The Clatsop County Historical Society is doing something remarkable. The venerable organization known for careful preservation of artifacts and historic buildings that are it's museums and a generally conservative, traditional approach to museum display has stepped out of the box creating Oregon's first 21st century example of superlative storytelling. The Oregon Film Museum redefines the museum experience in a compact space that is at once a real place used in movies and historically a place that actually served the function of a county jail.
The film story in Oregon is a big one to tell. The state has provided the backdrop for over 400 movies since the inception of silent films in the 1920's. That list grows every few years. The number of television shows and commercials making use of the state's generally welcoming attitude and ideal shooting locations is huge. Calling itself the film museum representing all of that is an imposing responsibility.
The decision was made early on to limit the story to feature films just to provide a focus. Then there were lots of questions that needed to be answered. Principal among those was how best to tell the story of film making in Oregon. The major studios jealously guard the rights to show much more than a few seconds of any of the films and have further restrictions on the venue and most would not allow anyone to charge for admission to see them without an expensive process. So while it might appear the best approach would be to gather clips from as many films as possible and show them along with a collection of encased memorabilia and posting signs to link the two it's not a practical approach. This is probably why there isn't a place that celebrates this important Oregon industry.
That is until today.
The CCHS approach is a thoughtful and well executed one with Society Director Mac Burns at the helm and a supporting cast of Directors who have trusted Mac to deliver something special. Here's a short clip of one of the unusual features of the museum with credit to Chelsea Gorrow
for the camera work:
The clip shows two of three "Hot Sets" in museum where you can actually make your own movie. There is also a post production room where you can then edit your film and staff will upload it to youtube and you could email a copy to yourself. This is a new piece of technology designed specifically for the Oregon Film Museum. It works through the use of a movie pass card that identifies each scene with the same user. You can then call all the scenes up in the editing room and cut and splice your final movie together. While you are doing that you can listen in on a real-life film crew via walkie talkies that are actually playing a recording of crew that was working on the coast and agreed to record all their communications for the new museum.
The museum layout includes jail cells used in The Goonies with a planned fourth digital video camera aimed at the infamous cell two where one of the Fratelli brothers escaped. If you want to reenact that moment you can film yourself doing so.
Surrounding all this are reminders of the films made in the state. Movie quotes fill the walls and clipboards with production notes offer explanations of the displays of memorabilia.
This is just the second phase. In the next phase Burns tells me he envisions a Goonies cave scene that would include the skeleton of "One Eyed Willie".
This museum could easily be mistaken for a theme park attraction but, in the great tradition of Disney rides, this one also educates, enlightens and delights.
As to the future, Burns has his eye on where to go next as the museum's inevitable popularity will demand more detail, more display, more interaction.
Congratulations to the CCHS board for supporting this vision and to Mac for delivering.
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