Star Wars and Sound

When Star Wars we released to the public, it astounded audiences not only with its incredible story, but with how people heard the movie. Star Wars was one of the first films to use Dolby's sound system to create booming sounds that film viewers had never heard before. Star Wars was also one of the first films to use a 5.1 surround sound system. When George Lucas and Gary Kurtz were talking with a Dolby engineer about the sound of the movie, the engineer told them that most theaters have unused speakers that could help give the movie an extra impact. This discovery helped Star Wars to become one of the first big block buster movies and helped push sound systems to their fullest potential.

TV VS. Hollywood

The main reason why Hollywood was threatened by TV was its convenience. Before TV, the movie theater was one of the biggest places to be entertained, people would pay a small amount to see a short program, then leave. Once TV began however, people were more inclined to stay home and watch because of how they received their entertainment. At home, people could do whatever they wanted, letting them talk and laugh as loud as they want without disturbing other people. Another reason why TV was more convenient was the cost. Whenever someone went to the movies, they had to pay a fee for the ticket. With a TV however, it was one payment for the TV and then you had unlimited entertainment. Without the rise of television, Hollywood wouldn't have had a major competitor in its golden age.

End Of Hollywood's Golden Age

The end of Hollywood golden age was officially ended by the supreme court in 1948 by declaring that multiple companies had cerated an illegal monopoly on the production and distribution of films. This movie studios had become a monopoly because of how they handled the distribution of movies. Unlike now, movie studios owned the theaters where the films were shown, letting them take in all the money from movie sales and ticket sales. This created a huge imbalance where movie studios could always have their most popular films playing in theaters, but more independent film creators could barely get an audience for their movies. The decision made by the supreme court separated the production and distribution companies to make sure the studios wouldn't have control over everything about film.

The Last Silent Films

Once people began to realize how much sound could be used to change cinema as a whole, the era of the silent film started to fade away. In the year 1928 specifically, more an more "talkies" started realizing from bigger film companies, further pushing out the creation of other silent films. Only about one big actor, Charlie Chaplin, continued to make silent films until the 30's, but later realizing that sound was the next big step for movies. Also with the advent of talkies, most of the biggest names in film, such as Mary Pickford and Louise Brooks,  started to die out because of the rise of sound. However, even though less and less silent films were being made by bigger companies, smaller individual film studios continued to make them until later in the 30's when sound equipment was easier to come by. Even though sound marked the end of an era for films, the silent era will always be looked back on with fond memories.

The Artist On Silent Films

I believe that this film was so successful because it was silent. It was a movie that strived to be different and maybe even teach people about the evolution of movies as a whole. Many people probably saw this movie and praised it for its different ideas and how it presented its characters. Another reason why this film was successful is how the audience could use the silent part of the film to form their own story in their heads. At certain parts, people speak without showing a title card for their dialog. This makes the viewer unconsciously piece the conversation together with the rest of the story. I believe the film won best picture because of its main focus, the silence. Many people say that some of the best films ever were silent ones, and making a modern silent film could be one of the greatest in history. The Artist was so successful because of its fresh ideas and new meanings to film as a whole.  

The Jazz Singer

The first big complication with sound was having everything be synchronized with the image on screen. If either the record on the vitaphone skipped a groove or the film lagged a few frames, the whole show would completely fall apart. Another issue with the vitaphone was how hard it was to transfer into the next film reel. The projectionist would have to replace reels in perfect sync in order for the show to keep rolling. With feature films like The Jazz Singer, this had to be done 15 times for the whole movie to be properly shown. The significance of The Jazz Singer was that it was the first film to feature synced audio. It wasn't the first to have synchronized music and sound effects, but only 2 improvised dialogue scenes started a revolution in the world of cinema. The Jazz Singer was the film that kickstarted the next big era of films, the talkies.

Milestones in recording

With the advancements in audio recording, films were able to take advantage of them to improve their overall sound. One important advancement was the introduction of stereophonic sound. This way of recording and playing back sound made it feel like the music was in different spots around the room. Another big advancement was was the ability to have multi track recording. Multi track recording was the ability to record separate parts of a track or vocals and combine them into one full track. This let composers record vocals and instrumentals separately to see if they both sounded correct. One final milestone was Digital Audio. Digital audio allowed not only professional audio producers to create things, but anyone at home to record and edit their own tracks and music. Digital audio helped bring audio production to everyone and made it easier to edit and create audio than ever before. Without these milestones in recording, audio wouldn't have been as advanced as it is today.

History Of Sound Questions

Question 1. How did they record sound with just light?

I understand how they actually recorded the sound, they used a sound sensitive light bulb to project light onto the light sensitive film. The main thing that I'm confused about is how the sound was played back. If it was just light waveforms on a piece of film, how does that create sound?

Question 2. How would they playback the recorded sound?

