographed looking badly.
(Referring to Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds) Those photos are totally set up. When they see paparazzi in real life, they put their heads down and hide their faces — unless they are promoting something."
"Another example is when there is high demand for a certain photo. When Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's daughter Apple was first born, they worked directly with an infamous paparazzi photographer in New York.
Together, they staged the first baby photos and made them look like candid pictures, then they sold the shots to a major magazine. The pictures were rumored to sell for upward of a million dollars. The paparazzi got a cut, and they took the rest."
"Kim Kardashian is the biggest example of a celebrity who releases fake paparazzi photos. Kim has a personal paparazzi who she texts regularly. This man flies around the world, going wherever she asks him to be, and they work together to produce her fake paparazzi pictures.
She reviews every image before they start selling them to magazines. If they shoot on a beach, these images are heavily Photoshopped and she chooses her favorites to sell."
how frequently does this happen?
"Very often. I can't remember the last time I flipped through a tabloid or browsed a gossip blog without seeing setup shops in the mix."
"Very often. I can't remember the last time I flipped through a tabloid or browsed a gossip blog without seeing setup shops in the mix."
how much would a staged pic like "first official BF/GF pics" get?
"Enough to put a down payment on a very nice house (...)"
"Enough to put a down payment on a very nice house (...)"
what are telltale signs of a staged shot?
"Most of the staged shots look silly and are very obvious to a trained eye. If it's a huge news story, you always have to wonder, don't you?"
"Most of the staged shots look silly and are very obvious to a trained eye. If it's a huge news story, you always have to wonder, don't you?"
now moving on to couples' pap pics and how do they work, according to this article from E!:
"Most of the time when a paparazzi shot like this is taken, it was staged.
There are several reasons for wanting to do such thing. Perhaps two A-listers have a mutual project coming up, for which a front-page tabloid shot will mean great publicity.
There are several reasons for wanting to do such thing. Perhaps two A-listers have a mutual project coming up, for which a front-page tabloid shot will mean great publicity.
(...) Perhaps two anything-listers are in a new relationship and wanting to make sure to debut in a perfect manner—perhaps that manner will also serve to distract from some potentially damaging news that is also about to be released."
it requires these not-so-easy steps:
"(Setting): If an actor or musician is going to tip off the paparazzi to their location, that location better not look like a photo shoot. The shiestier, the better, really.
"(Setting): If an actor or musician is going to tip off the paparazzi to their location, that location better not look like a photo shoot. The shiestier, the better, really.
Anything that looks private or like a photographer had to creep up on you to get the shot. If the resulting photographs are grainy or way-too-zoomed-in, all the better, because that makes it look like it most certainly would not be staged."
"(Timing): If the celebs have a goal in mind for their staging, then this is the most important factor. True connoisseurs of the paparazzi game know that the real power move is to debut a brand new relationship with pictures. Think of the buzz!
To appear in a romantic embrace, with no prior evidence of a relationship is to suddenly thrust yourself into every pop culture conversation for at least the next week. Questions will abound—When did this start? What does this mean? Is it serious?—and so will your notoriety."
"(Eye Contact): Never make it. Never look at the camera. Look only into the eyes of your beloved. Or, if you're making out, keep your eyes closed."
"(Body Language): This is most important if you're trying to make it seem like you're a couple but you're not exactly organically romantically involved. You know, hypothetically speaking.
But body language is also a factor for real couples that might be announcing themselves by allowing themselves to be photographed leaving a dinner at one of Los Angeles' most notorious date spots.
(...) Or, if you truly can't stand each other and are in a relationship to promote something, then at the very least try not to physically recoil while being photographed."
"(Product Placement): If you're going to stage a photograph, why not get a little extra pocket money for it? This, ladies and gentleman, is the subtle brand ambassadorship."
now, what's backgrid? why are their trademark in almost every pap pic? i've seen lots of people confused whether if it's an agency you hire for those reasons or else. and well, kinda.
what they do basically is purchase photos from photographers/paps, edits them to maximize sale potential and put their watermark on it. it’s rather a photography company.
do their pictures are staged? mostly. for reference, read above. ;-) i hope this helps to clear out some things! i'll leave you next the articles (and one extra) to read them and check by yourself!
