Technologies
Sound on Film
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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 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
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.
The Jazz Singer actually used Vitaphone sound-on-disc; its success drove the industry to sound, which settled on optical sound-on-film.
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.
In Medium
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationSound-on-film, History sectionQuote, Sound-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.
2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationDeveloped By: Lee de Forest, Lee de Forest, PhonofilmView the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: M, M (1931 film), Production: Use of soundView the Source A History of Narrative Film
David A. Cook, W. W. Norton, 2016Associated With: The Jazz Singer
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