Sound development in films

Although sound was developed by some of the best pioneers of the time, even the Warner brothers thought of sound in films as something that would never be achievable. They soon found out that they where wrong and made sound in films possible. This essay will concentrate on one of the best innovations, sound in films. It will include an explanation of what sound is, the history of sound development in movies, and a brief history of the company that made all this possible, Warner Brothers.

First, I will give a brief explanation of how sound is possible. According to the Open University sounds are made by anything that vibrates, and this is essential to produce a sound. This can be proved by touching the object that is producing the sound. For example, if you touch your throat you will feel the vibrations that your vocal cords produce. The same vibrations can be noticed when you touch a speaker when it is playing music. Sound has to be transmitted through something and this can be by water, metal or air, but humans mainly receive the vibration through air. The ear is what makes us able to hear these vibrations and that is why the ear is so complex, having three sections that perform different tasks to make hearing possible. Understanding the complexity of sound and how it is possible for us to hear these vibrations may give us an idea of why sound in motion pictures was first developed until the late 1920s and also to understand why so many inventions failed to achieve this.

Before sound in motion pictures came, silent films were very popular; even now they are still remembered. Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (known as Charlie Chaplin) is one of the best known actors of the silent era, as well as Rin Tin Tin (the first dog star) but even though these films were quite successful, film makers wanted more than just motion pictures; they also wanted sound in their films. The American Film History says that the thought of adding sound to motion pictures started as early as the 1890s. Various experiments took place to try and make this happen, but most of them were unsuccessful. In 1895, Thomas Edison invented the Kinetophone. He did not try to synchronize motion pictures with sound but the Kinetophone played music while people were watching the film. The Kinetophone did not make much of an impact and other inventors tried to improve Edison´s Kinetophone. Léon Gaumont invented the Chronophone in 1902, this apparatus used two phonographs (the first sound recording invention by Thomas Edison, which used a cylinder with tinfoil on it to record sound made by marks made by a pin) and a single projector linked by cables. A dial was used to try to synchronise the two phonographs and the motion picture. Between 1909 and 1913 more than a dozen other inventions were introduced with similar systems but also shared similar problems. All of these innovations were unsuccessful for 3 reasons: 1) they were expensive, 2) they did not have the necessary strength to get to the whole audience in a hall and, 3) because they did not stay synchronised for long.

According to The American Film History, film companies were not the only ones interested in developing sound, AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) and RCA (Radio Corporation of America) were looking to (respectively) develop their telephone and radio equipment and they were the ones who finally came up with the technology necessary to develop sound in motion pictures. In 1912, AT&T subsidiary company, Western Electric, secured the rights to Lee De Forest´s Audion tube, which was used in the making of the first loudspeaker system which would later prove to be a major innovation. The loudspeaker was first used in the” Victory Day” parade in Park Avenue in 1919, but became widely known in 1920 when it was used for political conventions. Western Electrics improved the disc recording system by adding various electronic apparatus, such as the loudspeaker.

In 1927, the first “talkie” (a film with sound and dialogue) was released by Warner Brothers under the name of “The Jazz Singer”. This film generated a huge impact on the audiences. “The crowds flocked to this entertainment, anxious to hear as well as see” – You Must Remember This: The Warner Brothers History. Although “The Jazz singer” was considered as the first “talkie” it only had a few spoken words. One year later, Warner Brothers released the first all-talking film, “Lights of New York”, which was a gangster film with dialogue throughout the entire movie; this ended the silent film era. After the development of sound, a whole new era started and all the film companies started to switch to be able to produce “talkies”. This change happened in just a few months and before they knew, all movie companies were producing films with entire dialogues. The diffusion of this development happened really quickly and all the major film companies were changing to adapt to the new era.

Warner Brothers became one of the top film producers in Hollywood and produced high quality films for the audience. They also took another view on films, “In the 1930s they produced films like “Black Legion” (dealing with the Ku Klux Klan), “Black Fury” (about the mistreatment of coal miners) and “They Won't Forget” (about prejudice and lynching in the deep South) were all fact-based, hard-hitting exposés reflecting America’s social problems” – (Warner Brothers Official web site).

It is important to mention the people that made this possible. Warner Brothers was started by four brothers: Albert, Harry, Jack and Sam Warner. They were born in Poland, except Sam who was born in Canada as their father moved there to establish his business. They were not interested in cinema right away but became really interested on the idea when they first encountered the motion picture. They were so involved with the making of cinema, that they developed sound in motion picture, one of the greatest inventions. By this they became one of the most respected film companies of Hollywood. “The Warners brought sound to movies, introduced the first “four-legged star,” revitalized the movie musical, created the gangster-picture era, and produced a number of socially significant films that evoked national awareness about growing problems of their times” – (Official Warner Brothers website).

By appreciating everything that the Warners did, it is possible to begin to understand why they are so successful now and, especially, why almost everyone knows about them. Although they started producing films, the Warner brothers did not stop there. According to the Warner Brothers History, they also started broadcasting through the TV and are still providing the audience with quality entertainment in both cinema and TV. We can agree that they were the best pioneers of the time not only because they developed technology that helped the cinema to grow, but also all the new technologies are merely improvements of the system they innovated. New technologies such as digital sound might not have been created without the original sound that the Warner brothers innovated. Therefore, it has to be seen that they made a great change to the film experience and also to the film industry. As said before, sound started with dialogues, but now, as well as dialogues there are sound effects to make the film experience feel a touch more real.

From my point of view this innovation did a lot for the cinema of the time. First, the idea of motion pictures was thought of something impossible but it became a reality. Then there were thoughts of adding sound to these motion pictures, which at the time seemed impossible but yet again it became a reality in 1927. This makes me think that technology will never be predicted and even if people think some things are not possible to make, they might be surprised by what scientists and innovators can create with technology, especially in this century which has developed technology in ways that even we do not understand how this things are possible. For example, the innovation of computer-generated visual effects in the 1980s, it seemed unreal to have a dragon on a film which “interacted” with the actors, the way of doing this was to make “puppets”, but now the only thing you need is a computer and a green screen. I cannot stop to imagine how these innovations excited and amused people that were used to different things and who were born without the technology that now exists. Even people like me, who were born with this technology, are still amused by the inventions of this century. Technology will continue to grow and it will create machines that will generate amusement and interest all around the world and will probably take us to places and create experiences that we never imagined or never thought possible. We have to remember the great innovations that people have done and, of course, remember how the Warner brothers made sound in movies possible and the benefit for both audiences and films companies that this great innovation brought to our world.