Having assumed that all museums were discreetly nestled sporadically thoughout the city, I'd originally envisioned my bike ride there filled with more uncomfortable moments with cabbies and buses than the pleasant tranquility that actually ensued.
After a few minutes with google earth, I had my trek meticulously planned. I made sure to pack some extra PB&J sandwiches and plenty of H2O in case the fixed-gear ride over the 59th St. Bridge warranted a boost in energy or morale.
I cross the bridge with relative ease and am warmly welcomed by the locals in Long Island City. This sign told me so.....................................
Along the way, I noticed some colorful murals that needed attention therefore I got down with the king and snapped a few shots...
After the pleasant ride, I reached the museum and found a meter in front of a Starbucks to lock up my baby. Once inside the museum, we quickly learned about the history of film. It got its start in the 1820's as an optical illusion toy called the Filmatrobe a.k.a The Spinning Wonder. The illusion is created with two pictures back to back, one of a bird, and the other of an empty cage. When rapid vertical spinning is applied, the illusion is that the bird is in the cage.
This paved the way for the Zoetrobe, which had a similar principle, except that the rotation is horizontal, and the "flickering" is achieved with intermittent black spaces, producing the "Running Man" (no relation to the 1987 Arnold "flick"). A cooler, three-dimensional Zobascopic zoetrobe was created to satisfy zoetrobe enthusiasts and the effect was achieved with a strobe light.
Fast Forward 60 years, and Edward Muybridge accidentally stumbles upon a more awesome illusion by putting many still photographs of a horse galloping together to create a string of pictures giving the illusion of the horse in motion.
This "flipbook" technique was demonstrated by entering a video camera that prompted the subject (or subjects as is this case in which I and 3 other classmates volunteered) to move around in 3 second intervals to simulate a flipbook capture of stills. The result was as much fun to watch as it was to record!
The flipbook phenomenon introduced the Motuscope to the world, and people everywhere were able to enjoy short "movies" by rotating a rather heavy handle clockwise. Sounds like too much work? It was. So people invented the three scope film, which was used with the technacolor camera to record television programs that people all over the world were able to enjoy in the comfort of their homes. I Love Lucy was one of the first widely "recorded" programs that sparked a revolution in the business. Besides breaking racial boundaries, it used the three camera set up and a first ever live studio audience.
As we enter the voice-over room, we are asked to pick from a list of movies. Having never seen Babe, I decided to pick this wonderful film and do a bit of voice over magic. I rehearsed the line once, and then carefully followed the screen to record my voice into the microphone. I gave it a good effort, but failed to adequately capture the despair in Babe's voice. I learned to really appreciate the difficulty in the timing and "acting" of the seemingly simple job of voice-overs. This gives me a new appreciation for cartoons, and validates (perhaps) the exorbitant amount of money celebrities are paid to contribute their voices to epic films like Toy Story and Ice Age.
Moving onto the visual-enhancing room, we learn about all the components that go into enhancing the aesthetic quality of a movie. The famous example of the scene in The Exorcist where the little girl spins her head (an image I thought I'd successfully blocked from memory until I was reminded of it today) shows us that animatronics and puppets can achieve the sort of stunning visual effects that would not be possible with human actors. When combined, CG and animatronics creates a much more engaging viewing experience than with traditional props. Additionally, by using CG, we're protecting real human actors when a scene that portrays a dangerous situation is needed.
Other than the fresh image of the little girl spinning her head, I learned from this trip that a myriad of components and key people go into making a movie. From silent "flickering" films, to black and white with sound, and to movies today that combine wonderuflly orchestrated sound to accompany stunning visual images, film-making has definitely come a long way. The aesthetic quality of a movie, while important, can never undermine the deeper emotional connection that this perfect medley of sound and visual information produces and that is probably the most important aspect of film-making. 
