Museum of the Moving Image

This was my first visit to MOMI, and I was really looking forward to the trip. I love anything movie or TV related, so seeing  things like actual costumes used in movies, like Mrs. Doubtfire and Mildred Pierce, was something I found so interesting!

However because this was a school trip we were given a tour that mainly focused on the progression of technology of the movie image. We saw an original film camera, that was 100 years old. This speific camera physically looks completely different from the rest; it looks more or less like a wooden box. However it did have characteristics that made it obvious that it was a camera, like the lens and was how it was resting on a tripod. But as time went on cameras changed, and became more advance; lenses became larger, the film had more space which in turn means more film, longer shooting periods. Also things like color film became part of the picture. From looking at the cameras we then moved on to the TVs. There was an array of different TVs on display, some were clearly a TV but others looked more like a radio with a very very small white screen. Our tour guide mention how in the past TVs were more of a piece of furniture and blended more in households then being the center of the room like they tend to be in living rooms now.

My trip to MOMI makes me want to go back and explore more freely at the other exhibits they have to offer. 

 

These images above are two that I took on the trip, the one on the left is the old film camera I mentioned above. The image on the right is the an array of different TVs.

"The Graduate"

The clip I decided to analyze is the pool montage from The Graduate.  This whole movie is brilliant in many ways, including the editing style. Mike Nichols is clever and careful to choose how he wants to edit his scenes. This montage takes place during Ben's summer home after graduating college, and majority of shots are Ben relaxing at home or being with Mrs. Robinson. How he makes the transitions from shot to shot is what impresses me. He uses match on action editing, where the edit cuts from one shot to another by matching the action. By doing this it makes the two shots flow together, and makes the cut less abrupt even if the change in setting is completely different.

During this montage the first match on action edit is when Ben puts on his shirt and walks back inside his house, as the camera follows him through the door we see that he walks into the hotel room where Ben and Mrs. Robinson meet. We then see the camera zoom in on his face with a just a black background, as the camera zooms out he is standing back in his house and we know this because we see his parents in the background having dinner. Again the camera zooms in on his face with the same black background, and when it zooms back out we see that he is again in the hotel room with Mrs. Robinson. This same transition happens one more time and it takes us into his bedroom where he goes out to the pool where the montage started. As we follow Ben in the pool he flops onto a float but the shot again matches his action and cuts to him on Mrs. Robinson.

The use of these transitions made the montage flow with a sense of continuity instead of the cuts being choppy. The montage is obviously a time lapse of Ben spending his summer, doing nothing really other than engaging in an affair with Mrs. Robinson. What also makes the montage flow is the sense of the camera following Ben, there are very few obvious cuts in this scene but rather it is more seamless. Another factor that goes with this scene is the music played, which is “Sound of Silence” and “April Come She Will.” Both of these songs have a soft calming tone, which go with Ben’s facial expression, which is expressionless.

Overall this montage shows a lapse in time but also Ben’s current life, he is seamlessly doing nothing and just “drifting” while having an affair with his parent’s friend.

Interview with Marly

Interview With Marly from Marie Visker on Vimeo.

The audio above follows Marly as she reflects on one of her closest friendships.