MOVIETONE Meaning and
Definition
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Movietone refers to a film sound system that was predominantly used in the early days of cinema. It was developed by the American company Western Electric in the late 1920s and was widely adopted in the film industry during the 1930s. The movietone system revolutionized the movie industry by introducing synchronized sound to films.
The movietone technology allowed filmmakers to record and reproduce sound directly onto film stock. It involved a variable density soundtrack where the sound waves were recorded as varying shades of light and dark on the film strip. This method allowed for the synchronization of sound with moving images, creating a more immersive and realistic cinematic experience.
With movietone, dialogue, music, and sound effects could be captured and played back along with the visual content, eliminating the need for live performers or musicians during screenings. This breakthrough innovation marked a significant advancement in the history of cinema, enabling filmmakers to fully explore the potential of sound in storytelling.
Movietone also referred to the newsreel series produced by Twentieth Century Fox using this sound system. These newsreels presented current events and topical stories, bringing the latest happenings to cinemas worldwide. The movietone newsreels became a popular source of information and entertainment during the 1930s and 1940s, providing audiences with an audiovisual window into the world beyond their local communities.
Overall, movietone represents both a sound technology and a type of newsreel, each playing a pivotal role in the development and expansion of the film industry.
Etymology of MOVIETONE
The term "Movietone" has its origins in the early technology of sound film. "Movietone" is a combination of two words: "movie" and "tone".
The word "movie" is a truncation of "moving picture", which refers to a sequence of images recorded on film to create the illusion of motion when projected. The term "movie" emerged in the early 20th century when motion picture technology started to gain popularity.
The word "tone" refers to the sound component of a film. Early sound film systems, such as Vitaphone and Movietone, used a method called "sound-on-film", where the audio was recorded on a strip of film alongside the images. These systems captured and reproduced sound through variations in the density of the filmstrip, creating a visual representation of the audio signals in the form of varying tones.
