National Media Museum blog

Podcast: Daniel Meadows discusses his Early Photographic Works

2012-01-24T17:08:00.001Z

Daniel Meadows gave a wonderfully insightful, lively and engaging talk on Thursday, which formed part of an events programme that accompanied the showing of Daniel Meadows' first retrospective exhibition Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works in Gallery Two.The talk was a sell out event, but you can hear it here.

Introducing Life Online [open source]

2012-01-19T17:15:00.000Z

Blogger: Sarah Crowther, Life Online Content CuratorMarch 2012 – February 2013[open source] will be the first exhibition to open in our brand new Life Online exhibition space on the 7th floor. The gallery, which opens to the public on Friday 30th March 2012, has been created to explore key issues surrounding the internet and our relationship with it. A series of annual exhibitions will enable our

If you're looking for a photograph, try the Daily Herald Archive

2012-01-15T19:46:00.000Z

Blogger: Caroline Dempsey, Collections Assistant Ever wondered what your sister or father looked like on the day they emigrated to Australia? Looking for photographs of how your town looked 50 years ago, or searching for images of David Attenborough in his youth. There's a good chance that the image you're searching for is in the Daily Herald Archive. The Daily Herald archive comprises over 3

Life Online gallery starts to take shape

2012-01-10T19:14:00.000Z

Blogger: Joe Brook, Media and Galleries ManagerWe've moved into the really exciting final phase of the Life Online gallery build, where the 2D concepts are finally coming to life.The team worked for five years from drawings and plans; tweaking, adjusting, testing - sometimes throwing an idea away and starting again.Once our concepts are fixed and we know that we can afford to build everything,

Online moments of 2011

2012-01-06T17:12:00.000Z

Blogger: Tom Woolley, Curator of New Media "Well, they say a year in the Internet business is like a dog year - equivalent to seven years in a regular person's life. In other words, it's evolving fast and faster." - Vint Cerf, father of the internet and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. I think Vint Cerf's observation about the rapid development of internet technology can also be applied to

Eve Arnold: 21 April 1912 - 4 Jan 2012

2012-01-06T12:23:00.000Z

Blogger: Greg Hobson, Curator of PhotographyIt is with great sadness that we have heard of the death on 4th January of legendary photographer, Eve Arnold at the age of 99.Eve Arnold was a remarkable documentary photographer whose extraordinarily long career produced many memorable photo stories; a result of her empathic and friendly nature, and tenacious work ethic. She had a fruitful

Our favourite films of 2011

2012-01-03T19:05:00.003Z

Blogger: Tom Vincent, Film Programme Manager The results of our poll of Museum staff's favourite films of 2011 are in! Each contributor was asked to name five favourite new films that played in UK cinema in 2011. Beginning with an interesting tie for first place, our list of most-loved films is, as usual, broad and varied. Eleven people cast their 55 votes for 41 films, with 32 of those either

Review of We Need to Talk about Kevin

2011-12-12T12:04:00.000Z

Guest blogger: Rachel Bannister I first read the book by Lionel Shriver in 2005 as part of a fledgling book group. At the time, we didn't know what we were letting ourselves in for and 6 years on I felt a familiar feeling preparing to watch the film adaptation of the book. My suspicions were that the film would struggle to get across the story which is laid out in a series of letters in the book

Animated Britain: Selections from Collections

2011-11-10T01:00:00.000Z

Guest blogger: Ayesha Farooqui, Bradford College Animation StudentPaul Wells spoke on behalf of the Archive for British Animation Collections (ABAC), which is trying to create a British animation archive. He was well spoken, really clear and to the point.Paul talked about the several issues which prevent and delay them from creating this archive, such as damage to objects and film, and locating

Review of Panorama 3 at BAF 2011

2011-11-09T22:00:00.001Z

Guest blogger: Zara Hussain, Bradford College Animation Student I have to say, this year the Bradford Animation Festival team have really outdone themselves with the animations chosen for the Panorama screenings; full of exciting, heart warming, hilarious films which refuse to let your mind wander. Sadly I missed Panorama 1 due to the Motion Capture Workshop, but I did get to see the Panoramas

Review of Panorama 2 at BAF 2011

2011-11-09T21:00:00.000Z

Guest blogger: Alison Smith, Bradford College Animation StudentFirst of all, "hello". It's great to be writing for the National Media Museum Blog, so today I had an overall feeling of excitement, especially surrounded by people who have an interest in animation like me.As I took my seat in Cubby Broccoli I was eager to set my eyes on the animations that were to be shown. As the lights went off

Review of Panorama 1 at BAF 2011

2011-11-09T14:19:00.000Z

Guest blogger: Ayesha Farooqui, Bradford College Animation StudentThe cinema was filled with a healthy number of people - I had the right idea when I sat on the front row! Panorama 1 was an amazing collection of animations, all with various emotions and drawing techniques. It was enough to persuade me to watch the other Panoramas, the films were that inspiring.A few of them really stood out for

Motion Capture Workshop at BAF

2011-11-09T12:30:00.000Z

Guest blogger: Zara Hussain, Bradford College Animation StudentLet the festival begin! It has been such a busy day so far... worth it though. This morning I attended the Motion Capture Workshop.Thankfully I ran into the guy leading the workshop, Karl Abson. If it wasn't for him, I would have been running around Bradford trying to find the venue! I ended up getting to rummage through the workshop

