Silent to Studio Golden Years

Part 1: Explore how the inclusion of sound in the movie pictures impacted the Movie Industry. Detail how it happened, who was affected, what was lost.

The inclusion of sound impacted the movie industry in several ways. In the beginning large studios opposed the idea of including sound in their films. The public was accustomed to silent films and didn’t want change. Sometimes stars voices didn't fit their roles and studios spent a lot of money to invest in their silent stars and couldn't possibly have them talk in movies. There were issues with capital, spending to build sound facilities, and the cost of making them was costly. There was a large risk in changing the status quo of the industry. There could be many failures if they added sound and since they were already making tons of money with their silent films, they saw no reason to change it. Warner Bros studios was the first to make a feature length film while incorporating sound called The Jazz Singer. The other major film studios were worried and started to do the same and soon they were making films with sound. These large studios and the audiences and the actors were all affected.

Part 2: The 20 years between 1930 and 1950 are generally recognized as the studio years. Describe what the pros and cons were of this factory system.

The studio years were a period when  MGM, 20th Century Fox, RKO, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal, and Columbia dominated the film industry. The movie industry had three economic divisions known as the production, distribution, and exhibition or films. Throughout this great era of film, studios would build large and elaborate sound stages. They created land for for movie sets in the southern region of California. The studios became very efficient and productive and it was a successful era in the industry. They made sure their stars were their only and this eliminated competition from others if you had a well-producing set of actors for your films. Each studio also became famous for excelling in its own genre of film.

Resources:
http://cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv003.htm
http://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/20s-hollywood-and-soundthe-studio-system/deck/171388