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Photoplayer
The photoplayer is an automatic mechanical orchestra used by movie theatres to produce photoplay music to accompany silent films. Operation The central instruments in a photo player were a piano and percussion; some machines also added pipe organs and methods for manually creating sound effects. Like a player piano, the photo player played music automatically by reading piano rolls (rolls of paper with perforations), but the photo player could hold two rolls: one that would play while the other was prepared. Common sound effects included gunshots, bells and drums, which were generated by pulling chains called "cow-tails". Some photo players feature electric sound effects, such as sirens, automobile horns, and other oddities. A photo player operator had to load the paper rolls, start the machine and add the manual sound effects and percussion using the cow-tails. History Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 photoplayers were produced during the boom era of silent films, between 1910 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The American Fotoplayer
The American Fotoplayer is a type of photoplayer developed by the American Photo Player Co. between the years of 1912 and 1925. The Fotoplayer is a type of player piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern im ... specifically developed to provide music and sound effects for silent movies. History Before movies had sound, it was discovered that playing background music during a film could aid in developing a particular mood for a certain scene. Initially, small theatres would use player pianos to produce music automatically from piano rolls. After some time, some of these pianos were extended in size with pipe organs and sound effects inserted into large cabinets connected to the sides of the piano. The user of this new contraption could then create multiple sounds to match ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Fotoplayer
The American Fotoplayer is a type of photoplayer developed by the American Photo Player Co. between the years of 1912 and 1925. The Fotoplayer is a type of player piano A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ... specifically developed to provide music and sound effects for silent movies. History Before movies had sound, it was discovered that playing background music during a film could aid in developing a particular mood for a certain scene. Initially, small theatres would use player pianos to produce music automatically from piano rolls. After some time, some of these pianos were extended in size with pipe organs and sound effects inserted into large cabinets connected to the sides of the piano. The user of this new contraption could then create multiple sounds to match t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre Organs
A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements of stop tabs (tongue-shaped switches) above and around the instrument's keyboards on their consoles. Theatre organ consoles were typically decorated with brightly colored stop tabs, with built-in console lighting. Organs in the UK had a common feature: large translucent surrounds extending from both sides of the console, with internal colored lighting. Theatre organs began to be installed in other venues, such as civic auditoriums, sports arenas, private residences, and churches. One of the largest theatre organs ever built was the 6 manual 52 rank Barton installed in the Chicago Stadium. There were over 7,000 such organs installed in America and elsewhere from 1915 to 1933, but fewer than 40 instruments remain in their original venues. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photoplay Music
Photoplay music is incidental music, soundtrack music, and themes written specifically for the accompaniment of silent films. Early years Early films (c. 1890-1910) merely relied on classical and popular repertory, mixed usually with improvisation by whatever accompanist was playing (usually a pianist). Around 1910, folios of photoplay music began being published by companies such as Sam Fox Music and Academic Music. These were only a minute or so long and could not sustain an entire feature, but were used to fill in scenes where music was not popularly written (such as "misteriosos" for scenes of mystery, etc.). One example of such a piece is ''Mysterioso Pizzicato'', which appeared in a 1914 photoplay music collection compiled by J. Bodewalt Lampe and whose main motif has endured as a cliche for stealth and villainy in a wide selection of music and films thereafter. A version of this theme is contrasted with a hero's theme ().Braun, Wilbur (1989). ''Foiled Again: Two Musical M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Effects
A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditionally, in the twentieth century, they were created with Foley (filmmaking), foley. In motion picture and television production, a sound effect is a sound recorded and presented to make a specific storytelling or creative point ''without'' the use of dialogue or music. The term often refers to a process applied to a recording, without necessarily referring to the recording itself. In professional motion picture and television production, dialogue, music, and sound effects recordings are treated as separate elements. Dialogue and music recordings are never referred to as sound effects, even though the processes applied to such as reverberation or flanging effects, often are called "sound effects". This area and sound design have been slowl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchestrion
Orchestrion is a generic name for a machine that plays music and is designed to sound like an orchestra or band. Orchestrions may be operated by means of a large pinned cylinder or by a music roll and less commonly book music. The sound is usually produced by pipes, though they will be voiced differently from those found in a pipe organ, as well as percussion instruments. Many orchestrions contain a piano as well. At the Musical Museum in Brentford, London England, examples may be seen and heard of several of the instrument types described below. It is confused by some with the steam-powered calliope, which was also used to produce music on period carousels. It used steam whistles rather than organ pipes to produce its principal sounds. See also the similar fairground organ. Types of orchestrion The name "orchestrion" has also been applied to several musical instruments: Chamber organ A chamber organ, designed by Georg Joseph Vogler (''Abbé Vogler'') in 1790, incorpora ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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