A "kinesthesic" walk by the Museum of the Moving Image

    The Museum of the Moving Image hosts more than 130,000 objects covering instances of production, promotion, display pictures, television and digital media. From photos to video games, visitors can discover how the image and the film industry has evolved and production materials such developments have affected, and in many cases the drivers of change.
    One of the activities conducted by the museum guide that impressed me most, was the use of the ‘Foley sound effects’ in cinema. The Foley sound effects are those obtained with recorded sounds, with or without mixing between them. For example, to the grunts and roars of the Wookiee Chewbacca, Ben Burtt used mixtures of sounds emitted by bears, dogs, walruses and sea lions. Also included in those sound effects are recorded in the study to be added to the sounds cape of the film, like two coconut shells rattled to simulate the hooves.
    Also, other of the devices that are exposed in the museum and that I liked to participate the most was the Kinetoscope, which was the forerunner of the modern movie projector developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson as he worked with Thomas Edison. This instrument is considered as the first machine of cinema. This is a band of film advancing after a single viewer in front of a light bulb, creating the illusion of movement.
    In my opinion, after having been experienced the delights of this museum, I ended the visit with a clear idea of how technology has changed considerably film from the early silent cinema of the Lumiere brothers, to the 3D digital cinema in XXI century. In other hand, too, the language of film has changed, including the conventions of the genre, creating film genres and the society, giving rise to different film movements and national cinemas.