Shhhh...this is my Job!

Museum of the Moving Image..

The Museum of the Moving Image is absolutely one of the coolest places I've visited. Located on one of  the most historic blocks in Astoria Queens, as I entered to Museum I was taken by the all white interior that immediately excited and enthused me, giving me a thrill of anticipation to get started with the tour. As the tour began we were brought back in time and shown some of the iconic actors and actresses that paved the way for television today. From Judy Garland, Charlie Chaplin and Anna May Wang. We had the chance to see the iconic masked character in television such as "The Mask" by Jim Carey, we also got the chance to see some of the things that are behind the scenes of  what we actually watch on t.v. We saw the hair pieces that are worn by some of the Hollywood's finest, also make that the actual actors/actresses wore, such as the make-up of Phillisca  Rashad bette known as Mrs.Clair Huxtable. Then we breezed through the costumes that were worn by the likes of Robin Williams a.k.a Mrs.Doubtfire, Bill Cosby, better known as Cliff Huxtable. We walked through an authentic theater that was reminiscent of the olden days with somewhat of an Egyptian twist. We then saw a Thimotrope, which gives the illusion of speed, a zeotrope, a wooden static camera, a techni-color which is used to accentuate colors. Then during small discussions we learned that in actuality it is the Cinematographers that works most closely to the directors of the films that we watch, they work on framing each scene that ends up in the final product. Also we learned about the "dolly grip" who is the person that directs the dolly on a set. Then were brought to a faux recording studio where we learned about the ADR (automated dialogue replacement) which is used in almost every movie, or what is better known as voice over. In this faux studio we were able to actually replace/voice over lines from some of our favorite movies. We were informed that the software used to edit movies is called Sound Track Pro, and that a Foley is used to make artificial sounds in a movie. For example, celery is used to make the "breaking of bones" sound in films etc. Then we were able to edit a scene from the Iconic film "Titanic". We edited the sound and realized just how much Sound Effects have a huge impact of the movies that we know and love. Sound Effects is what in actuality gives us those unforgettable feelings that our favorite movies gives to us. Finally we saw the amazing work of Jim Campbell who is famously known for his "Rhythm of Perception" pieces, he uses lighting to give off different illusions that are just amazing to say the very least. This visit to the museum was definitely informative and Fun, I will be going back on my own time.. love this place!