Lecture 4 and 5: Transition to Sound Flashcards
1
Q
Talkies
A
- talkies were initially seen as a fad
- many filmmakers dismissed talkies, as well as colour in film
- stuck in traditional ways
- Charlie Chaplin hated sound films when they first came out
2
Q
Transition to sound
A
- driven by progress in recording technology
- 1920 = the year that the record industry comes off the ground, but radio almost kills it
- microphones and speakers are invented
- demonstrations of sound films as early as 1922
- several competing systems emerge
3
Q
Sound on film
A
- Phonofilm, Movietone
- photograph of sound waves on the edge of the film
- excellent synchronization, poor audio quality, can survive editing
- was a brand new technology
4
Q
Sound on disk
A
- Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone
- audio recording on a phonograph disk (large disk with larger/deeper grooves)
- excellent audio quality, poor synchronization, a lot of problems with editing
- was an established technology, and quality gave it the earlier lead
- records would wear out after around 20 playings
5
Q
Screen projectionists
A
- used for sound on disk productions
- adjusted the speed of the record and film in order to synchronize them
6
Q
Don Juan
A
- 1926
- William Axt
- Vitaphone (sound on disk)
- recorded music and some sound effects, no dialogue
- Vitaphone could not stay synchronized enough for dialogue
- had a second score composed for live performance
- unless you were seeing it at a high scale theater, you would watch it like a typical silent film
7
Q
The Jazz Singer - Importance
A
- 1927
- music supervisor = Louis Silvers
the first talking motion picture - first feature film (long film) to include synchronized dialogue
- primarily silent, with several minutes of synchronized sound
- used Vitaphone technology
- most of the score is compiled or adapted
8
Q
The Jazz Singer - Movie summary
A
- young man who is born into a traditional Jewish family
- father is an official in the church and was expecting his son to follow in his footsteps, but the son wants to be a pop singer
- son comes back to tell his parents that he has succeeded
9
Q
The Jazz Singer - Analysis
A
- the son was much louder than the mother because of the microphone location
- camera is in a soundproof booth, because when you crank them they are very loud
- Al Jolson improvised his dialogue because the job of screenwriter does not exist
- people on film have not had to express themselves through words (over the top acting)
- a financial hit
- needed time to switch records between the dialogue and the music, leading to long pauses
10
Q
Technology war
A
- theatres decided to wait to see which technology would be the winner
- sound on disk has the early lead, but by 1930, sound on film had caught up in terms of quality
- sound on film could do a whole feature of synchronized dialogue
- Movietone starts taking over, sound on film becomes the way of the future, Vitaphone fades
- up until 1935, there are still silent films
11
Q
The development of the studio system
A
- sound on film was one of the leading reasons why change occurred in the film industry
- requires a significantly higher level of technology
- this increases the cost of films, which put smaller entreprises out of business
12
Q
The Big Five
A
- MGM
- Paramount
- Warner Brothers
- 20th Century Fox (1935)
- RKO
13
Q
The Little Three
A
- Universal
- Columbia
- United Artists
14
Q
Studio productions
A
- all 8 studios set up sprawling studio lots
- majors control production, distribution and exhibition
- minors dependent for distribution and exhibition (violates antitrust laws)
- this will get shut down only in the 1950s
15
Q
Departments within the studio system
A
- all aspects of production are departmentalized
- directors, actors, and musicians are put under contract
- if an actor is under contract from another studio, the other studio will be acknowledged in the credits
