The family of systems that photograph sound as an optical track along the edge of the film strip, so picture and audio can never drift apart. Lee de Forest's Phonofilm showed the principle publicly in 1923, Fox's Movietone carried it into newsreels and features, and optical sound displaced the rival sound-on-disc systems within a few years of The Jazz Singer.
Facts
Introduced YearDe Forest Phonofilm public screenings, New York, 1923; earlier laboratory systems include Eugene Lauste's work in the 1900s and the German Tri-Ergon patents. OriginAn early sound-on-film patent was filed in 1923 by E. E. Ries for a variable-density soundtrack process using a mercury vapor lamp; Lee De Forest and Case Laboratories developed the approach toward commercial use, deploying it at New York's Roxy Theatre in 1927. 2 Connections
Associated With
Source Sound film (Wikipedia)
As Fritz Lang's first sound film, M used a dense, non-theatrical soundtrack, including a recurring whistled leitmotif borrowed from opera to signal the killer's presence, an early and influential use of sound as a storytelling device rather than a novelty.
Source Wikipedia
Source Sound film (Wikipedia)
The Jazz Singer actually used Vitaphone sound-on-disc; its success drove the industry to sound, which settled on optical sound-on-film.
Source A History of Narrative FilmDavid A. Cook
Developed By
De Forest's Phonofilm process, demonstrated publicly from 1923, was one of several early competing sound-on-film systems, alongside Fox Movietone and others.
Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Lee de Forest (Wikipedia)Lee de Forest, Phonofilm
In Medium
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationSound-on-film, History section
In 1923 a patent was filed by E. E. Ries, for a variable density soundtrack recording, which was submitted to the Society of Motion Picture Engineers.
- Associated With: M, M (1931 film), Production: Use of sound
View the Source A History of Narrative Film
David A. Cook, W. W. Norton, 2016Associated With: The Jazz Singer
Sound film (Wikipedia)
Associated With: 20th Century Fox, Sound film, section Advanced sound-on-film
The following July, Case joined Fox Film, Hollywood's third largest studio, to found the Fox-Case Corporation.
Associated With: Radio Corporation of America, Sound film, section Triumph of the talkies
RCA division, which was looking to market its new sound-on-film system
View the SourceLee de Forest (Wikipedia)
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