The impact of sound on early cinema.

The impact of sound on early cinema.

Early sound in cinema was clunky, impractical and in some ways even damaging for the actors and filmmakers.

Sound was first introduced as music and sound effect for films that had the correct wiring. Then actors started to dub over the silent films or speak into microphones as technology progressed. These were called "talkies". between 1920 and 1930 sound became an integral part of the cinema, after this time any cinemas not wired with sound systems went out of business.

It was a difficult journey for filmmakers, actors and crew members alike to adapt to this drastic change in the filming process. As Thompson and Bordwell said in 1979 "Microphones were insensitive and hard to move; it was difficult to mix sound tracks; and scenes frequently had to be shot by multiple cameras in soundproof booths". Most early "talkies" were even more static than the earlier silent films because the actors had to keep in range of the static microphone and camera. Furthermore the microphones were omnidirectional picking up any noise on the set, this meant that the cameras had to be kept in soundproofed booths because they whirred when filming. Furthermore though the booths had wheels they couldn't be used in film because they caused too much noise, this made films even more static. On top of this all sound had to be recorded on the set, this meant that the soundtrack had to be recorded near the microphone with the orchestra and instruments there on set!

There were also many other issues with silent films for the actors, many successful silent film actors hit a snag when sound was introduced. John Gilbert was a famous silent film actor but his talkie films were unsuccessful because his voice was seen as obnoxious. He became an alcoholic and died of a heart attack as a result of poor health.

However after working through the rough patches sound has become a mandatory part of cinema all over the world.