Moviola Model D with Gaertner microscope attachment (MOMI)

A Moviola () is a device that allows a film editor to view a film while editing. It was the first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by

Iwan Serrurier Iwan Serrurier (21 September 1878 in Leiden – 1953) was a Dutch people, Dutch-born Electrical engineering, electrical engineer notable for inventing the Moviola. Career Iwan was the son of Lindor Serrurier, director of the ethnographic museu ...

in 1924.

History

Iwan Serrurier's original 1917 concept for the Moviola was as a home movie projector to be sold to the general public. The name was derived from the name " Victrola" since Serrurier thought his invention would do for home movie viewing what the Victrola did for home music listening. However, since the machine cost $600 in 1920 (), very few sold. An editor at Douglas Fairbanks Studios suggested that Iwan should adapt the device for use by film editors. Serrurier did this and the Moviola as an editing device was born in 1924, with the first Moviola being sold to Douglas Fairbanks himself. Many studios quickly adopted the Moviola including Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Charles Chaplin Studios, Buster Keaton Productions, Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The need for portable editing equipment during World War II greatly expanded the market for Moviola's products, as did the advent of sound, 65mm and 70mm film. Iwan Serrurier's son, Mark Serrurier, took over his father's company in 1946. In 1966, Mark sold Moviola Co. to Magnasync Corporation (a subsidiary of Craig Corporation) of North Hollywood for $3 million. Combining the names, the new name was Magnasync/Moviola Corp. President L. S. Wayman instantly ordered a tripling of production, and the new owners realized their investment in less than two years. Wayman retired in 1981, and Moviola Co. was sold to J&R Film Co., Inc. in 1984. The Moviola company is still in existence and is located in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, where part of the facility is located on one of the original Moviola factory floors.

Usage

The Moviola allowed editors to study individual shots in their cutting rooms, thus to determine more precisely where the best cut-point might be. The vertically oriented Moviolas were the standard for film editing in the United States until the 1970s, when horizontal

flatbed editor A flatbed editor is a type of machine used to edit film for a motion picture. Picture and sound rolls load onto separate motorized disks, called "plates." Each set of plates moves forward or backward separately or locked together to maintain ...

systems became more common. Nevertheless, Moviolas continued to be used, albeit to a diminishing extent, into the 21st century. Michael Kahn received an Academy Award nomination for Best Film Editing in 2005 for his work on

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

's '' Munich'', which he edited with a Moviola, although by this time almost all editors had switched over to digital film editors (Kahn himself switched to digital editing for his later work).

Awards

Mark Serrurier accepted an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statue) for himself and his father for the Moviola in 1979. There is a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

for Mark Serrurier because of the Moviola's contribution to Motion Pictures.

Notes

References

Moviola.com – What is the Moviola story?

External links