Our Trip: Museum of the Moving Image

During my Media Production class' visit to the Museum of the Moving Image, we had a guided mini tour with one of the museum's facilitators. We were brought into the sound editing room where voice can be dubbed for better sound. The small room is acoustically isolated from the rooms around it. In order for sound on a project to be used to broadcast, it is necessary to spend some time in a sound editing room that is designed especially for sound work. The room is acoustically tuned with special speaker systems, and the walls, ceilings and floor are specially selected too. It is sound-proofed. It has an audio editing system, equalizers, and a large screen showing the work that is to be edited. In our case, it was the Wizard of OZ which played on the screen. One student was asked to read the character's lines off the screen twice. The first was for practice and for familiarity, the second for actual recording. The museum's instructor, then, with the use of the audio effect, equalizers and compressor, recorded the student's voice. Within a few minutes, we could hear the student's voice dubbed onto The Wizard of Oz's character. The student's voice was recorded to match the character's, and then was used in the movie itself. It was amazing! It was as though, she was part of the movie right from the start. In the editing room, an actor may be used to go re-do, correct, or add something new to his already recorded work. The process may seem odd to some actors who looks at themselves on screen and now has to do dub or re-do certain lines already done. But the sound editing room is a necessary one for better quality.

We were also shown how different sounds were used as sound effects in the movie "Titanic." They were used to enhance the impact for each particular scene. In the scene when the steamer falls into the water, we learn that it was the crying or "voice" of an elephant that was used as the effect. In another, when a man is almost pulled by the suction of the water in a hole, we learned that it was the sound of a whale. These sounds effects, artificially created, to make the movie more impactful to the audience.


In other parts of the gallery is a massive Jim Henson exhibit, featuring muppets, costumes, sketches, films, and paintings done throughout Henson's life. It is fun for people of all ages. In the permanent collections, there is a large history of film -- including cameras, microphones, televisions, lighting, and other tools used to actually create the movies we love -- told through exhibits both visual and auditory. There are a lot of interactive exhibits throughout that were a ton of fun. The Museum also features a huge collection of movie memorabilia, including costumes, stills, makeup, set models, merchandise, and fan magazines.

All in all it was a fun, exciting and educational trip.

Thanks to Professor Lucas and my instructor, Martyna.