Blog #4: Museum of Moving Image Visit

I think the most interesting part of the Museum of Moving Image visit was the examination of film and television cameras from the early 1930s to the present. My group learned about how Technicolor came to be. Originally, Technicolor involved a camera which exposed light to two black and white film strips, each one behind a green and red color filter respectively. With more advancements in film technology, they were able to incorporate a third film strip which utilized a blue color filter. Together, these three colored film strips produced the vivid and saturated Technicolor images. Another interesting thing we learned was the early panoramic shot rigs that were used. The original rig had so many knobs and wheels. It looked as if multiple people were required to not only operate the camera, but move the entire rig at once. Film cameras began to become smaller and smaller with the constant advancement of technology. This shrinking of technology allowed filmmakers to create more unique and astounding film shots that they were previously not able to do because of the weight of the cameras. Also, smaller technology meant that project budgets could be smaller because one would not need to hire multiple people to work the cameras. With the rise of digital media, it is incredibly interesting to come back and see the technology of previous generations and acknowledge how far the world and the film industry has come in the last century.