Blog #5 - MOMI

During our visit to the Museum of Moving Images the tour guide had given the group I was in, a demo on special effects. Special effects has influenced moving images in the way that models and mechanics are starting to hold important roles within films today. For example, there was a model of a building no bigger than that of a dollhouse, that was panned and filmed from a low angle, making it seem as though the camera were actually taking in an already existing building. All that the filmmakers had to do to sell this model as the actual thing was add a few flickers of light here and there through the windows, along with some movement. It astonished me that the human eye could be so easily fooled into believing in the authenticity of an object. My group was also showed a couple examples of mechanics such as a girl robot from the movie Exorcist whose head could rotate 360 degrees as well as a wolf robot whose movements imitated that of the real animal. Special effects has made it so people can imitate reality without going the extra mile anymore.  Models such as the building can be replicated and scaled to a desirable size without the hassle of traveling and having to go through the process of reserving the right to film at a certain location. Mechanics have made it so that actors can avoid putting themselves at any risk since biology can be imitated. Overall, moving images is changing because of special effects in the way that it can reinvent life without the worry of the imagination reaching a limit, while still producing the same effect to its audience.