As the narrator states, “It was a comfortable system that we had in place and we thought it would last forever” (2020)

I chose this video to direct our attention to because, similarly to the pandemic, the transition to including sound in film was something that posed great uncertainty. The screening this week, Singing In The Rain (1952), is tackling the theme of an introspective perspective on this pivotal turning point within Hollywood. To this, they play with the learning curve of understanding how to maintain Fidelity, whether it be with dialogue replacement to aid correlation, situational non-diegetic sound effects to support expressiveness, or asynchronous sounds to play with manipulation — the film is meant to be interactive as we learn with the cast.

With this learning curve, the directors almost become teachers to the viewer. For example, when they are watching a silent film the movie has added exhilarating anticipatory fast-paced (racing) music to engage the viewer — when in reality there is no presence of sound, supporting the idea that sound is a central part of communal situational understanding. They even include a scene where Gene Kelly is talking to the camera, speaking about the authenticity of being a movie actor and how hard it is to ground yourself up on stage, “you’re only a shadow on the screen” (from Lina Lamont) This film portrayed numerous struggles individuals have within the film industry, Kathy was the personification of those that may have extreme difficultly keeping up with mics, extensive script memorization, and simultaneous singing/dancing/acting — people who just wouldn’t be marketable within this transition. It also makes me think about how many people were displaced from their jobs because of it. Sound introduces difficulty with diction perfection in communication or else it will lead the viewer to misdirection or misinterpretation — things like round tones (the sound barrier) as seen here.

Take this sequence for example:

There can be two arguments that stem from the conversation discussed in this film: Does sound take away from the authenticity of the film? Or, does a film with no sound (a silent movie) rid the viewer of realism and engagement?

Films like Singing in The Rain elaborate that there can be a healthy medium and that there are no rules at all! For example, the use of sound effects for inanimate objects like during the “make em’ laugh” dance sequence, paralleled the short story we watched of Looney Toons, like where there was the sound of a drum roll for running and a tambourine for landed jumps. Silent films wouldn’t be able to achieve this cartoonish-like usage of sound and character actions. It doesn’t take away from Mise-en-scene or editing, it aids it in providing overall stability and soundness within a film by adding another level or synchronization.