Museum of the Moving Image

On October the 29th the film and media 160 class too a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI). Located at historic Kaufman Astoria studios this museum is a repository to all things cinematic.

We commenced our tour with an introduction by the staff and were then broken I to smaller groups and led through the main exhibit of the museum. Our docent brought us to the optical toys that underscore the basics of film. These were all very early toys and while archaic they were fun and engaging.

One concept that I had not formally heard named was "moment of rest". I understood the principal; there must be a moment between images for each frame to register on the screen so as to not turn into a blur. Moment of rest is the empty screen between the images. While the emptiness is too rapid to register it allows the registration of each fram on the screen. The culmination of the linear frames and non-frames (moments of rest) allow for apparent motion.

This idea was brought home by the use of a zoetrope. When one looked through the top of the toy only a blur registered. When looking through the slits in the side a moving image registered to the viewer. A rather brilliant art installation illustrated these concepts further.

Feral Fount by Gregory Barsamian is a stroboscopic zoetrope with 97 independent sculptures fixed on a rotating scaffold to create a short animation when seen in conjunction with a strobe light. This art installation alone was worth the two hours of time and $6.50 of cash.