a brief history of audio in film (excerpt). sound comes to film over 3 decades of significant...
TRANSCRIPT
Sound comes to film
• over 3 decades of significant innovation
• declining profits in 1927-28 led film companies to push the wide-spread implementation of sound for film
• by 1931 all Hollywood movies are ‘talkies’
Major Early Events• 1877 - Edison makes first sound recording
• 1895 - Edison introduces Kinetophone
• 1902 - Gaumont introduces Chronophone
Synchronization problem solved
• 1913 - Edison introduces a new version of the Kinetophone
• It successfully synchronized with picture
Amplificationproblem solved
• 1904 - Daniel Higham invents the Higham-A-Phone reproducer, the amplifier used in the Columbia Graphophone
• 1906 - Lee DeForest invents the Audion, an early tube amplifier
• 1908 - E.E. Norton invents the Cameraphone
Making Sound for Film Cost Effective
• 1911-1919 - Western Electric and Lee DeForest develop Vitaphone, a method of recording and reproducing sound electronically on disc.
• 1921 - DeForest patents phonofilm, a method of recording sound on film
• 1926 - Warner Bros. releases Don Juan, the first film to include music on an amplified sound-track using the Vitaphone system.
• 1927 -The Jazz Singer featuring Al Jolson is released by Warner Bros. First full-length film with synchronized dialog.
• 1927 - Fox Film Corp. produces newsreels with a sound on film process called Movietone.
Making Sound for Film Cost Effective
• May 1928 - the major film companies sign with AT&T to produce pictures with sound on film.
• End of 1920s - Most theaters no longer have a house orchestra and organist.
• 1928 -- Warner Bros. releases The Singing Fool -- again starring Al Jolson. Makes an unprecedented $5,000,000.
Silent Films are history
• Mass Production and lower cost implementations resolved the last problem.
• Sound for Film was now cost effective and making film companies more money than ever!