Page 15 - CinemaRecord Cover Section # 45

Cinemas Equipped for sound:

State Film Disc Only
and Disc
NSW 230 35 (13%)
Vic 118 45 (28)
SA 24 30 (56)
WA 26 14 (35)
Total 398 124 (22)
New
Zealand 167 29 (15)
Some pioneering Australian
Movietone items were syndicated for
exhibition abroad. Some American and
European cinemas had wired for sound
earlier and faster, and these items may
be retrievable. Perhaps a benevolent
collector surveying the list (pages x to
x) may recognise a surviving item in
his possession. I would very much like
This involved more time, more risk
to hear about anything that might turn
of film wastage and, most importantly,
up as a result of this story.
greater production cost - so it wasn't
Talkie production equipment in often done this way! A dual system
1929. studio recorder only arrived when
These initial Australian Movietone Movietone opened their Missenden
reel. Only a few local events were
News items were recorded with single Road, Camperdown headquarters in
considered important enough to warrant
system optical sound - that is, the sound August 1931.
a complete reel in themselves. These
could only be recorded in the camera, Following Australian Movietone
included the Melbourne Cup races of
as they had no separate synchronous News volume 1 number 59, on 3
1929 and 1930; Sydney’s 1930 GPS
sound film recorder. Feature film work January 1931 the next issue was
Head Of The River; incidents
demanded a separate (dual system) film expanded to the first of the standard
associated with the arrival of the
sound recording machine to maintain 1,000 foot reels as Volume 2 number 1.
aviatrix Amy Johnson (May 1930) and
synchronisation through the many An examination of the subsequent dope
various items concerning Don Bradman
separate edits in the picture footage. sheets indicates that these included an
and the noble game of cricket.
Consequently, there was little narration average of five news items per 11-
on the Movietone newsreel at this early From January 1931, Australian minute reel.
date. Instead, they had virtually 100 production increased to support a full
percent coverage with location sound, 1000 foot (11 minute) local weekly
exploiting the novelty of the medium talkie newsreel.
while it lasted. Most of the early Movietone News
The tracks mostly consisted of the intertitles were backed with brief, up-
sound effects and snatches of incidental tempo bridging music; and the scant
conversation recorded as the camera spoken narration tended to be
turned. Until 1932, the Movietone disjointed, recorded on location with no
directorship demanded location sound audio level correction, mixing or
to emphasise this advantage of their separate sound editing afterwards. A
equipment, although the bulky sound narrative was provided in the style of
gear necessitated transport in special the earlier silent newsreels, by means of
vans. the text on the intertitles.
In spite of this impediment to The veteran Movietone man Hugh
mobility, single-system sound gave McInnes told me that post-dubbed
viewers of these early Movietone reels commentary could then only be
the simulated experience of actually achieved by timing the picture footage,
being present at the event with the news afterwards running raw film through the
crew, a sense of immediacy and truth Movietone sound camera and reading
seldom rivalled by later, more the narration to a stop watch with the
manipulated newsreel reportage. camera's lens cap on. The resultant
recorded sound neg. could then be laid Movietone track on 35mm film: 1929
Commencing 2 November 1929,
beside the picture at the printing stage - dimensions with early sound ratio
Australian Movietone talkie items were
if it happened to remain in sync after (near 1:1)
released on a weekly basis, mostly
working to the stop watch
appended to the imported Movietone
measurement.
CINEMARECORD 2004 15