Is there a name for a "photo diorama?"

November 8, 2007 6:34 PM

Is there a name for silhouettes/dioramas that have a hole cut in them where you put your face to have a picture taken??

I'm building one with some friends and we figure there has to be a name for this type of thing, right?

posted by donovan to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

I always thought they were called mugboards, but cursory googling reveals that some of the first hits are, um, my own Flickr stream. So maybe I made it up?
posted by miagaille at 6:57 PM on November 8, 2007

you could look through the flickr tag faces in holes to see if there's more info. a brief search suggests there is not an actual name.
posted by judith at 7:01 PM on November 8, 2007

Response by poster: Well at least I'm learning new tags to use in Flickr!

I kind of vaguely hope that there is a hidden history that will reveal that during some era the "mugboard" or whatever was, for five minutes or so, all the rage and a fixture (perhaps) of some sort of social event--high society parties, carnivals, something.

Failing a historically accurate answer, I think I will be inclined to make something up. I kinda like "mugboard." Thanks miagaille!
posted by donovan at 7:32 PM on November 8, 2007

I've also heard of them referred to as mug boards. Here's a corroboration from a Worth1000 contestent.
posted by porpoise at 7:32 PM on November 8, 2007

It's called a Stand In.
posted by tellurian at 7:49 PM on November 8, 2007

Cut out / stand up / stand up cutout / cut out standup?

Diorama suggests a 3-D scene. Panorama is a closer term to what you query, but is still not entirely related to the humiliation I was subjected to as a child.
posted by bonobo at 8:00 PM on November 8, 2007