MOMI Reflections

I found the trip to the Museum of Moving Image, to be a great learning experience. Not only was it super convenient for me as an Astoria resident, but as an aspiring filmmaker, it was everything. It was great to see everything that we have been learning in class, in action, and on display. An aspect I found particularly interesting and not covered in class was the set and costume design. It was great to see all the life like costumes and props that make some of my favorite movies come alive. For example, they had the dress, and mask from one of my favorite childhood movies, Mrs. Doubtfire.

I also really enjoyed the section of all the old displays of moving images, like the zoetrope. Behind the Screen included early four hours of audio-visual material that ranged from film clips related to the artifacts on display; projections of the earliest kinetoscope films,The Great Train Robbery, and selections from The Jazz Singer and Nanook of the North, all of which bring key moments in film history vividly to life. I also really enjoyed playing with Foley sounds in the sound booth. Each student got to do a voice over to a Marylin monroe movie. It was really fun and intresting how sound designers have to match up the voices of actors after the film has already been shot. Just shows how meticulous and detailed postproduction is. 

Perhaps my favorite part of the museum, was walking through the King Tut Fever Movie Palace. Tut’s Fever is a working movie theater and art installation created by Red Grooms and Lysiane Luong, an homage to the ornate, exotic picture palaces of the 1920s. It as if this idea might come back from its past, as moviegoers rather wait for a feature film to premiere on Netflix rather than the big screen. I thought it was a great idea to get people back into the theatre chairs again. I thought it was a cool and interesting aspect of film history, and history in America in itself, creating another world for personal viewing. All in all, I found the trip to be very educational.