Simon Oliver shares his Lessons for Independent Developers at BAF Game

2011-11-08T16:00:00.000Z

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content CoordinatorSimon Oliver is the founder of Hand Circus, creators of the hit Rolando series of games for the iPhone and Okabu on the Playstation 3. He was at BAF Game to advise anyone who wants to get into independent games development.Simon spoke about the history of indie, entwined with a bit of personal history.The first computer he used was programmable, at a

Adrian Hon from Six to Start on Storytelling at BAF Game

2011-11-08T15:00:00.000Z

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content CoordinatorWhy do stories in games suck?!Adrian Hon is obviously not a man who beats around the bush, and I was intrigued by this frank presentation about the games industry's general inability to deliver an immersive experience when it comes to storytelling.Adrian knows it can be done. He cites two of his favourites The Longest Story, and the Portal series, which

Jay Grenier from Image Metrics presents Faceware 3.0 at BAF Game

2011-11-08T13:00:00.000Z

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content CoordinatorImage Metrics is the creator of Faceware, an award-winning facial animation technology used throughout the games, film and entertainment industries to streamline animation. Jay was at BAF to talk about how facial animation technologies can create an enhanced gaming experience and tackle the most demanding of schedules and rigging processes.According to

Get ready for the 18th Bradford Animation Festival

2011-11-07T18:43:00.002Z

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content CoordinatorFinally, it's here! The Bradford Animation Festival team have been busy bees getting everything ready for tomorrow. We even have some new displays up in Pictureville cinema, the festival hub. These wall panels feature Steven Appleby's artwork, and of course his fabulous ident created especially for this year's festival.In case you missed the animated

How to... Take photographs with a 5x4 plate camera - Simon Roberts

2011-11-04T19:13:00.000Z

Blogger: Emma James, Web Content CoordinatorIn the first of our series of 'how to' videos, Simon Roberts takes us through the process of photographing with a 5x4 plate camera (Ebony).He explains how the camera works and why this process forces the photographer to think about composition.For Simon, it's about crafting something that people will study, rather than the snapshot aesthetic.Simon

Introducing the Life Online Youth Engagement Project

2011-11-02T16:46:00.003Z

Blogger: Dave Smith, Youth Engagement OfficerMy name is Dave and I’m the Youth Engagement Officer here at the Museum. I'm currently working with a group of teenagers as part of the Life Online project so I thought I'd share a bit about what we’re up to.A few months ago I went out into Bradford to find a group of young people to come and be part of an artistic collective, based at the Museum for 9

Interviewing the Inventor of Email

2011-11-01T13:46:00.000Z

Blogger: Anna Ward, Content Developer In March 2012 our new gallery Life Online opens. Work starts later this month to transform the foyer area of the museum. Don't worry Games Lounge fans, a revamped lounge will appear upstairs. The idea of the Life Online gallery has been around for several years. The core team, Joe Brook, Tom Woolley, and Sarah Crowther have been beavering away since 2007

Photography Focus on Watabe Yukichi's A Criminal Investigation

2011-10-28T13:20:00.002+01:00

Blogger: Greg Hobson, Curator of PhotographyWatabe Yukichi’s book A Criminal Investigation, arrived in the office this week.This is a brilliantly conceived publication that affirms my belief in photography's possibility to challenge and excite.Yukichi (1924-1993) shadowed a team of Japanese detectives investigating the 1958 murder and dismemberment of Sato Tadashi. Then a young photo-journalist,

Be part of our Life Online gallery

2011-10-20T16:25:00.001+01:00

Blogger: Tom Woolley, Curator of New MediaYet another UPDATE...UPDATE...UPDATE...We've managed to extend the deadline for this project to 25th November 2011 to give more Tweeps the opportunity to get their face in the gallery. Now there are no excuses, so please send this out to all your friends and help us get thousands of @MuseumMosaic followers to create the biggest ever Twitter mosaic.UPDATE.

Photography Focus on Taryn Simon: A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters

2011-10-07T13:10:00.001+01:00

Blogger: Greg Hobson, Curator of PhotographyI’ve always been a huge fan of Taryn Simon’s An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar so I was very excited to receive the book of her latest work A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters. Produced over a four year period, the work maps a series of 18 ancestral bloodlines and investigates the unpredictable events that determine the

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

2011-10-06T10:22:00.000+01:00

Blogger: Tom Woolley, Curator of New MediaSaddened to wake up to the news of Steve Jobs' death this morning. After a long battle with cancer the CEO and co-founder of Apple passed away at the age of 56.A true visionary, Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. From the Apple 1 to the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Jobs creativity, vision and ability to think ahead has led Apple

Daniel Meadows gallery hang goes to plan... roll on Friday

2011-09-29T11:52:00.000+01:00

Blogger: Ruth Haycock, Exhibitions Organiser Val Williams (Director of Photography and the Archive Research Centre) and curator of the upcoming exhibition Daniel Meadows: Early Photographic Works visited the Museum last week, with Brigitte Lardinois (Deputy Director of Photography and the Archive Research Centre) and Daniel Meadows, to discuss and agree the exhibition hang. With all of the