MOMI Reflections

What I found really intriguing was actually one of the first exhibits that we stopped at through our tour, and the was the movie costumes displays. Our guide actually did this exercise with us where he asked us to think about the costume and envision a  character and scenario that would fit into that costume. This really got me thinking about how important making clear and thought out decisions about the visuals within a moving image can be.  As media makers this semester we've had to concentrate on the look of our shots, the meaning and connotations of what we include in frame what we don't, and costumes are actually a great tool in expressing visual detail in frame. Of course once you add sound over a shot or dialogue it becomes even more clear to an audience what you might be trying to portray, comment on, or the mood of your image, but at the center what you have is the image. We didn't always have movies with sound, or even with photography, what you have is the image in front of you. What the audience is seeing is the actor or subject and it's surrounding and by just simply making choices as to what they are wearing can inform someone instantaneously about who that character is and it's a strong way to set up the story. The wrong costume can give a disjointed image about a character and it's important that what you show visually in your media reflects what you're trying to say.  So even with all the wonderful new techniques in editing and laying over sound, syncing dialogue, when it comes to movies or video, at it's core is the image, and it was nice to be reminded of that.