New Museum Has
Interactive Foley Room

by Lisa Berniker-Dosch

The recently opened Hollywood Entertainment Museum is dedicated to the history of Hollywood and to representing the achievements of its entertainment arts: film, TV, radio and the recording arts. While the museum gives every visitor a behind-the-scenes look at the entertainment world, its education wing offers a variety of activities that will inform students and young people about essential jobs and skills in the entertainment industries. The museum has several spaces for demonstrations and workshops: two multimedia rooms, the Samsung Electronic Library, a Foley room and an editing suite. In the development stages are additional studios for animation/graphics and sound recording.

A special congratulations to Editors Guild members Ken Dufva and David Lee Fein for creating the informative and entertaining Foley demonstration that is on permanent display. The exhibit they created for the museum gives visitors a chance to try their hands at creating sync sound effects.

"On the Foley stage, the fun is taking a sound that isn't up on the stage and creating it. We wanted to make the display educational, but fun; challenging, but not let the visitor walk away in disgust. It urges people to look and listen around them," said David Fein. "People come away with a different understanding and a better appreciation of filmmaking." David hopes the display will stimulate young filmmakers to use sound as a tool. "When writing a story or script, there are a lot of visuals that you think about, or maybe even music, but in the same way employ sound as a tool right from the beginning."

All Kinds of Help Needed

Responses from school group tours have been especially positive and continue to mention the exhibit as one of the highlights of their visit.

The museum invites members of the Editors Guild to participate in its activities, including historical and technical exhibits and in-person education programs. Support is needed in the following areas:

Speakers who could make presentations, conduct demonstrations or talk about their work with students and youth groups. The museum has screening facilities, as well as 35mm editing equipment and a working Lightworks system.

Interesting or unique equipment for museum display or practical use. The museum is also looking for 35mm picture and mag track for use on a conventional Moviola, as well as picture and sound elements for the museum's three-picture-head "monster" Moviola.

Photographs or documents that can be used or reproduced for wall exhibitions about the history, technology and art of editing, as well as the history of Foley and its roots in radio sound effects.

Donations are tax deductible and loans can be arranged. Individuals who could help should contact Richard Peterson, Museum Curator and Director of Education at (213) 960-4805.