The Dickson Experimental Sound Film

[zenarchitect]

so so great! what a treasure - thanks for posting!

[wks1978]

Well done to the people who restored this, it must have been very difficult to deduce the 2 playback speeds and synchronise the sound and picture, but I feel from looking at Dickson's bow changes that the picture is still slightly behind the sound.

[PaniniButt]

In my history class, this video became known as "Two Dudes, One Violin"

[ThEDarKMasterBlack]

I Have Nightmares With This Song, :(

Excuse Me, My English Is Not Good, But i Speak Spañish (Im Venezuelan xD)

Thanks Of Lot For This Video, Is A Diamond Of The History

[drapermovies]

First ever video to music

So the first known music video

[SatchmoSings]

Edison tried to do "sound on set" which, with a wax cylinder would have been virtually impossible; it didn't occur to him or Dickson to just film the scene and then created the sound to the photographed picture as was done HERE in about 1914:

watch?v=a7cF0nw5S-g

Easily amplified with the Victor Auxetophone (no electronics involved) this could have been a real reality.

[Ps3Aaron1]

that dancing is so homosexual and their expression is NOT AMUSED

[dentonscheibal3]

This is better than Rebecca Black

[Nostalgico80]

I wanna see it on MTV, now XD !

[TheSecrecyOfSolitude]

Ahh! The first 'music video' ever in history!

This is absolutely amazing. I love the 1800s.

[fatcatbeauty]

how do you know that cone shaped thing on the left isnt the wax cylinder?

[SatchmoSings]

@fatcatbeauty You're absolutely correct; we can all handily see how it is rotating, getting all the sound down!

[samfordbulldog09]

Most clumsy and awkward dancers ever!

[mypureimagination]

LOL I love the 2 guys dancing "you be the girl" "no you!"

[coolboy30000]

This aint a good music video lol

[MorgueSweetHome]

kinda creepy..

[bluetruckredstate]

Awesome, truly. I'd seen this clip before somewhere but never knew till now that it had been made with the sound accompaniment. Thanks much for posting this.

[livewire242]

RODGERS and Hammerstein.

[DiederikYBaan]

only 10.000 views for something so insightfull. It's a shame not manny people realize how amazing film and sound are, and how far we are now.

[Zeanu]

I liked the book better.

[brnleague99]

And I thought The Matrix Reloaded was confusing. :)

[Caleb0014]

Is this on DVD?

[uranrising]

Brilliant work,especially getting rid of the clicks.

The music is "from the light opera The Chimes of Normandy by Jean Robert Planquette" apparently.

Could hear all the words, right from "What happened to......"

I wonder how they decided on what to record, both senses?

The words are legible but they didn't exactly make it easy.

[deconstructionist67]

No one can read that small text

[lolitafrankenstein]

This is a treasure!

[Mumusthereal]

lol look at that terrible dancing

[rweerakkody4565]

good show

really good show

edison was s o brainy thanks to that present to him that animation toy. then eh bore the idea of recording motion.

perfect simply wondeful.

[woodlanduk]

not too shabby when you concidder all we have now is compressed digital AVC264 and mp3 not exactly a step up in over a hundred years

[FishType1]

Didnt they have Violin lessons back then?

[calimar28]

What do you guys think of the film? I dont like the plot, but the sub-plot was ok.

[doddsino]

Two thumbs from me, definately better than any of the garbage Ang Lee has made.

[darthzach]

The male romance was way more edgy and daring than it was in Brokeback Mountain, simply given the period. The way that they dance, the expression in their faces, they know that their love was not meant to be.

[MrDukemeister]

@calimar28 I found the dancing a tad homoerotic. Can you imagine being gay in the 1890s? Talk about fun!

[calimar28]

@MrDukemeister Well, it wasnt called "the gay 90's" for nothing!

[somefreak90]

Bad violin playing.

Good sound.

Thanks for posting.

[freakybuzz]

The dancing ain't so great, either. :-)

But seriously, being as this was an experiment, it's historical value is inestimable.

[garyturner96]

That's right the historical value is priceless. Mind you its a shame they didn't also record somebody speak or sing as well as the violin.

[srbinsiti]

@freakybuzz it is not ain't,it is isn't.

[freakybuzz]

@srbinsiti I properly use the word "inestimable" and you focus on the colloquialism "ain't"? Your critical affectation toward this most droll of subject matter is downright comical, ain't it? :-)

[srbinsiti]

@freakybuzz i just hate your american english!

[freakybuzz]

@srbinsiti You know, hate is an ugly thing and does no one any good.

Now, I do find it ironic that you find the gall to critique my "American English" whilst you yourself use improper punctuation. Cheeky. If the highlight of your day is trolling around internet postings looking for any small thing to criticize, ridicule, or deride to feed your over-indulged sense of self-aggrandizement, then I can only imagine how lonely you must be.

[srbinsiti]

@freakybuzz That is very adultish from you,seriously.Just forget what i said about ain't,i mean,i can't understand why are you converting british english into americna english.

[gdw1910]

A cinema landmark! The first instance of a sound film, showing the concept existed at its infancy. The idea even predated Edison - he got it from Muybridge in 1888. Thank you!

[TheClassicalLiberal]

trippy

[najl33zz421]

I've listened carefully to the words being spoken before the music starts & discovered the very first phrase ever being spoken in a sound synchronized film. It's not mentioned in the introduction + I heard a word that sounds different to my ears than what's being indicated in the introduction. A voice (Dickson I assume) says:

"What happened to 'Wessie'"? (or possibly 'Bessie'?)"'Is'the rest of you ready?",(not 'are'), "Go ahead!" I'm 100% sure of this, I listened to it about 20 times.

[garyturner96]

Most of the voice is too faint to hear. The only think I can make out is at the end when he says: 'Go ahead.'

[kornol]

@najl33zz421 i agree that the first sentence must be "what happened to bessie?" although the 'b' sounds distorted and therefore one can make up 'w' out of it.

but the next sentence sounds more like:

"is the rest of you IN HERE" or "is the rest of you in IT"

[bkgartist]

origionally they couldnt get it to work, so they abandoned the project.possibly the problem is that its not at 24 frames per second.does anyone know the origional frame rate?

[secondchance1977]

12 fps.

[alexqatsi]

actually, it would have been a variable frame rate, as cameras at the time were generally hand cranked. thereby, the speed of the operator's cranking would dictate the frame rate, slowing and speeding up.

according to wikipedia, walter murch calculated the average frame rate to be about 40 fps, yet at a running time of 17 seconds it seems to be closer to an average of 37.5 fps.

[coreyteen13]

Seriously awesome! but you (not belowline)just have to get past that thumping sound to really enjoy the film. :D

[PaulStryper24]

i love that video, the dickson Experimental Sound Film P.S. if the museum sold that cylinder,how much would it cost? P.P.S. i like your style! from: paulstriper24

[belowline]

I have no idea how much it would cost today, I imagine quite a bit. Thanks for the compliment, but this film was actually digitized, synchronized, and edited by Walter Murch. Read the story of its restoration in its "About This Video" blurb, its pretty interesting.

[EmmetEarwax]

Yes, it was providential that the broken cylinder was preserved. Both motion pictures AND phonographs were in their infancy. Trying to synchronize sound & picture was a trrying process. Watch "Singing in the Rain" for a hilarious story of the business, the part on trying to film "Dueling Cavaliers"

[Hugo1138]

Love it ! Thanx belowline !