How to add sound to amateur films (1954)

A Sound Idea When you are drowsy, you close your eyes. So long as you are conscious, however, your ears remain active. Consequently, you find nothing incongruous in sound without sight. Even when your eyes are open, you often hear sounds through an open doorway or from a source otherwise invisible. The gramophone and radio therefore seem natural enough and you can readily believe that only the loudspeaker grille prevents you from seeing the musician you hear. The reverse is not true. It is far from easy to watch an event at close quarters without also hearing what is going on. Soundproof windows are a rarity. It is not surprising, therefore, that the silent films you show at a children's party should be greeted by cries of "Where's the sound?" and "Why can't you hear them?" A completely silent moving picture is an artificial monstrosity. It can be saved by making it realistic, or by making it artistic. Realism demands that the appropriate sounds shall be heard at the appropriate time. We are so accustomed to the perfection of the professional cinema and television, that we may not appreciate the difficulties involved in achieving this. But if a man's voice is observed only a fraction of a second before or after his lip movements, you lose the illusion of watching a real man speaking. Nor must a door slam before or after it is shut. The sound must be synchronised with the action. It must come when we expect it, or not at all. The professional cinema took thirty years to find a satisfactory solution to the problem. In the meanwhile anything from an upright piano to a full orchestra was used to provide a musical accompaniment to silent films. You cannot expect a large audience to watch a drama in complete