Transition to Sound FilmA) The shift from silent to sound film at the end of the l920s marks，so far。the most important trans formation in motion picture history．Despite all the highly visible technological developments in theatrical and home delivery of the moving image that have occurred over the decades since then．no single 1anovation has come close to being regarded as a similar kind of watershed．In nearly every language．however the words are phrased，the most basic division in cinema history lies between films that are mute and films that speak． 
B) Yet this most fundamental standard of historical periodization conceals a host of paradoxes．Nearly every movie Theatre，however modest．had a piano or organ to provide musical accompaniment to silent pictures．In many instances，spectators in the era before recorded sound experienced elaborate aural presentations alongside movies’visual images，from the Japanese benshi(narrators)crafting multi-voiced dialogue narratives to original musical compositions performed by symphony．size orchestras in Europe and the United States．In Berlin，for the premiere performance outside the Soviet Union of The Battleship Potemkin。film director Sergei Eisenstein worked with Austrian composer Ed．mund Meisel(1874—1930)on a musical score matching sound to image；the Berlin screenings with live music helped to bring the film its wide international fame． 
C) Beyond that，the triumph of recorded sound has overshadowed the rich diversity of technological and aesthetic experiments with the visual image that were going forward simultaneously in the l920s．New color processes，larger or differently shaped screen sizes，multiple-screen projections．even televislon，were among the developments invented or tried out during the period，sometimes with starting success．The high costs of converting to sound and the early limitations of sound technology were among the factors that suppressed innovations or retarded advancement in these other areas．The intr0—duction of new screen formats was put off for a quarter century，and color，though utilized over the next two decades for special productions，also did not become a norm until the l950s． 
D) Though it may be difficult to imagine from a later perspective，a stream of critical opinions in the1920s predicted that sound film would be a technical novelty that would soon fade from sight，just as had many previous attempts，dating well back before the First World War，to link images with recorded sound．These critics were making a common assumption that the technological inadequacies of earlier efforts(poor synchronization，weak sound amplification。fragile sound recordings)would in—variably occur again．To be sure，their evaluation of the technical flaws in l920s，sound experiments was not so far off the mark, yet they neglected to take into account important new forces in the motion picture field that, in a sense, would not take no for an answer.~
E) These forces were the rapidly expanding electronics and telecommunications companies that were developing and linking telephone and wireless technologies in the 1920s. In the United States, they included such firms as American Telephone and Telegraph, General Electric, and Westinghouse. They were interested in all forms of sound technology and all potential avenues for commercial exploitation.
F) Their competition and collaboration were creating the broadcasting industry in the United States, be-ginning with the introduction of commercial radio programming in the early 1920s. With financial assets considerably greater than those in the motion picture industry, and perhaps a wider vision of the relationships among entertainment and communications media, they revitalized research into recording sound for motion pictures. In 1929 the United States motion picture industry released more than 300sound films--a rough figure, since a number were silent films with music tracks, or films prepared in dual versions, to take account of the many cinemas not yet wired for sound. At the production level,in the United States the conversion was virtually complete by 1930. In Europe it took a little longer,mainly because there were more small producers for whom the costs of sound were prohibitive, and in other parts of the world problems with rights or access to equipment delayed the shift to sound production for a few more years (though cinemas in major cities may have been wired in order to play foreign sound films). The triumph of sound cinema was swift, complete, and enormously popular.
G) A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images. A film is created by photographing actual scenes with a motion picture camera; by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques; by means of CGI computer animation; or by a combination of some or all of these techniques and other visual effects. The process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film which was shown through a movie projector onto a large screen;more modem techniques may use wholly digital filming and storage, such as the Ruian camera which records onto hard-disk or flash cards.
H) Films usually include an optical soundtrack, which is a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that are to accompany the images. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively re-served for it and is not projected.
I) Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating-or indoctrinating-citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.