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Early Attempts at Sound

•Edison had already invented

phonograph and he

developed movies to

accompany it.o1893, he combined phonograph &

kinetoscope to create the

kinetophone.

oEdison’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.

oThe 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-on-

disc.

•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

each.

•Became known as the Vitaphone system.

Vitaphone Benefits

•The Vitaphone process made several

improvements over previous systems:

oAmplification - 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.