The Innovative Key Development Of Synchronised Sound In Film

When the medium of film begun over 100 years ago, the idea of synchronised sound was unthinkable. The concept of getting moving image to screens had only occurred and the demand for sound was not necessary. It was only in the second half of the 1920’s did the innovative key development of synchronised sound in cinema arrive which paved the way for what cinema has become today.

Before the use of synchronised sound, sound did play a part in cinema. However, this came from live bands or actors playing along to the film.

The first film to incorporate the innovative technology of synchronised sound was the 1927 Warner Brothers production of The Jazz Singer. While a large majority of the movie is a silent film, Warner Brothers were able to use

When sound was wanted in the production often a live band would play music in the theatre or live actors would read the lines. There was no demand for synchronised dialogue within the film therefore film production companies did no feel the need to change it by looking for a way to include synchronised sound. It was only when the telephone company (AT&T) and the radio company (RCA) approached the production studios with the available technology did synchronised sound become integrated into film. The major production companies at the time chose to remain with what the audience enjoyed and chose to avoid developing the technology provided by AT&T and RCA. They were already extremely profitable and didn’t want to take the risk. Smaller companies, Warner Bros and Twentieth Century Fox chose to acquire the technology to include synchronised sound in order to gain an advantage over their larger

The production studio had to look at whether adding this new technology would be economically beneficial to what they had already achieved when producing cinema.

Many people believed that adding sound could harm cinema instead of enhancing it. There was concern that the art would be taken out of it and it would become less visual.

Now that Warner brothers and 20 fox had taken the risk to use sound in there films it upped their rankings in the production company hierarchy. Although the technology was very expensive and increased the cost for studios to produce films, it made it hard for others to compete with them.

Another disadvantage of the innovative sound technology was the cost. In order to fund the productions with sound production companies had to find funding. Often looking to big banks to bank roll the films. However, this meant that they could have less creative control as the banks would not fund an idea they did not