Editing Sound film (section)

=== Technology ===
[[File:ShowgirlHollywood.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|alt=Movie poster featuring a large illustration of a young woman wearing a short orange-red dance outfit, high heels, and headdress. Her head is surrounded by shooting stars and sparkles. At her feet, much smaller-scaled, are two men—one is shouting through a megaphone, the other is operating a movie camera. The accompanying text is dominated by the name of star [[Alice White]].|''[[Show Girl in Hollywood]]'' (1930), one of the first sound films about sound filmmaking, depicts microphones dangling from the rafters and multiple cameras shooting simultaneously from soundproofed booths. The poster shows a camera unboothed and unblimped, as it might be when shooting a musical number with a prerecorded soundtrack.]]
In the short term, the introduction of live sound recording caused major difficulties in production. Cameras were noisy, so a soundproofed cabinet was used in many of the earliest talkies to isolate the loud equipment from the actors, at the expense of a drastic reduction in the ability to move the camera. For a time, multiple-camera shooting was used to compensate for the loss of mobility and innovative studio technicians could often find ways to liberate the camera for particular shots. The necessity of staying within range of still microphones meant that actors also often had to limit their movements unnaturally. ''Show Girl in Hollywood'' (1930), from First National Pictures (which Warner Bros. had taken control of thanks to its profitable adventure into sound), gives a behind-the-scenes look at some of the techniques involved in shooting early talkies. Several of the fundamental problems caused by the transition to sound were soon solved with new camera casings, known as "[[Sound blimp|blimps]]", designed to suppress noise and [[Boom operator (media)|boom microphones]] that could be held just out of frame and moved with the actors. In 1931, a major improvement in playback fidelity was introduced: three-way speaker systems in which sound was separated into low, medium, and high frequencies and sent respectively to a large bass "woofer", a midrange driver, and a treble "tweeter."<ref>Millard (2005), p. 189.</ref>

There were consequences, as well, for other technological aspects of the cinema. Proper recording and playback of sound required exact standardization of camera and projector speed. Before sound, 16 [[Frame rate|frames per second]] (fps) was the supposed norm, but practice varied widely. Cameras were often [[Time-lapse|undercranked]] or [[Slow motion|overcranked]] to improve exposures or for dramatic effect. Projectors were commonly run too fast to shorten running time and squeeze in extra shows. Variable frame rate, however, made sound unlistenable, and a new, strict standard of 24 fps was soon established.<ref name=Allen15>{{cite web|author=Allen, Bob|url=http://www.amps.net/newsletters/issue15/15_lets_.htm|title=Let's Hear It For Sound|work=AMPS Newsletter|publisher=Association of Motion Picture Sound|date=Autumn 1995|access-date=December 13, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000108115255/http://www.amps.net/newsletters/issue15/15_lets_.htm|archive-date=January 8, 2000|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Sound also forced the abandonment of the noisy [[Arc lamp|arc lights]] used for filming in studio interiors. The switch to quiet [[Incandescence|incandescent]] illumination in turn required a switch to more expensive film stock. The sensitivity of the new [[panchromatic film]] delivered superior image tonal quality and gave directors the freedom to shoot scenes at lower light levels than was previously practical.<ref name=Allen15 />

As [[David Bordwell]] describes, technological improvements continued at a swift pace: "Between 1932 and 1935, [Western Electric and RCA] created directional microphones, increased the frequency range of film recording, reduced ground noise&nbsp;... and extended the volume range." These technical advances often meant new aesthetic opportunities: "Increasing the fidelity of recording&nbsp;... heightened the dramatic possibilities of vocal timbre, pitch, and loudness."<ref>Bordwell (1985), pp. 300–1, 302.</ref> Another basic problem—famously spoofed in the 1952 film ''[[Singin' in the Rain]]''—was that some silent-era actors simply did not have attractive voices; though this issue was frequently overstated, there were related concerns about general vocal quality and the casting of performers for their dramatic skills in roles also requiring singing talent beyond their own. By 1935, rerecording of vocals by the original or different actors in postproduction, a process known as "looping", had become practical. The ultraviolet recording system introduced by RCA in 1936 improved the reproduction of sibilants and high notes.<ref>Bordwell and Thompson (1995), p. 124; Bordwell (1985), pp. 301, 302. Bordwell's assertion in the earlier text, "Until the late 1930s, the post-dubbing of voices gave poor fidelity, so most dialogue was recorded direct" (p. 302), refers to a 1932 source. His later (coauthored) description, which refers to the viability of looping in 1935, appears to replace the earlier one, as it should: in fact, then and now, most movie dialogue is recorded direct.</ref>
[[File:USN16mmSoundtrack.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|alt=Vertical section of filmstrip, showing four-and-a-half frames, each of which reads, "Sea Power for Security. The End." Alongside the frames runs a continuous vertical white band of continuously fluctuating width.|Example of a variable-area sound track—the width of the white area is proportional to the [[Sound#Perception|amplitude]] of the audio signal at each instant.]]
With Hollywood's wholesale adoption of the talkies, the competition between the two fundamental approaches to sound-film production was soon resolved. Over the course of 1930–1931, the only major players using sound-on-disc, Warner Bros. and First National, changed over to sound-on-film recording. Vitaphone's dominating presence in sound-equipped theaters, however, meant that for years to come all of the Hollywood studios pressed and distributed sound-on-disc versions of their films alongside the sound-on-film prints.<ref>Crafton (1997), pp. 147–48.</ref> Fox Movietone soon followed Vitaphone into disuse as a recording and reproduction method, leaving two major American systems: the variable-area RCA Photophone and Western Electric's own variable-density process, a substantial improvement on the cross-licensed Movietone.<ref>See Bernds (1999), part 1.</ref> Under RCA's instigation, the two parent companies made their projection equipment compatible, meaning films shot with one system could be screened in theaters equipped for the other.<ref>See Crafton (1997), pp. 142–45.</ref> This left one big issue—the Tobis-Klangfilm challenge. In May 1930, Western Electric won an Austrian lawsuit that voided protection for certain Tri-Ergon patents, helping bring Tobis-Klangfilm to the negotiating table.<ref>Crafton (1997), p. 435.</ref> The following month an accord was reached on patent cross-licensing, full playback compatibility, and the division of the world into three parts for the provision of equipment. As a contemporary report describes:
<blockquote>
Tobis-Klangfilm has the exclusive rights to provide equipment for: Germany, Danzig, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, the Dutch Indies, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Finland. The Americans have the exclusive rights for the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Russia. All other countries, among them Italy, France, and England, are open to both parties.<ref>"Outcome of Paris" (1930).</ref>
</blockquote>
The agreement did not resolve all the patent disputes, and further negotiations were undertaken and concords signed over the course of the 1930s. During these years, as well, the American studios began abandoning the Western Electric system for RCA Photophone's variable-area approach—by the end of 1936, only Paramount, MGM, and United Artists still had contracts with ERPI.<ref>Crafton (1997), p. 160.</ref>
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