National Media Museum blog

There's a new National Media Museum blog in town

2012-04-22T18:37:00.002+01:00

Well, it was looking a little tired, and it wasn't the easiest to navigate. With plans to post more behind the scenes stories, news, opinions, coverage from our festivals and events, and some special guest posts, we thought it was about time the blog had a fresh new look.I'm in the process of moving the posts from Blogger to Wordpress, and there are one or two tweaks to be made, but until

My writing life on the web

2012-03-19T13:12:00.000Z

Guest blogger: Adrian Slatcher, Life Online Advisory Panel Member In 1998 I had just completed an M.A. in creative writing at the University of Manchester. I had a decent computer running Windows 3.11 and had invested one hundred and fifty quid in a modem which necessitated running a second phone line into the bedroom of my shared house, taking care only to go online when the rest of the house

In the Blink of an Eye: Installing a Timeslice

2012-03-07T15:09:00.000Z

Blogger: Beth Hughes, Exhibitions AssistantInstalling a new exhibition involves facing many challenges - it's not all just hanging pictures on a wall - and today we tackled quite a challenge. As part of our forthcoming exhibition, In the Blink of an Eye: Media and Movement, we will be displaying a Timeslice.A Timeslice is a large ring with a series of cameras facing into the centre of the circle.

How we test the Life Online gallery exhibits

2012-03-05T17:05:00.001Z

Blogger: Catherine Elvin, Audience Researcher and AdvocateMy role in the Life Online team is to find out how our visitors react to each element of the galleries, and to look for ways that we can improve their experiences. I go out and talk to our audiences, with the aim of discovering what they find interesting and engaging, and what might be confusing or difficult to understand.One of the best

Creating films for Life Online

2012-02-29T14:17:00.000Z

Blogger: Emma Shaw, Media DeveloperGetting the opportunity to work on a brand new gallery doesn't happen very often, so when work began on Life Online and we found out we were going to make video content for it, we were very excited.Creating videos for a gallery is fun, because you get to learn about the subject, film interesting people, and come up with creative ways to explain people's ideas in

"System Overload" youth project ready for Life Online [open source]

2012-02-22T13:02:00.000Z

Blogger: Dave Smith, Life Online Youth Engagement OfficerSix months ago, a group of dedicated young people came together to work on the development of a brand new artwork as part of the Life Online project. Here we are in February and the fruits of their labours have just been installed in the Level 7 gallery, as a piece called System Overload. So, how did we get here?It all began back in

Meet the Life Online Project Leader

2012-02-15T10:18:00.000Z

Interested in finding out more about our brand new gallery, Life Online? Then meet Joe Brook, Life Online Project Leader to hear more about the inspiration behind the new space, and see a sneak preview.

Curating the Internet for Life Online

2012-02-10T13:12:00.000Z

Blogger: Anna Ward, Content DeveloperSeven weeks to go before Life Online opens to the public. The physical build is coming on, looming shapes have appeared in the foyer, and upstairs in Level 7, walls are appearing. Our technicians are ready to fit screens, lights and speakers, and the office is a hive of activity.Behind the scenes at this stage, everything needs polishing and signing off. There

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