Sound on Disc :: essays research papers

Sound-On-Disc From Inception til DeathFrom the Kinetophone to the Vitaphone, the sound-on-disc format dominated the pioneering stage of sound in movies. For the first time ever, people were equal to hear sound synchronized with the images on the screen, and the revolution had begun-the talkies were here to stay. It was the sound-on-disc format that helped create many of Hollywoods talkie classics, including The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool. However, another format, sound-on- moving picture, would in brief take reign of the talking motion picture movement, as the sense of hearing and the exhibitors started to become more demanding as technology was slowly improving. Sound-on-disc was simply beleaguered with overly many technical and economic problems to continue to stay relevant. Thus, the competing sound-on-film format in the depot became widely-accepted in the motion picture industry and is used even to this day. in that respect were many different technologies in the beg inning of the 20th Century that were able to incorporate sound with film, including the Chronophone and the Cameraphone. However, the most influential film-record player combination in basis of the impact on the developments in the 1920s was Thomas Edisons Kinetophone, which feature an automatic synchronizing system (Gomery, 27). Numerous identical gears linked the phonograph and projector to cause both machines, if manually operated, to move at the same rate. He too created an adjustment dial to correct synchronization problems. The Kinetophone was indeed march on for its time.On February 19, 1913, the Kinetophone premiered at the Colonial, a vaudeville theatre on Broadway. The film opened with a lecturer who proceeded to explain the system. He also stiff a plate, played the violin and piano, and had a dog bark-all of which demonstrated the baron of Edisons technology (28). A minstrel act followed, and the film finally ended with the chorus of the Star Spangled Banner. It was a huge hit, and the hearing gave the film a 15 minute standing ovation.Despite its successful opening night, the promise of the Kinetophone neer materialized. During the second week of its advanced York Presentation, the audience booed the Kinetophone, as the synchronization was off by as lots as 10 to 12 seconds due to an inexperienced projectionist. There were also other problems that plagued it. The phonograph emitted a harsh, metallic sound, and its volume was never sufficient to fill a large vaudeville theatre (29). Eventually, by 1915, all operations of Edisons Kinetophone had ceased. Edisons failure marked the end of the pioneering phase of the phonograph- based sound pictures.