Museum of the Moving Image
Encyclopedia
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
and forming part of the cultural complex on the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. MOMI was mainly funded by private subscription and operated by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
. MOMI continued to be praised internationally but despite its worldwide acclaim, after the retirement of its founders, the British Film Institute simply lost interest in its popular appeal. MOMI was closed "temporarily" in 1999 (a letter to the London Evening Standard on 31 August 1999 claimed this was cultural vandalism by the BFI), with the closure becoming permanent soon after. An article in the Magic Lantern Society Journal claimed "(MOMI was)... born out of love and generosity, but it seems you have passed away stifled by mediocrity and indifference."
MOMI was the brain child of BFI South Bank Controller Leslie Hardcastle
Leslie Hardcastle
Leslie Hardcastle OBE was Controller of the British Film Institute's National Film Theatre complex on London’s South Bank from it early beginnings through to his retirement in the mid 1990s....
OBE. The vision became real when the then Director of the BFI, Anthony Smith CBE raised all the money to pay for the production. Hardcastle was assisted in his interpretation by historians David Francis OBE and David Robinson
David Robinson (film critic and author)
David Robinson is a British film critic and author. He started writing for Sight and Sound and the Monthly Film Bulletin in the 1950s, becoming Assistant Editor of Sight and Sound and Editor of the Monthly Film Bulletin in 1957-1958...
and designed by Neal Potter. MOMI helped to change the concept of how entertainment and education can sit comfortably together in a museum context. MOMI was never about collections for collections' sake. Its objective was to tell the story of the moving image using collections as punctuation on that journey.
Content of MOMI included
Tricking the Eye,Shadow puppets
Shadow play
Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...
,
Early optical device,
The Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria can refer to:* Phantasmagoria, a type of show using an optical device to display moving images* Phantasmagoria, a video game* Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, a video game sequel to Phantasmagoria...
,
Optical toys,
Photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
,
Magic lantern
Magic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...
s,
Projection
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
,
Persistence of vision
Persistence of vision
Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina....
,
The arrival of Cinema (Lumiere Brothers),
Early Technical advances,
British Pioneers including Birt Acres
Birt Acres
Birt Acres was a photographer and film pioneer.Born in Richmond, Virginia to English parents, he invented the first British 35 mm moving picture camera, the first daylight loading home movie camera and projector, Birtac, was the first travelling newsreel reporter in international film history and...
,
Méliès,
The early cinemas
World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
,
The formation of Hollywood,
The Temple to the Gods of the Silent Cinema
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
,
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
,
The Russian Agit prop Train,
Experimental Film
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
,
German Expressionism
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
,
The coming of sound film
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
,
Censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
,
Newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
,
The Documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Movement,
Cinema of France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
,
Animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
,
The Hollywood Studio System,
The Great days of cinema going in Britain including Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
,
British film,
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
,
Cinema architecture,
The arrival of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
,
Expansion of television,
Cinema fights television,
World Cinema
World cinema
World cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...
,
Television heritage,
Television today,
a Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
exhibit that was used in several documentaries about the early years of the show,
plus a temporary exhibition area
Interpretation was done through graphics, interactive exhibits, recreated environments, models and six 35mm film projections using endless loop platters, two 16mm film projections, two DP70 - 70mm Projectors, over 70 laser disc players for video play back.There was also a group of six actors who worked in period (e.g. a Victorian magic lanternist or a Hollywood director).
A few months before MOMI opened in 1988 the animator Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
was invited to create a chase sequence directly onto the high walls of the museum. Jones spent several days working on high scaffolding to create the work. At the lowest level on a door is a smaller drawing (not part of the chase) which Jones used to try out the pens.
Animation played an important role in MOMI. Channel Four funded the Channel Four/MOMI animator in residence
Channel Four/MOMI animator in residence
-History:The Channel Four/MOMI animator in residence scheme was housed in the MOMI on the South Bank. Starting in 1990. It ran for thirteen years commissioning over forty films which were transmitted throughout the World...
scheme. Winners of the competition developed a short film in the 'goldfish bowl', a three meter square glass box; this allowed the public to see the animators every move. Over forty films were produced and they won many awards worldwide.
The excitement which grew as MOMI neared opening was fueled when the Museum bought Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
's black dress from Some Like it Hot
Some Like It Hot
Some Like It Hot is an American comedy film, made in 1958 and released in 1959, which was directed by Billy Wilder and starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft. The supporting cast includes Joe E. Brown, Pat O'Brien and Nehemiah Persoff. The film is a remake by Wilder and I....
, for £19,800. The event captured the front page of many UK newspapers.
There was a busy Education Department with two education rooms and a small cinema for special events. The museum was very popular for private hire - corporate events or parties.
Temporary exhibitions at MOMI included: Charlie Chaplin's Centenary, Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen is an American film producer and special effects creator...
, Pop Video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, The Western Film, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, George Melies, Special Effects in the Cinema and Imagine (the next 100 years of the moving image).
MOMI was housed in a glass-sided steel framed metal-clad building (designed by Bryan Avery
Bryan Avery
Bryan Avery RIBA is a London based architect, born in Berkshire, England in 1944He studied architecture at Leicester College of Art , followed by a MA in the History and Theory of Architecture at Essex University under Professors Joseph Rykwert and Dalibor Veseley...
of Avery Associates Architects), with distinctive red roofs running along each side of Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
. The playful hybrid of high-tech and post-modern style in the design of the MOMI building makes a vigorous contrast with the Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
of much of the neighbouring South Bank Centre
South Bank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, UK, on the South Bank of the River Thames between County Hall and Waterloo Bridge. It comprises three main buildings , and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts. It attracts more than three million visitors annually...
and National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
and the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815...
.
The MOMI site reopened as BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank is the leading repertory cinema in the UK specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films and is operated by the British Film Institute.-History:...
on 14 March 2007, providing a new entrance to the National Film Theatre complex. In addition to the existing three cinemas showcasing the best historical and contemporary film from around the world, the BFI Southbank site boasts a gallery, a mediatheque of British film and television, and a bookshop within an active programme that includes the annual London Film Festival. http://www.bfi.org.uk Although there was talk that Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
's National Media Museum planned to open a London venue, London still has no publicly funded film museum. There is the Cinema Museum, London, a charitable organization founded in 1986 run by Ronald Grant, but this has no permanent home.] In contrast the Museum of the Moving Image (New York City) is currently undergoing a $65million expansion. The lack of a permanent national collection which exhibits UK screen heritage beyond the filmic text, and interprets the broader historical context for the history of the moving image, means that the old MOMI is still missed among cinema aficionados and film students.
External links
- Animation At The Museum Of The Moving Image
- Dismay at film museum 'tragedy', BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, 7 October 2002 - MOMI, why did you leave us?, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 13 October 2002