Would the sound come directly out of the projector through and amplifier? How would the sound on the film be read and made into sound? When I try to think about it, it doesn't make any sense in my brain. Also, how did optical sound improve in quality? When you listen to an old movie, you can immediately understand that its an old movie right when you hear any sound. How did they improve their sound quality?

Bit rates

When the bit rate of the song changes, the overall quality of the sound changes along with it. In the video, a song is played at a range of different bit rates, going from 24kbps to 192kbps. This increase can change a lot about how listener hears the song. With the higher bit rate, the whole song is very clear, letting the listener hear the vocals at the right pitch and volume. The higher bit rate also gives the song a stronger bass. The main draw back of higher bit rates is the size of the file, the 192kbps song being 707kB. As the bit rate of the song decreases, the overall quality begins to go down. At its lowest bit rate of 24kbps, the song's vocals are very muffled and almost inaudible, making it sound like the singer is underwater. The only positive thing to come from a lower bit rate audio file is its size, the 24kbps file being at only 95kb. By changing the bit rate of an audio file, the overall quality of the song degrades.

Visualizing Sound

The most interesting part of the video in my opinion was how they were able to visualize the sound on video. What they did to show movement in the air was using a candle to bend the light rays coming from a light bulb. That light then doesn't reach the focal point of the camera, making the subject dark and showing movement in the air. By being able to see sound visually, its helped me understand how fast it actually travels and the formation of the sound waves. Mathematically I know that the speed of sound is 343 meters per second, but being able to see the actual waves move through the air helps me understand it better. Also by seeing the wave, I'm able to see its proper circle shape. Normally, I think of a wave like a sine wave, but thats not how they actually look. By seeing sound visually, I'm able to understand its basic characteristics even better.

Wrapping Early Cinema History

The evolution of filmmaking will always amaze people, making people wonder what the early days of cinema were like. The main thing about film history that I found interesting was how sound changed the whole film industry. Film without sound still was able to convey passionate emotions, but once people were able to hear the actors, all of the emotions in a film started to change. If someone was terrified and screamed, the audience was able to hear the scream and feel the actors pain. Music also brought a lot to cinema, making it even more immersive than it already was. Watching a modern film without sound is almost impossible today because of how much we rely on it. Without film transitioning over to sound, films history would stay fairly static.

Sound At The Movies

Once sound was introduced to the world of films, the two were almost inseparable. Sound let films become even more immersive, letting people enjoy the film even more. In modern films, sound has become even more important to the experience.  One example of how films enhance the watching experience is Star Wars' space battle scenes. Without the intense music and amazing sound design, the audience wouldn't enjoy them nearly as much as they did. The most interesting thing I find about sound in movies is the foley design of films. The way the foley artists create different sounds astounds me, making me want to learn more about it. Without sound in modern movies, people wouldn't be as immersed.

African American Silent Film

As film started to become more popular, other filmmakers quickly rose in the scene. One of these filmmakers was Oscar Micheaux, an educated African American writer who had an eye for cinema. Micheaux became famous for his films that combated controversial issues in America, such as the racism that was portrayed in D.W Griffith's film Birth Of A Nation. The biggest reason why Micheaux's films are so important is because they were some of the first to be fully directed by an African American. This lead to Michael's films combating racial stereotypes of African Americans, proving that they can make these works of art as well. Along with being the first African American to direct a film, he was also the first to direct a "talkie," a film with a synchronized soundtrack. Without the influence of Micheaux, it could've been an even longer time for the film industry to accept African American directors.

Asian American Pioneers

In the early times of filmmaking, Asian Americans had a certain grasp on the people of America. One of the most famous Asian American actors was Sessue Hayakawa and he became a huge symbol for not just Asian Americans, but the American film industry as a whole. However, this role didn't stop people from hating Hayakawa. Throughout all the films he stared in, he was typecast as a stereotypical Japanese man, and almost nothing else. During the 1920's, racism towards Asian American actors only got worse, leading most of them to leave in industry in search of something new. These actors and actresses are significant however because of their huge affect on what Americans believed about film. They changed peoples expectations from the normal white american stars to people of every race. Without a lot of these Asian American actors and actresses, we might not have the racially diverse industry that we have today.

The Patent Wars

In the film industry's infancy, new filmmakers were popping up all over the place creating new inventions to better the filmmaking process. One of the first people to start creating these contraptions was Thomas Edison. Edison created various motion picture devices such as the vitascope and he continued to create more to better filmmaking. However, Edison was very strict with how his devices were handled and distributed. If someone was using one of his devices but didn't pay him directly, he would hunt them down and make them pay. This huge hunt by Edison is what lead the filmmakers of New Jersey to the land of California. One other reason for filmmakers to move to California was the landscape and weather. Everything was very open and sunny all the time, so more movies could be made in a shorter time. The most popular theaters at the time, Nickelodeons, were also fizzling out of popularity. When the time came for theaters to be made in America, they became grander and more expensive, creating the movie palaces. Without the migration to Hollywood, the film industry might've not exploded like it did.