Blog Post #4

On November 22nd, I went to the Museum of the Moving Image as part of a class trip. There were many different aspects of media making that I was able to observe and interact with. One such exhibit that interested me was the voiceover booth, where you could pick a scene and do a voiceover of the character. It was very interesting to see how any errors made in filming a scene could quickly be fixed by a simple voiceover. I took a turn in the booth and did a voiceover of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It was fun to learn the process of practicing your lines and then being able to say them as the character, but it was rewarding to hear the final product.

In the museum, we were also able to see a unique optical illusion done by a local artist. A drop of water changed into a bomb which went through a hand and became a paper airplane. It spun on a spiral which had figures depicting the different stages of the transformation. When it spun fast enough, it looked like a mini movie.

It was fun to see the different aspects of filming something, from the makeup and hairstyles to the special effects and editing. My favorite part of the museum though, was the costume area. This semester, I spent most of time in the costume shop helping make the costumes for the theatre department’s show, so I understood that costuming played a huge role in creating a certain environment. I was surprised to see costumes that were actually used in movies, especially the ones used in Chicago. I liked how the inspiration drawings were placed near the finished product, creating this ‘before and after’ effect. I also enjoyed seeing the makeup and wigs, since they were add-ons to the costumes and changed as time went by.

The highlight of the museum was definitely the mini movie theater they had that showed episodes of the Muppets. It was so realistic yet unique, and it had a relaxed vibe. I also enjoyed the Jim Henson exhibit, because I was finally able to see the work that went into creating the Muppets and other related projects, like Sesame Street.

I ultimately enjoyed out trip to the museum, an learned a lot in the end. (The arcade section was also pretty cool.)

Blog Post #3

For this post, I chose a scene from Addams Family Values (1993). This scene is the one where Wednesday successfully manages to stage a takeover of the camp’s Thanksgiving Show, and is about to make her escape. Once she crosses over the camp fence, she tries to get Joel to escape with her, but he insists on staying behind and helping the others.

As they are speaking from different sides of the fence, we see a perfect example of the 180 rule, since there’s a camera facing Wednesday, and another one facing Joel. This scene is also an example of continuity editing, since the action stays in one place and flows almost seamlessly. In addition, both character’s eyelines match throughout the scene.

After they kiss, we get a medium wide shot that shows them on their respective sides of the fence, but we see it from the audience’s perspective.

Throughout the scene, we see continuity in the action, content, and other elements. For instance, since this scene takes place at night, the background is very dark and there is minimal lighting. We can also see this in the colors, since they are mostly on the darker side of the spectrum. The focus of the scene (the characters) stayed the same as well as the movement, since they were standing until they had to lean forward for the kiss, and then wipe their mouths afterward.

Link: https://youtu.be/_IvvtSk9-mI

Project #2 - Audio Portrait of a Person