Film History
Transition to Sound
Production Code
It Happened One Night
Silent Film was an Art Form
• Sophisticated Language of Film
– Shot, Scene, Sequence
– Lighting, Camera Angle
– Editing
– Mise en Scene (Staging the action)
Movies talk….
• Early experimentation with technology
– Synchronization
– Amplification
• By 1929 Silent film was history
– Early sound was characterized by inert camera
encased in sound proof glass.
Problems with early sound…
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Limited or no mobility
Sound quality muffled
Microphone placement determined scene design
Mixing (sound realism)
SOF established at 24fps
– MOS or SIL was 16 fps
Early Sync Sound
• Lee DeForest demonstrates sound on
film
Sound Booth
The Jazz Singer 1927
Basically a silent film with sound sequences
• Warner Brothers
• Audiences were already intrigued with RADIO
• Heralded the ascendance of the “talkies”
• Jolson performs in blackface in several scenes
The Jazz Singer
Major Economic Change in
Industry
• Sound was expensive
• New Needs
– Sound Stages
– Theatres wired for sound
– Many actors/directors did not survive the transition to
sound
– Raided NY for
• stage directors
• actors who could speak!
• writers
Sound Revived the Film
IndustryThe Little Three
• 1929
– Paramount $15million vs. $8 million
– Warner’s $17million vs. $2million
– Fox $9million vs. $5million
It Happened One Night
• A spoiled heiress,
running away from her
family, is helped by a
man who's actually a
reporter looking for a
story. But then he falls
for her...
• Director: Frank Capra
• Release Date: 23
February 1934 (USA)
Screwball Comedy
• War of the sexes
– Supplanted real sex
– Verbal sparring/witty dialogue
• Women were equal or better
• Often took on or challenged the traditional
roles or conventions for women
Famous Teams
• Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy
– Adam’s Rib, Desk Set, Pat & Mike
• Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert
– It Happened One Night
• Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn
– Bringing Up Baby, Holiday
• Gable and Carol Lombard
Claudette Colbert and
Clark Gable
Frank Capra 1897-1991
• 1903 Immigrant
• WWI 2nd Lt. Navy
• worked for Mack Sennett
• Later a director at Columbia
Pictures
• Documentaries as well as
feature films (Why We Fight WW2)
Frank Capra
Best Director 3 Oscars
1934 It Happened One Night
1936 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1938 You Can’t Take It With You
Nominated
1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1946 It’s a Wonderful Life