Technical Innovations
Vitaphone: The vitaphone is one of the first instances of using magnetism to record music. This use of a magnetic style of recording was only able to be created after decades of research and from the laboratories of Western Electric. This company developed the first dependable sound-film system. This system is of course called the vitaphone
Warner Bros. and the talking pictures: Western Electric went to multiple studios to sell the vitaphone (First National, MGM, and Paramount), but found no one to take the risk with this new technology, except for Warner Bros. Warner Bros reformed an old studio in September 1925 in order to produce sound films inside of it. They then used this studio to showcase the new technology to multiple muscle groups and peoples such as Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, and Al Jolson. About one month after the Vitaphone was shown, Warner Bros announced that they will be using it for all movies going forward
Al Jolson and the Jazz singer: In the movie The Jazz Singer Al Jolson portrays blackface which is something that does not do well in modern times. During the film Al Jolson performed multiple songs such as April Showers and Rock-a-bye your Baby with a dixie melody that were highly praised for Al Jolson’s singing which led to the financial success of the film. Many filmgoers who saw the film when it was released said that Al Jolson’s acting was horrid, but his singing was good, thus many at the time had mixed feelings about the film. This film, however, did launch sound and video into the media and caused Warner Bros to have their stock go from $21 to $132 from 1925 to 1927.
Sound Engineering and Sound Design: as sound became a vital part of film many studios had to create a new role for messing with sound, the sound engineer job was created. This job mainly entailed mixing sounds and sound editing for a film, and this was an important process in production and post production for any film. When all of the sound was mixed together and edited/stitched together it would compose a film’s sound design. Sound design became one of the most important aspects of filmmaking and this not only true for when sound first came to film, but it is still true now.
Hand Tinting: There were many experiments for color films in the early 1900’s. One such example is hand tinting. This technique involved putting lengths of film into transparent dyes. This could also be done with airbrushes which allowed for artists to specifically color certain items on a piece of film.
Charles Urban and Kinemacolor: The first practical use of color film technology was created by Charles Urban. He was known as an inventor who lived in America at the time and who was an entrepreneur. He called this new film technology the Kinemacolor, and two years later after it he began screening programs such as Roving Thomas. When he first started airing his films he was popular and successful, but the content of the films were not important and the films were mainly seen as an attraction.
Technicolor: the Kinemacolor had drawbacks to its visual abilities, one such drawback was the fact that it was an additive two-color system, which means it could only process red and greens leading to flesh tones being a problem. Technicolor No.1 however was a subtractive system instead of additive which led to better visuals, but it still was a two color system which still led to flesh tones being a problem. Then Herbert Kalmus created the Technicolor No.4 which was a three color system that fixed the flesh color problem that the previous technologies were having. This then shot it to popularity and made it the backbone of the film industry for color film production for the next 20 years. Many well received and popular films are made in color when Technicolor No.4 was released such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Theoretical Foundation of Color: The theory of color is that most natural colors are composed of three main primary colors. The primary colors are red, green, and blue. When each is mixed together in different intensities you can create different colors, and when all of them are combined in light you get white light. One way you can get different colors from light is by subtracting the colors that you don’t want in order to produce the desired color. This thought process is what Technicolor is based off of.
(Lewis, pg. 98 – 106)
The Studio System
Contract System/Star System: after many film studios survived the financial crisis of 1930 these businesses developed their powerful system known as the contract system. This system involved consideration for both the studio and its employees. These contracts controlled production costs and efficiently used the production teams that were working on films. The stars also were put onto contracts for the studios, thus helping the studios establish a trademark while making sure that the stars are guaranteed work and a stable flow of income.
Studio Style: many studios set on a genre that they may have been strong about, and directors who were singing with a studio knew before they signed what type of films were that studio’s style. During this time much of Hollywood also tried to make films that were linear, third person story telling, and had a practical visual style that tried to make audiences forget they were watching a movie.
Irving Thalberg: MGM was directed by Irving Thalberg in the early 1930’s, he became a top executive producer at the early age of 24 which led to his nickname being the boy wonder. Thalberg created a model for the contract era known as a supervisory system. This system lead to employees such as stage hands and stars being supervised and monitored by studio management. This system did prove itself to be successful which created similar management styles industry wide.
