The talking picture commenced its venture, fettered. It was introduced
to the public whilst in its infancy; experiments had been few, hence
these two combining factors failed to work in harmony, and consequently
faith in its future progress was badly shattered.
The leading difficulty was the question of synchronising the sound and
pictures, for to speak accurately they must be in perfect step. The
simplest talking film is the combination of an ordinary phonograph and
a projector. The phonograph placed near the actors registers the sounds
whilst the camera records the action.
In the question of synchronism lies the difference of the various
schemes promoted in the past; the two main essentials must be kept
in unison, otherwise the whole thing becomes a farce. Intricate
time-arrangements, synchronized motors, loud-speaking telephone
arrangements have yielded but poor results. One attempt was tried
whereby the film carried the sound record along one edge side by side
with the pictures. A stylus is made to travel in a groove on the film,
and apparently synchronization is complete, but the test results turned
out anything but satisfactory.
For recording sounds or speech, sensitive microphones are distributed
about the scene where the play is being acted. These microphones are
skilfully concealed, in a fern or palm, underneath a desk or table,
anywhere so that it is skilfully camouflaged from the vision of the
actors taking part. The sound waves impinging on the microphones are
transferred to a circuit including a battery and a string-galvanometer,
highly sensitive; the string attached to this galvanometer is hung
over a series of very powerful electro-magnets, and the slightest
fluctuations in the current passing through it causes an immediate
distortion. Powerful arc lamps are mounted at the rear of the camera
and a beam of light penetrates through the galvanometer, throwing a
shadow of the wire on a steadily moving film behind a narrow horizontal
slip. The wire is so arranged that one side of the exposed film is
always in the shadow, the developed film shows a straight edge and a
series of mountain tops, or peaks.
The galvanometer is the heart of the sound recorder. A single wire
was employed in the earlier forms. An oil bath is provided through
which the upper part of the wire passes, which damps the movement.
This instrument can be easily opened; provision also being made for
adjusting the wire best suited for the sound record.
The reproducing process is easy. A fine telephonic relay, highly
sensitive, is employed in circuit with the selenium cell and battery,
in addition, a clear-speaking telephone with its own battery is
operated in the secondary circuit. The second record of the film is
transmitted into sound waves, which are generated throughout the cinema
at the same time the pictures are being shown on the screen.
Quite recently in London a new process was shown, comprising a
transmitter, electrically connected by means of an ordinary telephone
wire to the reproducing instruments, which are placed in the frame of
the screen, and a double turntable carries the musical records, which
are automatically controlled by the film in such a way that the change
from one record to another is made without pause or hesitancy, and in
absolute conjunction with the movement of the pictures. An outstanding
feature is that the apparatus can be easily connected with any existing
cinema projector.
Speaking-films of short duration are a great attraction and fairly
successful to undertake, but their real value as an effective
synchronizer would be fairly tested reel film. The obstacles to be
overcome here would be tremendous; it would mean constant rehearsing,
over and over again, until the players were absolutely perfect in word
as well as in action, and the excision of any part of the film would
interfere with the reproduction.
Accidents sometimes happen to films, such as tearing, firing, severe
scratching, and this necessitates the cutting away of part of the film.
This possibility of interruption is minimized in the new apparatus; the
operator can adjust the gramophone to make allowance for the cutting
off of one or two feet of film, but not beyond this extent. Lecturers
find the film not altogether satisfactory to aid them in demonstrating
their lectures; the drawback lies in the fact that he sometimes wishes
to stop the film to emphasize some particular passages in his lecture,
but a new process has now come to his aid which will relieve him of
this anxiety. The film is passed through a water jacket, which is
attached to the projecting machine, and this enables film to be stopped
at any point, for any length of time. This experiment has been made
with current ranging from 30 to 60 amperes, and even at 60 it has been
found possible to maintain the film stationary for ten minutes.
Take Professor Stirling’s lecture. A Gallic cock is thrown upon a
screen, life-like in its pride and colours; it ruffled its feathers and
inflated its gorge, and opened its beak, then there came forth the most
strident and triumphant cock-crows ever heard at dawn; and so perfectly
did the sounds correspond to the actions of the bird, that it was
almost impossible to believe that the real bird was not there.
After experiments extending over ten years, a Swedish engineer, M. Sven
Berglund, has succeeded in inventing a speaking film, which ensures
the simultaneous production of sound and action. Upon the heel of this
invention comes another by an Englishman; the perfect voice-movement
film having reached a definite advanced stage. The invention of a
synchronizer by Mr. Claude H. Verity, a Harrogate engineer, enables the
operator, by simply sliding a knob, quite independently of observing
the screen, to work synchronization to 1-24th of a second. For operas
with singing and music, a child could operate it because there is a
fixed tempo. Should the film break by accident, the speaking can be
shut off and taken up again. A great advantage of the invention is that
with the apparatus in projecting boxes the synchronized film could be
circulated in the ordinary way.
Still another invention by an Englishman, which goes a long way towards
the perfection of these pictures, is one by which the pictures are
made sharper and deeper in tone, besides being steadier; this is done
by a series of mirrors. It has often been noticed that some of the
pictures when thrown upon the screen lack “body,” or shall we call it
“substance”? By this means the pictures are made more realistic than
ever; the natural lines on the human face are visible, so life-like and
human do they appear.
Screen improvements are also taking place. The new Ekualite diminishes
the amount of eyestrain, and the front benchers may watch pictures
without that periodical resting from the concentrated gaze. It ensures
perfect comfort of vision from any angle of a cinema hall.
It is needless to point out that the extension of the idea is possible,
the application of the cinematograph and chronophone are illimitable,
and how much more will the Library lectures and “Half-hour talks” be
appreciated! Hundreds of years hence, our descendants may see and hear
their forefathers as if their living ghosts talked and walked, long
after their bones have become dust.