Moviola
The Moviola is a movie viewer . The electrical engineer Iwan Serrurier , who emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States , came up with a device around 1917 that would stand in the home as pretty wooden furniture and, like the Victrola for records, would serve as a projection for film enjoyment. Because of the high price, $ 600 at the time, it barely sold.
In 1924, the device without a case, placed on an ordinary table, attracted interest from film cutting specialists in Hollywood. The price was now $ 125.
After the Second World War, Mark Serrurier, Ivan's son, relaunched the device with fresh molds and economical production as a whole. While the pre-war models were painted black, they were given a green color from 1949. The Moviola has become an indispensable tool in film cutting rooms around the world. It is compact, easy to move around on a castor base, can be expanded from the basic unit and is solidly constructed. The motion picture is created with a pulley in connection with a Maltese cross gear, the sound is played back from magnetic film with swiveling sound heads. A rigid mechanical connection is established between the image and sound parts by engaging a wave. When disengaged, the clay part can be moved freely forwards and backwards by hand.
In 1966 the company was sold to Magnasync, Los Angeles.
The Moviola is easier to handle than the cutting table due to the vertical film flow from reel to reel . A scene from The American Night by François Truffaut shows how the Moviola can be used.
literature
- Ernest Walter: The Technique of the Film Cutting Room. Focal Press, London-Boston, 1969; Moviola section
- Joseph F. Robertson: The Magic of Film Editing. TAB Books Inc., 1983. Chapter 4
