Project #3

Project #3- Lost from Colleen Erin on Vimeo.

Blog #4- MoMI

The class trip to the MoMI was the first time I went to the museum. While this visit did show me a lot, I felt I got shorted. My group only saw half of one exhibit, so I didn't feel I got to see enough of the museum to discuss it in detail.

My group and I saw the behind the scenes exhibition. This focused on the post-production aspects of film and music. This exhibition included a lot of information about the history of filmmaking, how cameras used to operate and record video, how images were used in a stop-motion animation to give the illusion of a moving image, how sound and image began to be intertwined, how objects are give the illusion of movement, the role lighting plays in a story, and so on. One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the sound-dubbing studio. This was a studio that allowed us to pick a scene from a selection of movies to record a voiceover a certain actor. It was interesting because it seemed nearly impossible to line up the voice recording with the movement of the actress’ lips. It makes you realize how precise this process is and the time that must be taken to perfect it. Our group tried it about three times to line up the voiceover with the movement of the actress’, but it still didn't seem perfected . I now see myself paying greater attention to the sound of an actors voice to see if I can tell if it was dubbed or if it was done in the original take. Of course these are professionals, so it will be much more precise. 

Another aspect I found interesting of the exhibit was changing the audio tracks of certain films. The group chose a film scene from a selection and chose Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo. First, the computer showed us the scene of the movie without sound. The scene involved two actors and it seemed that one character was in the midst of discovering some type of mystery. However, there was no dialogue in the scene. So, the scene heavily relied on the facial expressions of the actors and the score. After watching the scene in silence we were able to choose from a list of soundtracks to be played over the scene. It was interesting because it emphasized the importance of the music playing to develop the viewers emotion. Playing an upbeat track as compared to a slower track completely alters the emotion being created. This may seem obvious, but at the same time the visuals are still exactly the same. It made me wonder if are emotions are more influenced by audio or visuals. A fun fact our tour guide mentioned was that when something important is revealed in a show or film whether it be Friends or Vertigo, there will usually be a sound in the background. He said to watch for when a character says something important because you'll usually hear a sound such as a door shutting or a bird chirping in the background.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this museum. It truly had so much to offer ranging from the history of film and media to where it is today and where it is going. This definitely will not be my last time going because I now look forward to seeing the new exhibits and installations as they develop.