Seriously Moving Images

In March 2019, the Learning people at the Royal BC Museum put together an early evening event, a “Museum Happy Hour,” inspired by the theme of Moving Images. In the Third Floor galleries, attendees watched archival films and “mash-ups” (some with live musical accompaniment); took part in a collaborative draw-on-film animation activity (which was projected at the end of the night); and enjoyed drinks and snacks on the main street of Old Town. Stan Fox was a special guest. By absolute coincidence, the date chosen for the event—28 March 2019—was his 91st birthday.

Sitting in front of a “store” on Main Street, we watched as Dorothy [Burritt] and Stan’s Suite Two was projected onto the two-story-high wall of the “hotel” building. Singer/electric guitarist Ora Cogan, watching the film from below, improvised a live soundtrack. It occurred to me much later that this was precisely the kind of performance that Stan had presented on CBC Vancouver’s The Enterprise, fifty years before.

— DJD, “Man with a Movie Camera: Stanley Fox,” The BC Review

The 2019 “Museum Happy Hour: Moving Images” event was guest-curated by Aimee van Drimmelen.

Below is the film/video mash-up I created to promote the evening.

The above mash-up includes footage from the experimental films “and-“, residue 2, and Suite Two: A Memo to Oscar, as well as from Clover Leaf canned salmon TV commercials, home movies by Paul Billwiller, and a women’s Pro-Rec display (filmed by an unknown cinematographer). All the films are preserved by the BC Archives, Royal BC Museum.

The theme music is Marimba, a 2005 track performed by Vate, used here under a Creative Commons license through the Free Music Archive.