Early Sound in Animation

The first examples of silent films usually had a live band accompanying them.

One type of silent film that used this was japanese benshi films.

Example of benshi film with modern "dubbing".


Edison invented the Kinetophone in 2895 wich combined sound (a Phonograph) with moving images.



Edison's Kinetophone.


In 1907 Eugene Lauste used separate film strips.One for picture and one for sound. While in 1919 De Forrest used a single strip for both. This eventually led to the first comercial application of sound inf ilm in 1923.

The first animation studio to use sound was Bray Studios in 1919.



Example of Bray Studios animation.


"Dinner time" by Paul Terry (1928) was one of the first commercially successful applications of sound with animation.




Paul Terry's "Dinner Time"




Disney Studio's follwed soon after with "Steamboat Willie" in 1928:




And the first Technicolor animation using color, produced by Disney in 1933:




"Flowers and Trees"