Museum of the Moving Image Blog Post

            Upon my visit to the Museum of the Moving Image, I was expecting nothing more than a series of relics from the Old Hollywood era of films. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see props, exhibits, and items from a films that I personally love and exhibits that had nothing to do with film. As far as films go, however, I was excited to see the masks used for the apes in the beginning of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey since that is one of my favorite movies due to its atmospheric and experimental pacing. I was also delighted to see some of the city props from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, another one of my favorite science fiction films. Both of these films have influenced the kind of work I would like to do, both aesthetically and in terms of narrative and subject matter. 

The masks used in 2001: A Space Odyssey

            Another small exhibit that I found interesting was Chuck Workman’s Precious Images short film. This exhibit functioned as a tribute to great directors of cinema. The short film itself was particularly interesting since it was comprised of a series of match cuts from all sorts of films throughout history. It was fun watching it and trying to recognize short 2 second clips from different movies that I’ve seen. However, it made me think about film fundamentals and how directors have been in a sense doing the same type of shots over and over since film became an art form and it made me remember why I favor avant-garde and experimental style films.