The Coming of Sound - Assignment Example

This was mostly because of the lack of sound. Changes in the movie industry were witnessed in 1926 courtesy of the Warner Brothers and Western Electric ("Digital History.”). Evidently, they innovatively created a contemporary sound on disc system. To this end, the system worked through the recording of music and sound effects on wax record. The wax record consequently worked in synchronization with a film projector. The hallmark of sound technology was exhibited by Warner Brothers when they released the first motion picture complete with synchronized sound effects and a pre-recorded score.

The movie was ‘Don Juan’ (Lastra, 45). However, the pioneer motion sound movie did not have an instant impact by influencing people to adapt talking technology. Many people were still comfortable with silent pictures. However, these perceptions were soon to change in October 1927 with the release of “The Jazz Singer”. It was based on the popular Broadway play by Samson Raphaelson and Alfred Cohen’s story, “The Day of Atonement” ("Digital History.”). The script was based upon a Jewish boy, played by Al Johnson, who was aiming to be a Broadway star.

Evidently, the movie triggered a sound movie revolution since it was the first one to utilize spoken dialogue. Furthermore, the movie was an instant box office hit with profits of up to $ 3.5 million. To this end, Warner Brothers earned its place as one of the top studios in Hollywood. Following the release of another sound movie and instant box office hit, “The Lights of New York”, the remainder of Hollywood adopted sound movies rapidly ("Digital History.”). The impacts arising from talking sound pictures were largely positive but equally negative to some extent in Hollywood.

It is no doubt that the introduction of sound was of profound benefit to the motion picture industry. However it was highly disastrous to vaudeville entertainment ("Digital History.”). To this end, vaudeville performances found it increasingly difficult to compete with sound technology. This was majorly because most of the actors were not able to adapt to sound motion pictures. In addition, the musical accompaniment that was synonymous with silent pictures was dealt a deathly blow. This was evident through the loss of musical careers to majority of the orchestra musicians who offered live score services to the silent movies.

They were quickly replaced by animated shots and newsreel. To this end, the introduction of live sound technology rendered their services redundant. The rapid technology change equally accounted for change within the Hollywood film industry. Evidently, upon showcasing of “The Jazz Singer,” the change to a contemporary type of motion picture technology began in earnest. There was a restructuring in film production and the film industry as a whole. These included the incorporation of sound recording into filmmaking, installation of sound equipment into theatres, and the drastic phasing out of silent films.

Another impact in the Hollywood studio was felt pertaining to the voices and speech of certain actors. Initially, the silent motion pictures were only dependent on the physical gesturing of actors during the course of the play. Consequently, the element of an actor’s voice or speech was not an area of concern while recruiting or assessing the performance of actors. However, the advent of sound technology brought in a new