Forum: english.stackexchange.com
Tags: <single-word-requests><nouns><terminology>
Title: Term for people in artistic formation
Question: Is there a term for a group of people arranged in such a way as to appear from an aerial vantage as a specific shape, picture or word?  Examples:

Answers:
sents: text: The phrase " tableau vivant " which is French for "living picture "is defined in Wikipedia as The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.
text: Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move.
text: The approach thus marries the art forms of the stage with those of painting/photography, and as such it has been of interest to modern photographers.
text: The phrase is often shortened to "tableau".
text: Originally meant as a formation to be viewed from the front, perhaps "aerial tableau" would address your need.
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/2944/John Satta
score: 7
sents: text: The term you're looking for is crowd formation .
text: You will also find this term returns an acceptable range of pictures when searching .
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/23834/New Alexandria
score: 6
sents: text: This kind of photography was pioneered by Arthur Mole (a gallery of 24 of his pictures can be found here ).
text: The Wikipedia article refers to the pictures as performed group photography or "living photographs" (with quotes).
text: Indeed, a Google Image Search for "performed group photography" returns lots of relevant results, and a textual search returns more relevant results than one for "crowd formation".
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/300/RegDwigнt
score: 6
sents: text: Wouldn't it just be called a "formation" (like in [American] football)?
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/3006/Alex
score: 3
sents: text: I don't know, but I would suggest a "busby", after the master of that particular art ("berkeley" probably has unwanted connotations).
text: See here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busby_Berkeley
answer_details: author: english.stackexchange.com/users/305/Brian Hooper
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
There are a few terms that might describe this phenomenon, including "tableau vivant" which is French for "living picture". However, since a tableau vivant is originally intended to be viewed from the front, a suitable term may also be "aerial tableau vivant". Another possible term could be "crowd formation".
The phrase " tableau vivant " which is French for "living picture "is defined in Wikipedia as   The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.hroughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move.The approach thus marries the art forms of the stage with those of painting/photography, and as such it has been of interest to modern photographers. Originally it was meant as a formation to be viewed from the front, so perhaps "aerial tableau" would address the requirement in the question.Another term may be "crowd formation" .  
There are a few terms that might describe this phenomenon, including "tableau vivant" which is French for "living picture". However, since a tableau vivant is originally intended to be viewed from the front, a suitable term may also be "aerial tableau vivant". Another possible term could be "crowd formation".
Suggestions include "Crowd formation" or  "Tableau vivant" which is French for "living picture".
Aerial tableau and crowd formation are suggested terms for people in an artistic formation.
It is not clear whether there is an officially accepted term, but potential names for this include "Aerial tableau" and "crowd formation".