Lions, Tigers, Bears..Oh, My!

is this a film or a circus?

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens was a fantastic experience. The museum contained various exhibits, such as portraits of stars dating back to the silent era, costumes, make-up, etc. It was nice to see physically available costumes from films like the Exorcist and Taxi Driver, unlike digitally programmed effects. The tour guide even showed us how they try to create points during the film that distract the viewer; allowing switches from real bodies to dolls to go unnoticed. Although there were so many fascinating things at the museum, the demonstration that personally stuck out most was the sound effects station.

At the sound effects station, the tour guide singled out different aspects of sounds that build up into one short scene in the film, Titanic. There I discovered how a specialist can manipulate various sounds to intensify the moment to create the correct atmosphere. Little did I know that elephants and lions had a dramatic role in the Titanic. It was an “ear opening” experience, because many people take films for what they are without taking these little aspects into consideration. When I closed my eyes during this demonstration the distinct sounds of the film sounded like a completely different scene, perhaps a scene at circus or zoo, because of the sounds such as the bag of sand being thrown, pistol shootings and different animal noises. Now I can say that I definitely learned to appreciate the small symphonies that help me absorb the film better.

This demonstration helped made me pay closer attention to the efforts one puts in media production by communicating through our different senses.