Silent-To-Sound Transition In Hollywood Movies

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DIRECTORS
The silent-to-sound transition did not only affect the stars, but it brought in a completely new variety of directors who had experience working in theatre and thus a better understanding of the power of voice.
Most of the top silent directors being Borzage, Ford, Stoheim, Sternberg, and Vidor were sad to see the onrush of sound. They had a feeling it would both destroy a unique art form and lessen the commercial value of Hollywood films in the European market. None of them intended to rush into talkies, partly because they disliked them and most for the more practical reason that their reputations might be lost easily and quickly.
When sound was introduced, the silent film was at its peak of visual sophistication. But during this …show more content…

Now sound muted him. During a take, he was forced to take the role of a critic, only being a director when they were not filming. Now being forced to instruct actors, watch a take, and then reinstruct them. This had a detrimental effect on the directing process, and particularly the overall speed of production.
Most of the early directors and producers were visually trained, but there were some, for example Frank Capra and Val Lewton, who realised that sound could be used creatively. From 1926 onward, demand for a director capable of supervising actors and actresses in talking roles meant many people from theatre were brought over from Broadway to Los Angeles.
A large amount of films ended up being directed by cameramen and editors as a lot of the Broadway stars had no experience in the motion picture technique. Some silent directors never managed to grasp sound, and therefore dropped out of the industry for good. Whereas on the other hand, the ones that had adapted successfully, started experimenting and playing around artistically with their very first sound …show more content…

Firstly, it was clear the silent movie had no future but was still a temporary necessity. It would be a long time before all the theatres, especially the smaller ones had converted to sound. They still needed product; and although audiences were quickly sold on the idea that talkies were modern and silents old fashioned, they were still loyal to favourite stars, many of whom were not ready to take the plunge into sound. Furthermore, many silent films had been in preparation for such a time that to abandon them would be a total loss, but to go ahead and produce them, as economically as possible, would entail a smaller loss and perhaps the chance of a slight profit.
The introduction of sound destroyed careers of numerous creative filmmakers and countless successful actors. It bankrupted investors and disillusioned many others. By 1931 the silents were definitively over, and it is safe to say that anybody who had not adapted to sound by that point was, figuratively and literally, out of the

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