(Lewis, pg. 107 – 110)
Genres within Hollywood
Gangster: The gangster film genre came out when sound was first introduced in film. Most of these films had the theme or reformist message that said crime is bad, law-abiding citizens and police have to make a safe city by stopping the gangsters. The gangster himself however is shown to be a monster, but also fascinating since he is able to live freely with no worries of social norms and moral constraints. These films also focus on social problems during the depression of America. The core of most gangster films are about capitalism, what happens when too much money is accumulated to the wealthy, and the consequences of an unfair balance of capitalism.
Melodrama: Melodramas became a massive hit during the silent era and became a staple of early American cinema. Studios during this time would cast A-list actors for melodramas because of how popular they are. Many who watch film melodramas are hard to define but are able to be recognized in an instant. Audiences will relate to the characters easily when watching a film and are able to see them as more realistic people than characters in a film compared to other genres. This leads to a lot of melodramatic films to have the theme that you do not always get what you want or deserve in life.
Horror: Horror films are mainly defined by their effect on the audience, fear. These movies typically exploit a person’s fears such as fears of enclosed spaces, castration, and disfigurement. These movies usually have a central figure that is seen and shown as a monster. These monsters are set out to try and provoke disgust, fear, and repugnance. Many common ways horror films try to scare the audience is by exploiting a bigger/overarching fear theme, and some of these fear themes are fear of disease, death, and the unknown.
Musicals: When sound was able to be added to films musicals also came with it very soon. Many people wanted to see broadway musicals, but would be across the continent with no way to get there. What many film studios did was create these musicals so then audiences could hear and see performers sing. This seemed magical when it initially got released. These films were also very popular during the great depression since it allowed the escape from the daily slog during the time.
Comedy: Just like horror, comedy films are defined by their effect on the audience, in this case joy. Comedy films have been a thing since before the usage of sound and were popular during the silent era with Charlie Chaplin as its helm. With the creation of sound these silent film comedians fell short since their slapstick humor felt old and dated, with the exception of Charlie Chaplin of course. These comedians were replaced by animated films instead made by Walt Disney, and Dave and Max Fleischer. One reason for this is because comedy had evolved from just physical comedy. The audiences wanted verbal comedy as well since many were fascinated with the sound that was happening during the films.
(Lewis, pg. 120 – 137)
Censorship
Self-Censorship: many films in early cinema could get banned in different states, but could be allowed in other states instead. In an attempt to get a good relationship with the public eye Hollywood created a self-censorship apparatus. This was the first attempt at appealing to local censorship boards. These censors across the states wanted clean American entertainment. The film studios started to bargain with the masses in order to avoid a massive boycott and for films to be able to move freely throughout all of the states.
Will Hays and “Don’ts” and “Be Carefuls” lists: The main head of the MPPA, Will Hays, pushed out the first industry self regulatory system in 1927. This self regulatory system is compiled of 11 “Don’ts” and 25 “Be Carefuls” for what was allowed to be shown in films. The “Don’ts” consisted of profanity, white slavery, nudity, drug trafficking, child birth, and political correctness at the time. The “Be Carefuls” consisted of methods of committing crime such as theft, robbery, safecracking, etc.
Motion Picture Production Code: The lists were not a major success and were a leading failure for censorship in the film industry, but Hayes hired a Jesuit priest, Father Daniel A. Lord, and a devout Catholic journalist, Martin Quigley to assist him in writing the new censorship code to be put into place. They then turned in a document that had a few tweaks after the fact that became the Motion Picture Production Code that ruled over American motion pictures for over 30 years. The MPPC was of great importance to Hays since it protected studio films which he worked for, but to Lord and Quigley they had no care for monetary value. What they sought was regulation and restricting films in order to help the masses. The MPPC was designed like a catechism with complex and comprehensive code. These entailed a list of rules alongside lessons that were backed by moral philosophy.
(Lewis, pg. 113 – 115)
Works Cited
Lewis, Jon. American Film: A History. 2nd ed., 2021.