The Museum of the Moving Image was fascinating and informative in ways I had never expected. It was especially helpful to see physical representations of the many inventions that led to the development of film, such as the zoetrope and Muybridge’s Zoophraxiscope. The wide array of hands-on exhibits helped to demystify the otherwise inscrutable methods of film production. Through the depiction of the work of the droves employed in such productions, the process became clear and tangible to me for the first time. From set designers to special effects to foley artists, the exhibits shed light on the specific roles of these careful and skilled specialists.
I was particularly impressed by the Automatic Dialog Replacement exhibit, which allowed visitors to step into Ms. Garland’s shoes to record their own voices over a few of Dorothy’s lines from a classic scene from the Wizard of Oz. I had given little previous thought to the difficulties and inconsistencies which must inevitably arise in sound recording on set and was surprised to learn that this was the method used to replace substandard or imperfect audio tracks. I found myself imagining my favorite actors struggling to sync their lines precisely with a loop of themselves on a screen somewhere in Hollywood.
I was also impressed by the incredible detail evidenced by the museum’s collection of scale models, many of them from films I have watched countless times. I understood for the first time how it is that such massive and imposing environs as the Death Star were brought to the screen. The complexity of these models was stunning.
It is especially interesting to see the development of new methods and technology and the impact these developments have had on production. These revelations are made more powerful in that the visitor is able to weigh each in the appropriate chronological context. The museum helped me to understand and appreciate many processes I’d long ascribed to simple “movie magic.”
