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Transition to Talkies

Transition to Talkies. American Film Study E. Niemi + D. Summerlee. Silent Films. Silent films were never truly silent Musical accompaniment Piano player in smaller movie theaters Full orchestras or giant organs in more opulent movie palaces, including sound effects. Sound Development.

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Transition to Talkies

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  1. Transition to Talkies American Film Study E. Niemi + D. Summerlee

  2. Silent Films • Silent films were never truly silent • Musical accompaniment • Piano player in smaller movie theaters • Full orchestras or giant organs in more opulent movie palaces, including sound effects

  3. Sound Development • 1922, developed a method of recording sound on the upper ridge of the film itself • Tri-Ergon • Developed by German inventors • Fox Films acquired the rights a few year later and called it Moviephone • Simplified the editing of a sound film

  4. Sound Development • 1926-1928 , sound-on-disc system • Vitaphone • Like a record • Developed by Bell Telephone Technologies + Western Electric • Warner Bros. • Don Juan • Jazz Singer • Steamboat Willie

  5. Sound Development • 1929, a need for more natural sounds • 1933, altering speed • King Kong used lion’s roar, slowed down 1 octave • 1935, stereo • 1940, surround system + multiple tracks

  6. The Jazz Singer • Warner Brothers in financial difficulties • Looking for a “gimmick” • 1st talking picture, though still basically silent • Contained snatches of dialogue + 4 singing numbers • Actor Al Jolson • Saved WB studios and the film industry as a whole • 1st full length, all talking motion picture: The Lights of New York (1928)

  7. The Jazz Singer 1927

  8. Problems • With the release of The Jazz Singer, all silent films in production were converted to talkies • Smaller, independent studios buckled • Control in industry left to: Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Twentieth Century-Fox, WB & RKO (The Big 5) • Microphones • Talkies meant success for new people, but ended the careers of others • End of title writers, new type of writers needed, plot + dialogue matter even more now

  9. Walt Disney • Steamboat Willie(1928) • 1st film to have a completely synchronized soundtrack including sound effects, music, + “dialogue” • Flowers and Trees(1933) • Disney’s 1st three-color Technicolor film • The Three Little Pigs(1933) • gave hope for the nation during the GD • Other animated features had a similar effect making audiences feel young and happy.

  10. Steamboat Willie 1928

  11. The Great Depression • Films used as an escape • People could momentarily forget their troubles • Other things to remember • Musicals very popular 1930’s-1950’s • Experiments with 2 & 3 color films • First full length, full color film Wizard of Oz, then Gone With the Wind

  12. Death of Silent Films • 1928 • ENORMOUS popular demand for talkies • Tacky talkies earned more $ than good silent films • Theaters w/ silent films played to empty houses • 1929 • All studios stop producing silent films • Chaplin had one more in 1931

  13. Long Term Effects • Shared experience changes • Talking during movies is frowned upon. • Studio contract stars started to guarantee box office success for any motion picture in which they appeared. • Success of a particular type of movie at any one studio would result in a cycle of similar movies from other studios. • Public started demanding a greater degree of realism. • (A manner of treating subject matter that presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of the lower and middle classes.) Are any of these relevant today?

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