Blog Post #4 Museum of Moving Image: Costumes

My visit to the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) provided me a glance at the inner workings of the film industry. The Museum was as informative as it was historic. One of the sections of the museum that caught my attention was the costume section, especially the masks. I saw the makeup mask that Eddie Murphy wore on SNL, "The Mask" from the movie of the same title starring Jim Carrey, and the Chewbacca mask from Star Wars.
The Chewbacca mask is, of course, covered with fur, which I learned, is from a yak. Nowadays, if a movie was produced with a similar character, most of the visuals would probably be computer graphics, but being that the Star Wars movies were created before some of the sophisticated graphics we know today, the actors on set actually wore costumes. Although the Chewbacca mask is well proportioned and looks realistic, I still have a question about how heavy it must be. Even when an actor is standing still, it must get very hot in that costume with all the set lights and the lack of air circulation inside the costume. The Star Wars franchise, with all the production, costumes, and minutiae, was one of the most successful in movie history, which to me is very impressive. All in all, seeing the extra elements of some of what goes into the makings of a successful movie was fascinating to me, and costume design is just one of those elements.

Blog #3: Relationship Between Shots in Mannequin scene of "I Am Legend"

The I Am Legend mannequin scene is especially powerful because of its simplicity and the way that the camera shots are constructed. In the scene, the protagonist, Robert Neville, played by Will Smith, walks into a video store as the last living person on Earth, seeking solace through conversation with a mannequin in the store. In the scene, the camera shots are as follows: 

**Following Neville as he enters the video store

**From the side of Neville's head, showing the mannequin's face as he approaches her. 

**From the back of the mannequin's head, showing the other side of Neville's head.

**Switching back to show Neville in the foreground and mannequin slightly blurred next to him. Camera then focuses on mannequin's face. 

**Switch back to back of mannequin's head, as focus turns to Neville. This is where he says "please say hello to me."

**Lastly, the camera switches back to Neville, first refining focus to the unchanged and cold face of the mannequin, and then blurring the mannequin and focusing on the distraught face of Neville. 

The switching of focus between the mannequin and Neville shows a great juxtaposition between Neville, who is yearning for any form of interaction, and the mannequin, who is obviously unchanged. 

The sounds in the scene also hold great significance.  There are very few sounds in the scene, namely: the chirping of birds, Neville's footsteps, and Neville's voice. The lack of background music allows for the viewer to completely focus on Neville's emotional plea to the mannequin, which makes the scene especially powerful. 

Animation: An Interview with Tomas Medina (by Andy Bell-Baltaci)

Animation: An Interview with Tomas Medina from Andy Bell-Baltaci on Vimeo.