The Art and Design Museum

I have had many great adventures in the West End and they have never disappointed. In fact, recently visited the Art and Design Museum in the West End of London, where they put on an incredible exhibition based on the life and work of Stanley Kubrick. Thus, this post shall be focused on the greatness of Stanley Kubrick and the way he made films. This post shall be different from my others as we shall be talking about films and their origins. We shall also be talking at length about some of Kubrick's greatest films, a few of which I saw before the exhibition and were on display.

One of the perks of my job is that I am able to discover and explore different museums within London for free. The Art and Design Museum is one of these and being very new, it contains very modern architecture, which is pretty cool to see.

What makes the Art and Design Museum stand out is that it is a very hidden museum within the West End of London. I had to warm up towards the quirky modern art style. It reminded me a lot of the Barbican which is also famous for its modern architecture. What stands out about the Art and Design Museum is that it is rather different from other museums. I love people watching and the type of people that visit are more of the locals who live in Holland park. The Museum has a great location as it sits on the doorstep of Holland park.

At first I did not like the thought of the Museum because it meant seeing a new Museum and a new part of London. However, I needed a change of scenery from South Kensington and felt as though it had a lot to offer. In the end, I went to the Art and Design Museum for the first time last Thursday for the new Stanley Kubrick exhibition.

I have always had a passion for films and for the way they were created. Therefore, I was eager and curious to see what insight I would gain by seeing the Stanley Kubrick exhibition. I liked the set up of the exhibition and the way it was displayed, with lots of film props that were all original.

When one first enters the exhibition one comes across Kubrick's original chess set, and having played many chess competitions I immediately noticed it. It was a chess board coupled with a machine and it was fascinating for me, in part because I wished that I could have played chess against Stanley Kubrick, the great master himself. I think that if I invited Stanley Kubrick around for dinner him and I would have become good friends as we both share this interest.

I have been to many museums by now and I always notice when they do not let in any natural light . When I visited the Stanley Kubrick exhibition there was no natural light. It was dark and gloomy which is sadly the case for most exhibitions, even though I understand the importance for preservation.

What I liked about the exhibition was seeing a few of my ancestors being mentioned like Fouche, the Foreign Minister of Napoleon. Just before he died Stanley Kubrick had been planning on setting up a film about Napoleon. I wished he had completed it, as I think that would have been a masterpiece. It could have been, in my opinion, on the same level as Spartacus - a true epic saga!

Sadly Stanley Kubrick passed away in 1999. He left a huge legacy in film making and he left a massive legacy and impression on my childhood. I remember that growing up, one of my favourite films was Spartacus. I liked the epic battles that they displayed within the film and the way the film used all of these extra actors whereas nowadays most of this work is done via special effects. The production of making Spartacus the film was huge and extensive. It cost £12 million to produce which is mindblowing for me to understand the logistics of, yet tiny in comparison with today's big-budget hollywood blockbusters.

Stanley Kubrick was born in 1928. He started his career as a screenwriter and a journalist, and was a passionate photographer. When I was visiting the Stanley Kubrick exhibition I could really see his passion for photography through the way the curators had displayed his favourite photos. (It was also interesting to note that many of the photos on display were on loan from the VIctoria and Albert Museum.) It is great when a career is grounded in a passion and I believe that Kubrick was passionate about capturing images on film both through photography and filming.

Stanley Kubrick's war films are fantastic and very highly regarded across the industry, especially Full Metal Jacket. I particularly enjoyed watching this film with my father who is a retired officer, which made all of the film's more salient points about army hierarchy all that much more real for me. The film Full Metal Jacket was directed in 1987 and I personally think it was the best film that Stanley Kubrick directed. I remember as I was walking around the exhibition, admiring the direction of the filming of Full Metal Jacket and how they depicted the war landscapes.

When we were at this special exhibition we saw many original props which you would recognise from the films which Stanley Kubrick had directed. The early days of doing great budget films like this must have driven people crazy, as the scope of organisation must have been terrifying to handle. I think that it would have been fun to have been a extra in all the films rather than just one major role. I think that if you had a minor role and did every film that he created, that would have been very special indeed to have that kind of insight.

I thought that the Stanley Kubrick exhibition was one of the best I had seen in some time. I personally enjoyed learning about Stanley Kubrick as I love learning about films. I love films and I hope to continue to always appreciate the way they are made. I think that having learned more about Stanley Kubrick I have come to realise that each director leaves their own mark on their film.

I learnt a lot about films and why the angle is important when directing a film. The art of film has to be carried out by experts and Stanley Kubrick was one of the best. As I mentioned previously, when Kubrick was young he was a amatour photographer. I am also a amatour photographer as I love to document everything that is special about my life. I think this passion for photography eventually and naturally lead Stanley Kubrick to filming.

The art and design museum is worth visiting while you are in London. In fact, I would add it to the top 5 activities to see. Also it is near the Leighton House Museum, which is also a must see museum. The Art and Design Museum is great to see because there exhibitions are rather varied.