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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)

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)

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: 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. o Fidelity - 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, 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)

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: o It required sound discs AND film reels, + discs broke easily, and had a limited lifespan o Sound-on-disc: notorious synchronization problems o No editing capacity - limits creative potential o Fidelity (accuracy of sound reproduction) was now better for sound-on-film than sound-on-disc.