Advent of sound in cinema
At the end of the 1920s the cinema underwent a revolution. The centre of this revolution was the
introduction of synchronized sound dialogue, but it affected other areas as well, leaving very few
untouched. It was a revolution that began in America and spread inexorably to the rest of the
world, though certain aspects of it had a specific European inflection and some remote corners of
the world did not feel the effects of any of it for some time.
The revolution can be conveniently dated from 6 October 1927, with the New York premiere of
Warner Bros.' The Jazz Singer in which Al Jolson pronounces the immortal line "You ain't heard
nothin' yet" with more or less perfect synchronization between his lips in the film and his voice
recorded in parallel on a disc. But that was only a beginning. By 1930 the sound-on-disc
technology pioneered by Western Electric was replaced by a simpler and more reliable soundon-film
system devised by the rival corporation General Electric. A European consortium led by
the German companies Siemens and AEG entered the fray and successfully seized a sizable
corner of the growing market for sound equipment. Within a few years thousands of theatres in
Europe and America were wired for sound using technology licensed from the powerful patents
holders. Only in the Soviet Union and Japan was the conversion to sound slow to take effect.
The transition from silent to sound film marks a period of grave instability as well as great
creativity in the history of cinema. The new technology produced panic and confusion, but it
stimulated experiments and expectations too. While it undermined Hollywood's international
position for several years, it led to a revival of national film production elsewhere. It is a period
with specific features that differentiate it from the years before and after.
The new sound movies were called Vitaphone movies which means the ―sound of life‖
At the end of the 1920s the cinema underwent a revolution. The centre of this revolution was the
introduction of synchronized sound dialogue, but it affected other areas as well, leaving very few
untouched. It was a revolution that began in America and spread inexorably to the rest of the
world, though certain aspects of it had a specific European inflection and some remote corners of
the world did not feel the effects of any of it for some time.
The revolution can be conveniently dated from 6 October 1927, with the New York premiere of
Warner Bros.' The Jazz Singer in which Al Jolson pronounces the immortal line "You ain't heard
nothin' yet" with more or less perfect synchronization between his lips in the film and his voice
recorded in parallel on a disc. But that was only a beginning. By 1930 the sound-on-disc
technology pioneered by Western Electric was replaced by a simpler and more reliable soundon-film
system devised by the rival corporation General Electric. A European consortium led by
the German companies Siemens and AEG entered the fray and successfully seized a sizable
corner of the growing market for sound equipment. Within a few years thousands of theatres in
Europe and America were wired for sound using technology licensed from the powerful patents
holders. Only in the Soviet Union and Japan was the conversion to sound slow to take effect.
The transition from silent to sound film marks a period of grave instability as well as great
creativity in the history of cinema. The new technology produced panic and confusion, but it
stimulated experiments and expectations too. While it undermined Hollywood's international
position for several years, it led to a revival of national film production elsewhere. It is a period
with specific features that differentiate it from the years before and after.
The new sound movies were called Vitaphone movies which means the ―sound of life‖
No comments:
Post a Comment