To Sound From Silence

1. To Sound From Silence Famous last words: "Who in the *bleep* wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers Studios, 1927

2. Beginnings of Sound • Early sound efforts relied upon Edison’s Phonograph. • Problems: • Sound isn’t loud enough • True Synchronization isn’t possible

3. Dickenson’s Sound Experiment • He tried to synch up the sound and the film. • While he was successful, it was too difficult to hear. • In the end Sound was considered a failure.

4. How Difficult is Synchronization? • Let’s try it out! • Pull up the Bugs Bunny Cartoon on my Website. • Wackiki Wabbit (1943) <-(Click here) • Pull up YouTube on your phone and find the same cartoon. • When I click play on the computer, synch up the sound, so it is perfect.

5. Early Challenges I By the mid-1920s technology had been developed for adding sound to films, but the big studios were opposed to sound for 10 reasons: 1) They weren't sure the public would accept it. 2) Some of the top stars were foreign born with heavy accents. 3) Many stars had weak voices that didn't match their macho or seductive images.

6. Early Challenges II 4) Many actors who didn't have stage experience had voice and diction problems. 5) The studios had spent large sums of money promoting their stable of silent stars and many of them would not be able to make it in "talkies." 6) It would mean investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in building sound stages.

7. Early Challenges III 7) Producing sound films would be significantly more expensive than making silent films; a one-million dollar silent film would cost at least one and one-half million dollars with sound. 8) Although it was relatively easy to use subtitles to meet the needs of foreign distribution, you couldn't expect actors to speak different languages.

8. Early Challenges IV 9) Silent film directors talked actors through their moves while they were on camera. Sound meant that actors would have to remember what to do and they would have to memorize dialogue. 10) In 1927, there were 15,000 theaters showing silent films, all of which would have to be equipped with the expensive new technology.

9. Vitaphone: • Vitaphone was the first company to successfully synchronize sound and film. • Sent out the following advertisement to studios. • No one bought it. • Until…

10. Warner’s Takes the Lead The big studios stuck together for some time in discouraging the introduction of sound. However, one studio, Warner Brothers, was outside that group. Given the formidable competition from the other studios, they were struggling to survive.

11. Banking on a Novelty Warner Brothers had nothing to lose by trying something daring. They reportedly didn't feel that sound would be more than a passing novelty, but, for as long as it lasted, they figured it might make them enough money to stay afloat. Sound was already being used in some theaters for news shorts, so at least those theaters were equipped for sound.

12. Example of a News Short:

13. Learning to Talk: Documentary • Explains the process and how film gained sound. • 52 minutes • Click here to watch:

14. The Jazz Singer In 1927, Warner Bros. introduced the first feature-length sound film: The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson. The film consisted mostly of background music and contained only two segments with synchronized (lip-sync) sound - a total of only 354 spoken words - but that was enough to set off the sound revolution.

15. The Gamble Pays Off Once the film captured public attention, people were lined up around the block from early morning until late at night to get tickets. The Warner Bros. gamble paid off - big time. As a result, the studio has remained a powerful industry leader for the last 80 years.

16. The First Sound Star: Al Jolson Recognizing a good thing, Warner Brothers rushed another film with Al Jolson into production. This one, The Singing Fool, was an even a bigger hit. It cost $200,000 to make and brought in $5 million. Al Jolson, a vaudeville performer, was perfect choice to launch sound. He had a natural talent for relating to audiences.

17. The Tide Turns Now, the major studios were worried Faced with the inevitable, the major studios reluctantly abandoned their stand against sound and started building their own sound stages. Within a few years almost all films were "talkies."

18. But, the move to sound was not without its consequences. Many stars couldn't make the transition and left the business. Others quickly signed up for voice and diction lessons in an effort to try to save their careers. Even so, the studios used the special needs of sound as an excuse to get rid of some actors.

19. Capturing Sound Hampered by the early limitations of sound equipment and the influx of sound technicians who were all but dictating how everything should be done, film production techniques took a giant step backward. Many of the early sound films were not only crudely done, they were downright boring.

20. Capturing Sound, cont’d Another major problem was that the camera had to be housed in a soundproof, telephone booth-like enclosure to keep the noise of the camera from being picked up by the microphone.This meant that the camera couldn’t move; and since this was before the advent of zoom lenses, shots tended to be static and unimaginative.

21. Singing in the Rain • Filmed in 1952, Singing in the Rain talks about the Sound pioneering era. • Watch the film, fill out the sheet, and pay attention to the troubles sound made for actors, directors, producers, and the public.