Blog #4 - MOMI Trip
Walking through the Museum of Moving Images honestly felt like deja vu. In the fourth grade, I remember dreading museum field trips, but I never forgot the trip to MOMI – the trip that laid the foundation for my love for film and photography. The white walls and future-esque vibe that laid dormant in my memories suddenly took on form and I was attacked with a tidal wave of nostalgia.
Although we did not stay long, I clearly remembered the exhibit that I found the most interesting as a fourth grader: the stop-motion section. From those many years ago, I remembered being the one who raised her hand as a volunteer eight years ago. Standing in front of the stop-motion camera, I waved hello and comically fell down. The bruise I got from that ridiculous fall popped into my head as my teacher bought me the animation flip book. I was mesmerized. It was just a book with a bunch of pictures, but when I'd slide my fingers through the rough paper, it was a story; it was my story.
Stop-motion animation. What exactly is stop-motion animation? To put it in layman's terms, it's a series of pictures that closely resemble each other with slight differences to create a moving image. And as the name of museum clearly expresses, moving images is the basis of movies and shows we watch today. As a kid, this demo was just a fun memory with a nifty souvenir, but as a student studying film right now, I've grown to have a greater appreciation for stop-motion animation.
Although stop-motion animation is its own separate category and genre, I can argue that the movies and shows we watch today are just really smooth stop-motion animations. After all, they are hundreds and thousands of images used to create the illusion of motion. As technology progresses, its history is forgotten. Every time I press record on my camera or even my iPhone camera, I forget about the history that comes with giving me this power. My camera and my phone is capable of taking 24 pictures in 1 second to create videos. Technology today has become so advanced, we don't even notice the efforts it takes to make it happen. Touring the museum reminded me of the effort it takes to make films and what a privilege it is to study such an amazing art.
Although we did not stay long, I clearly remembered the exhibit that I found the most interesting as a fourth grader: the stop-motion section. From those many years ago, I remembered being the one who raised her hand as a volunteer eight years ago. Standing in front of the stop-motion camera, I waved hello and comically fell down. The bruise I got from that ridiculous fall popped into my head as my teacher bought me the animation flip book. I was mesmerized. It was just a book with a bunch of pictures, but when I'd slide my fingers through the rough paper, it was a story; it was my story.
Stop-motion animation. What exactly is stop-motion animation? To put it in layman's terms, it's a series of pictures that closely resemble each other with slight differences to create a moving image. And as the name of museum clearly expresses, moving images is the basis of movies and shows we watch today. As a kid, this demo was just a fun memory with a nifty souvenir, but as a student studying film right now, I've grown to have a greater appreciation for stop-motion animation.
Although stop-motion animation is its own separate category and genre, I can argue that the movies and shows we watch today are just really smooth stop-motion animations. After all, they are hundreds and thousands of images used to create the illusion of motion. As technology progresses, its history is forgotten. Every time I press record on my camera or even my iPhone camera, I forget about the history that comes with giving me this power. My camera and my phone is capable of taking 24 pictures in 1 second to create videos. Technology today has become so advanced, we don't even notice the efforts it takes to make it happen. Touring the museum reminded me of the effort it takes to make films and what a privilege it is to study such an amazing art.
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