how to see home movies – a MoMA magazine video
Toronto. I recently did a post on “1839 and all that” featuring a short video on daguerreotype restoration from MoMA in New York City. This post borrows from MoMA magazine once again, this time a 10 minute video showing home movie clips interspersed with shots of four MoMA folk discussing home movies and how to see them through out the video.
Home movies were first taken to capture family events but in time they became an historical statement of the times shown. Have a look and see the home movies in a fresh light. While these clips seem to be entirely American, we can all remember taking some home movies here too.
Again, I thank my good friend George Dunbar for suggesting this link to me. While most clips appear to be 8mm and somewhat fuzzy and off colour, they are valuable in showing how the average person viewed his world last century when 8mm struggled to gain a foot hold in this world of still photography.
The modern smartphone of today takes crisp videos automatically, perfectly balanced for colour and exposure. Most users have no idea how challenging movies were a half century ago when tiny frames on a skinny strip of colour film captivated families.
