MoMI

This was my second time visiting the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. The first time I had visited the museum, I was a senior in high school and I had a very different understanding of television and film. This time visiting the museum, I went in more knowledgeable about the steps of media production in both television and film and thus had a greater appreciation for the museum. At the museum, my group and I had the opportunity to see headshots of iconic celebrities from television and film in the past, view displays of real costumes from some of cinema’s greatest films, look at displays of models used in creating set design, and learn about the role of memorabilia in television and film while seeing the different types of memorabilia that has been made. The optical toys and the opportunity to experience the optical toys, was quite interesting and helped to really demonstrate how media has truly evolved. Before interacting with the optical toys, I had never fully understood what an effective and important element lighting is in any type of media production. Unfortunately, we were unable to experience the dated editing machine and thus compare it to the advances made with editing today, such as Final Cut Pro. Although I was looking forward to this opportunity, I did enjoy the interactive experience we had as a group when picking out an appropriate score of the clip shown to us. The clip was shown with three different types of music and as a group we were asked to pick out the best score. This exercise really emphasized the music’s ability to completely alter the mood of a clip and therefore its context completely. Both visits to MoMI have been enjoyable and it is my hope to return soon to visit the Breaking Bad exhibit that is now being shown at the museum.