Edward B. Craft, executive V. P. of Bell Laboratories, gives a demonstration and short talk of Warner Brothers' new VItaphone sound on disk system in the same year that it is first adopted by Warner Brothers in one of their films, Don Juan.
Craft takes the viewer to the Vitaphone studios to see an actual musical act being recorded. A wall has been taken out of one side of the sound proofed camera booth so that the audience can see inside. Off to the side is the technician supervising the creation of the Vitaphone disc, also in a booth which has had one side removed for the purpose of seeing what happens. Craft says that this would not result in a good product, but things are being done this way for demonstration purposes.
The end portion demonstrates the playback portion of Vitaphone equipment and shows the same act that was being recorded in the studio onscreen. The thing is, this is not the exact same thing. Witt and Berg are playing a completely different song. That is probably because doing things as done in the demo would not yield a very good quality product in regards to sound. But it is genuine in that what is being shown IS something that was recorded via Vitaphone.
I couldn't help but notice that Mr. Craft is dressed in a tuxedo - this seems to be standard for anybody speaking on camera in the 1920s. The Vitaphone technicians just have a shirt and tie on, probably more like standard workday clothes. Craft's halting speech I would just chalk up to this entire manner of speaking being unfamiliar to him if it were not for the fact that everybody, including trained actors, talked in this stiff manner when talking in the first Vitaphone shorts. I can only attribute this to the diction coaches who were mentioned in Singin In the Rain as giving actors a very unnatural way of speaking.
This short is on the three disc presentation of The Jazz Singer as an extra feature, and is worth watching for the film history angle. The numerous problems of sound on disc caused Vitaphone to be largely abandoned in favor of sound on film in about 1930.
Craft takes the viewer to the Vitaphone studios to see an actual musical act being recorded. A wall has been taken out of one side of the sound proofed camera booth so that the audience can see inside. Off to the side is the technician supervising the creation of the Vitaphone disc, also in a booth which has had one side removed for the purpose of seeing what happens. Craft says that this would not result in a good product, but things are being done this way for demonstration purposes.
The end portion demonstrates the playback portion of Vitaphone equipment and shows the same act that was being recorded in the studio onscreen. The thing is, this is not the exact same thing. Witt and Berg are playing a completely different song. That is probably because doing things as done in the demo would not yield a very good quality product in regards to sound. But it is genuine in that what is being shown IS something that was recorded via Vitaphone.
I couldn't help but notice that Mr. Craft is dressed in a tuxedo - this seems to be standard for anybody speaking on camera in the 1920s. The Vitaphone technicians just have a shirt and tie on, probably more like standard workday clothes. Craft's halting speech I would just chalk up to this entire manner of speaking being unfamiliar to him if it were not for the fact that everybody, including trained actors, talked in this stiff manner when talking in the first Vitaphone shorts. I can only attribute this to the diction coaches who were mentioned in Singin In the Rain as giving actors a very unnatural way of speaking.
This short is on the three disc presentation of The Jazz Singer as an extra feature, and is worth watching for the film history angle. The numerous problems of sound on disc caused Vitaphone to be largely abandoned in favor of sound on film in about 1930.
