The Evolution of Sound in Films

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The Coming of Sound

It is well known that films did not have sound during the initial stages of this industry. Silent films were the norm and just like other aspects such as color and cinemascope, sound in film was considered a possibility long before it eventually became a reality. The incorporation of sound to film came after years of intensive efforts and development. Thomas Edison was one of the persons who were deeply involved in the search of how sound could successfully be infused into film. Inventors like him worked tirelessly to fuse dialogue and film. Although he did manage to come up with a “few talkies”, doing it on a large scale was a completely different story and it took some time before it was possible. In 1919, the Germans showed some minor success in trying to incorporate sound into film using optical recording system to record sound photographically onto film strip.

This failure for successful incorporation of dialogue into film was due to several reasons. The first was that during the time, the recording tools and mechanisms were hugely sensitive. It was impossible except in a close shot for a recording device to be placed close enough to an actor in order to get a decent volume. The only option was to perhaps first record the dialogue and the voices and then photograph the action to a playback of the voices and dialogue already recorded. However, due to the limited technology of the time, even when voices and images were recorded correctly in both record and film, keeping the two elements in sync with one other in a full feature film was a daunting task. Electrical connections, as well as the use of pulleys and ropes, could not solve the problem.

There were also various attempts made by filmmakers to infuse natural sounds into films. For example, some filmmakers would put actors behind the main screen and then make them speak out the characters lines. Others installed various machines from which it was...