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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 03.8
Dead medium: the Kinetophone; the "Kinetophone Project"
From: abs_AT_master.mte.com (Andrew Siegel)
Source: Videography Magazine, December 1995, Letters to
the Editor, pp. 20-21.
"I was quite amazed to learn in Mark Schubin's
September column ['Synching Fast'] of the existence of
sound films dating back before 1900. Yet more amazed was
I to read that said films had been transferred
successfully to videotape.
"Can you tell me where I might see these films, or
better yet, acquire copies?
Joe Salerno
Industrial Video Services
Bellaire, TX
"Mark Schubin responds: In 1894, Century Magazine carried
an illustration of a projection room with a phonograph
attached to a film projector for synchronized sound. The
process was known as either Kinetophone or the
Kinetophonograph. William Dickson claimed to have
demonstrated sync-sound motion pictures as early as 1889,
but that date has been disputed by others. Between the
Century illustration and other American and European
sources, however, there's little doubt that there were
sound movies sometime in the Nineteenth century.
"More recently, while poring through the archives of
Sveriges Radio (the Swedish Broadcasting Corp.), American
Art Shifrin came across some Edison sound recording
cylinders of unusual size. These turned out to be
Kinetophone cylinders. Searching various archives,
Shifrin found 48 existing Kinetophone cylinders and seven
existing Kinetophone films, six of which match sound
cylinders.
"Films were transferred to 1-inch videotape, and, after
much construction of appropriate playback mechanisms, the
sound was synchronized to the images and recorded on the
same tape. The results were shown at a meeting of the New
York section of the Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers in 1983. Neither picture nor sound
quality match today's standards, but there's no question
that they are sync-sound movies. Exact dating of these
films has not yet been determined.
"Shifrin would be willing to show you the tape version
if you are in the New York area. He would also very much
like to continue to pursue the "Kinetophone Project,"
improving the transfer of both sound and image with modern
digital techniques and searching for more old sound
movies. Readers who might be able to provide financial
assistance are urged to contact him at (718)468-5383."
Andrew Siegel Manhattan Transfer New York, NY
abs_AT_mte.com
Dead
Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0
| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |