moviola means an early machine allowing a film editor to view the film while editing it. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.
Why “moviola” is a great word
MOVIOLA — [Noun] An upright, motorized film-editing device through which a strip of celluloid passes, allowing an editor to view, cut, and synchronize motion picture footage. From 'movie' (a motion picture) and the suffix '-ola' (as in Victrola, used in names of devices), coined in the 1920s for the device invented by Iwan Serrurier. Unlike the horizontal 'flatbed editor' or the abstracting 'digital non-linear editor,' the Moviola demanded a tactile, linear intimacy with the physical artifact. It was the rhythmic clatter of reels in a dim cutting room, the flickering image seen through a magnifying eyepiece, and the sharp scent of acetate—a solitary, mechanical dance where the cut was felt in the hands before it was ever seen on the screen.
Etymology
From movie + -ola.
noun
- An early machine allowing a film editor to view the film while editing it.