FrameThrower vs MovieStillsDB
Publicity stills are photographs taken on set by a unit photographer. They are not frames from the finished film, so they do not show the lighting, lens or framing that ended up on screen — which is precisely what a cinematography reference needs to show. FrameThrower indexes frames from the films themselves.
| MovieStillsDB | FrameThrower | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | You need official promotional imagery, press material or high-resolution publicity photography. | You need what the audience actually saw — the frame as shot, lit and graded. |
| In their own words | “Archive of official publicity material, including high quality movie stills, lobby cards, wallpapers and behind-the-scenes photos for more than 40,000 titles. Over 1.5 million movie and TV photos.”read 2026-08-12 | “The reference app for the future creative.”5,489 films indexed frame by frame by our own tagging team — on frame count, on par with ShotDeck — searchable in plain language, by image or by colour. The most professional integration path here: a REST API with 11 endpoints, an MCP server with four tools and an npm SDK, which is how studios and platforms call it. $2 of credits free, no card. |
What MovieStillsDB is good at
By far the largest archive of official publicity material, and the right place to go for it — lobby cards, unit photography, behind-the-scenes, at high resolution across 40,000+ titles.
“Archive of official publicity material, including high quality movie stills, lobby cards, wallpapers and behind-the-scenes photos for more than 40,000 titles. Over 1.5 million movie and TV photos.”— MovieStillsDB, in their own words. moviestillsdb.com · read 2026-08-12
Which to pick
Pick MovieStillsDB if
you need official promotional imagery, press material or high-resolution publicity photography.
Pick FrameThrower if
you need what the audience actually saw — the frame as shot, lit and graded.
What FrameThrower does
- —5,489 films, indexed per frame. Lighting key and quality, lens character, shot size, camera angle, colour palette in hex, mood, era and time of day — on every frame, not per film.
- —Three ways to ask. Plain language, a reference image, or a colour.
- —Callable by machine. A REST API with 11 endpoints and no rate limits, an MCP server with four tools, and an npm SDK.
- —Moodboards, shot boards and lookbooks. Reference to deliverable without leaving the app or re-importing anything.
- —Free to start. $2 of credits on signup, no card. Then $1 = 500 searches, and credits never expire.
See it before you decide
$2 of credits free on signup, no card. Search 5,489 films by lighting, lens, colour and mood.
Other comparisons: Frameset · frmz · ShotBook · StillsLab · all