L.A.’s Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, approaching its third anniversary this fall, is inviting visitors to discover the moviemaking magic of animation and VFX through the rotating exhibit Inventing Worlds & Characters, opening May 12 in the Rolex Gallery.
Part of the museum’s core Stories of Cinema exhibition, Inventing Worlds and Characters takes visitors on a journey through animation, special and visual effects, and encounters with famous characters and objects from fantasy, horror and science fiction films. The Animation gallery will feature concept artwork, layout drawings, animation cels, character maquettes and other objects from films such as The Skeleton Dance (U.S.A., 1929), Pinocchio (U.S.A., 1940), Begone Dull Care (Canada, 1949), Asparagus (U.S.A., 1979), Akira (Japan, 1988), WALL•E (U.S.A., 2008), Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (U.S.A., 2022), and more.
The Effects gallery will look at three approaches to transforming the human form into a monstrous one in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (U.S.A., 1931), An American Werewolf in London (U.S.A., 1981) and scenes featuring the Hulk in the Avengers film series (U.S.A., 2012–2019).
In the Encounters gallery, objects such as spaceship miniatures from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (U.S.A., 1977), a costume worn by Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix Reloaded (U.S.A./Australia, 2003), and porg puppets and animatronics from Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (U.S.A., 2017) will offer unique opportunities to view fantastical elements previously experienced only onscreen.
Lucasfilm fans looking to celebrate all things Star Wars can venture to the Museum this Saturday for its May the 4th Celebration – Across the Galaxy. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. (full details here).
The festivities begin at 11 a.m., when fans can begin contributing to a Community Mural in the Disney Piazza, or get their tickets for a screening of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) in the David Geffen Theater. The big screen will also be showing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) at 7:30 p.m., after the museum closes.
Ticketholders for the Jump to Lightspeed – Encounters Tour can sneak-peek the Inventing Worlds and Characters exhibit at noon, 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. Throughout the day, fans will have a chance to take photos with their favorite droids at the BB8 & R2D2 Meet and Greet (10:30 a.m. to noon, 2 p.m.-4 p.m.) in the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby. The locale will also host a Force Training Demonstration at 1 p.m. Or, get crafty with May the 4th Art-Making Activities (buttons, thaumatropes, origami and slime!) in the Shirley Temple Education Studio (12:30-4:30 p.m.)
![The Dykstraflex on set [c/o Lucasfilm]](https://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/dykstraflex_lucasfilm.jpg)
This historic piece of film equipment will be accompanied by an original interview (2022) and montage illustrating its function and celebrating the many creative visual effects that made Star Wars an enduring classic. This limited-run presentation will be accompanied by live demonstrations throughout its two-month run.
Live demonstrations of the Dykstraflex will take place inside the Spielberg Family Gallery during the May the Fourth Celebration at 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Later this year, Pixar fans are in for a treat when the Toy Story 3D Zoetrope returns to the Academy Museum on October 6, in the Warner Bros. Gallery. Featuring a cast of characters from the beloved animation franchise, this large-scale, three-dimensional zoetrope returns to thrill and enthrall visitors of all ages with the magic of animation. For the first time, the Pixar zoetrope will be presented alongside another highlight of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ pre-cinema collection: a historical “Wheel of Life” zoetrope from the 19th century, along with the historical image sets that accompanied it.
From flip books to stop-motion movies, animation fools the eye and mind into perceiving a sequence of still images as one continuously-moving image. This fundamental concept was discovered in the 19th century, and soon became the basis for moving image entertainment such as the zoetrope, a device often used as a toy consisting of a spinning drum that made a sequence of still images leap into action as a continuously moving loop. This intimate exhibition spans 150 years of moving image technology, from the 19th century “Wheel of Life” zoetrope to the 3D printed Toy Story zoetrope. Like the film Toy Story (U.S.A., 1995), the first fully computer-animated feature film, the Pixar Toy Story 3D Zoetrope harnesses the power of computers to bring a new dimension to animation.
Pixar Zoetrope is curated by Collections Curator Laura Mart.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is located at 6067 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Visit academymuseum.org for more information and additional programming.
