Hands of Hollywood (1929)

Chapter XII THE TALKERS The Talkers have brought the voices of the players to the audience and new methods of production to the studios. They have caused the erection of sound-proof stages; filled the studios with high-salaried sound-technicians; changed the technique of scenariowriting; influenced the art director and the set-builder; put the cameramen in glass enclosures; affected the directing and the acting of pictures; created a new system of lighting; necessitated new machinery in the laboratory; brought directors, players, song writers, singers and dancers from Broadway; developed a new type of studio musician; reduced the number of construction workers, and made Silence the order of the day during actual production. Sound-proof stages have been built to insure the elimination of all street, construction and mechanical noises, and to permit the company to continue uninterrupted "shooting." These stages are steel and concrete structures built according to plans drawn by architects who work under the supervision of sound engineers. These engineers are sent to Hollywood by the electric company governing the particular process used in the studio. The sound stages usually are built in sections, each section a sound-proof cell, permitting several companies to "shoot" simultaneously. Some of the studios have utilized their old silent stages by lining the interiors with a cork composition. Other studios have draped monk's cloth around the set being filmed. The results have been very satisfactory. Many new positions have been created by the Talkers, e. g., sound engineers, sound technicians, monitor men, wax-room operators, theme-song and incidental music composers, dialog writers and dialog directors. The Sound Engineers are employed by the studios to insure the correct recording of sound and dialog. They are in charge of the entire recording system, the camera motors, the wax-room [94]