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Early Attempts at Sound
•Edison had already invented
phonograph and he
developed movies to
accompany it.
o 1893, he combined phonograph &
kinetoscope to create the
kinetophone.
o Edison’s assistant, William K.L.
Dickson, actually created a short film
using this device as early as 1894,
now referred to as “Dickson
Experimental Sound Film”.
Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaAerYjAHNc
Kinetophone Limitations
• Although kinetophone films are often credited
as being the first to synchronize sound, this is
incorrect.
o The Kinetophone actually made no
attempt at synchronization. The viewer
listened through tubes to a phonograph
concealed in the cabinet and performing
appropriately timed music or sound effects.
• Edison released Nursery Favorites (1913),
which was created by the kinetophone
system.
• Despite Edison’s early accomplishment of
pairing film and sound, film sound remained
unsynchronized, i.e. performed live or
recorded separately into the 1920s.
Nursery Favorites (1913)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7kWWeJopz8
Photokinema
• Introduced in 1921, this system was among the first
to synchronize sound and film.
• Photokinema used a process called sound-ondisc.
• Sound-on-disc refers to a process in which a
phonograph or other disc is used to record or
playback sound in sync with a motion picture.
Dream Street (1921)
•Used initially in short films, D.W.
Griffith was the first to use it for
longer films in Dream Street
(1921)
•Featuring an introduction by D.W.
Griffith, Dream Street was the
first feature film in which the
human voice could be heard.
•It had to be premiered at a theatre
that was equipped with the
Photokinema system (few existed).
Sound’s Early Years
• In the early 1920s, there were a number of inventors in
several countries who worked on the possibility of
more effectively generating sound for film.
• Tri-Ergon system developed in Germany.
• Voice-on-Film system developed by Lee De Forest in
the United States (Phonofilm).
• Studios were reluctant to forge into the world of cinema
sound; they did not want to change their methods of
production or exhibition, especially because movie
houses would require extensive renovations to
incorporate sound technology.
Sound in the mid-1920s
•Slowly, studios began
to warm to the
development of sound
technology for cinema.
•During 1925 and 1926,
both Warner Brothers
and Fox were carrying
out experiments to
develop a reliable way
to synchronize sound
and film.
Warner Brother’s Quest for Sound
•Sam Warner created a partnership with
Western Electric Co. for the purpose of
developing a viable sound-on-disc system for
cinema.
•They developed a system whereby electric
signals picked up the microphones on the film
set or sound stage were transferred to 17-inch
discs by specialty disc-cutting machines.
•These were locked into synch with the film
cameras and played for about 10 minutes
Vitaphone Benefits
•The Vitaphone process made several
improvements over previous systems:
o Amplification - The Vitaphone system was one
of the first to use electronic amplification. This
allowed the sound of the phonograph to be
played to a large audience at a comfortable
volume.
oFidelity - In the early days, Vitaphone had
superior fidelity (accuracy of sound
reproduction) to other sound systems,
particularly at both low and high frequencies.
Vitaphone Premiere
• The first Vitaphone
screening consisted of a
series of short films
accompanied by a feature
movie, Don Juan.
• These were exhibited at the
Warner Theater in New
York in August 1926.
The Jazz Singer (1927)
• Premiered on October 6, 1927.
• Considered to be the first
sound film, but in reality, is
only a “part-talkie” as most of
the film’s sequences have only
orchestral accompaniment.
• There are only four true “talkie”
scenes in the film where
vaudeville star Al Jolson sings
and utters only a line of
dialogue.
The Jazz Singer (1927)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkyvstNrkHo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaj7FNHnjQ
Fox’s Quest for Sound
• Meanwhile, Fox purchased
the rights and patents to the
Phonofilm system and the
German Tri-Ergon system.
•By 1927, Fox showed films
using their new Movietone
sound-on-film system.
•Sound-on-film:
the sound is
physically recorded onto
photographic film – ACTION
AND SOUND RECORDED AT
SAME TIME.
Fox and Movietone
• Fox’s Movietone was a success,but
most big-name theatrical talent had
signed contracts with Warner Brothers
and their Vitaphone sound system.
• Fox’s Movietone system was the
“runner-up” to Vitaphone.
• In order to stay competitive, Fox made
sound-on-film newsreels, not movies,
including Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight
to Paris .
• In short time, newer sound systems for
competed with both Vitaphone and
Movietone.
RCA and Photophone
•RCA: Photophone, similar to Movietone.
•When the system premiered, it was suggested
that Photophone would rival the most
successful system to date, Warner’s
Vitaphone, and become the industry standard.
The Big Five Agreement (1927)
•The five largest studios in Hollywood – MGM,
•
Universal, First National, Paramount and
Producers Distributing Corporation – proceeded
cautiously.
Concerned that, by acting individually, they might
choose incompatible equipment, and harm the
business (each firm’s movie houses showed the
others’ films) they signed the Big Five
Agreement, pledging to act together in adopting
sound for film.
Sound-on-disc v. Sound-on-film
•The Big Five agreed to adopt a sound-on-film
system.
•Sound on disc was rejected because:
oIt required sound discs AND film reels, + discs
broke easily, and had a limited lifespan
oSound-on-disc: notorious synchronization
problems
oNo editing capacity - limits creative potential
oFidelity (accuracy of sound reproduction) was
now better for sound-on-film than sound-on-disc.