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This color and black & white educational film is about how sound came to be in the movies. Copyright is 1978. The film was made by AT&T as part of its public outreach campaign.
Opening: film reels, filmmaker and sound engineer mix tracks. Multiple people at work moving reels, mixing sound, raising sound levels, making phone calls to get certain tracks. In the control booth, knobs are turned, buttons pushed, a film projector is turned on (:08-:59). Clips from 'The Jazz Singer' (1927) with Al Jolson, a cartoon, Alexander Graham Bell's assistant Thomas Watson, a man jumping off a balcony to be with his beloved, a young boy, a crying woman. The projector plays on as people in the sound mixing booth discuss. A button is pushed. Clips from 'The Jazz Singer' (1927), Al Jolson (1:00-2:16). Opening title: LISTEN TO THIS (2:17-2:21). People in the sound mixing booth. Clips from one of the first Vitaphone films. Alexander Graham Bell's assistant Thomas Watson. People in the sound booth, a film projectionist turns his projector on. Thomas Watson. B/W clips from early movies. Thomas Edison experimenting with sound. 5 items had to be developed so movies could talk, all are shown: amplification, electrical recording and reproduction mechanisms, microphones, loud speakers, and a method to synchronize sound to picture (2:22-4:06). In 1912 at 463 West St, in Lower Manhattan, NY, a test was done on the invention the Audion. The Audion was an electronic detecting or amplifying vacuum tube invented by American electrical engineer Lee de Forest in 1906. In 1913 the Audion became key. People doing experiments with sound devices. A man plays a piano. People speak and try and capture it. In 1916 - the condenser microphone was created. In 1921 Warren G. Harding gave a speech at Arington National Cemetery and it was carried to other cities by long distance circuits. By 1922, radio had developed. Stills of people holding papers in front of microphones. That year the first non commercial talking picture was shown. Discs were used for the sound as the methods for producing them were well known. By 1924 every studio rejected sound. Movie stars of the silent 1920s films are shown in stills. People sit in a theater looking at the screen (4:07-7:00). Exterior of people walking by the Geo. M. Cohan Theatre in New York, NY in the 1920s. Warner Bros sign. Experiments with sound in Brookly, NY. August 6, 1926, a crowd jammed a the Warners' Theatre on Broadway to see the first sync sound film: "Don Juan" with John Barrymore. During this film, music played from the loud speakers rather than from an orchestra on site. Clips from the "Don Juan" film. Also, the sounds of the swords hitting one another had been added in post dubbing and that was played over the speakers as well (7:01-9:21). Billboard for the new Vitaphone film: "Don Juan." Title card for Giovanni Martinelli in 'Vesti La Giubba' followed by scenes of the singing having been dubbed into the movie. Title card for Roy Smeck, The Wizard of the String, in 'His Pastimes' followed by scenes of Smeck strumming his ukelele. People in the sound booth. Clips from 'Finding His Voice,' an animated cartoon synchronized to voice and sound, A Western Electric Sound System Picture from 1929. Animation that shows and explains how the sound recording process works as characters fly around (9:22-12:45). History was made on October 6, 1927, Al Jolson in 'The Jazz Singer.' Al Jolson talks and sings in the movie. The movie was the first with synchronized dialogue. It marked the ascendancy of “talkies” and the end of the silent-film era. People in the sound booth (in color present day) are happy. More clips from 'The Jazz Singer' (12:46-14:37). End credits (14:38-15:19).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com