Moviola Model D with Gaertner microscope attachment (MOMI)

A Moviola () is a device that allows a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

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 The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidia ...

" 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 Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, Charles Chaplin Studios, Buster Keaton Productions,

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...

, and

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

. The need for portable editing equipment during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

greatly expanded the market for Moviola's products, as did the advent of sound, 65mm and 70mm film. Iwan Serrurier's son,

Mark Serrurier Mark Serrurier (12 May 1904 in Pasadena, California – 14 February 1988) is the son of Dutch-born electrical engineer, Iwan Serrurier, who created the Moviola in 1924 which became the technology used for film editing. Mark was a graduate of Ca ...

, 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 The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

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 Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

'', 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