The Impact of Sound on the Screenplay, 1927 - 1934

With the transition to sound the form and contents of the screenplay changed. A text that was written in prose before, (the so-called continuity script) developed into the format we know today, which is commonly referred to as master scene script. This transformation happened during a relatively short time and has not been examined in detail so far. The objectives of my project are to analyse the impact of sound, music, and speech (dialogue) on the screenplay. These acoustic elements, added to film by the new technology of sound film, also led to a new screenplay format as well as a stronger rhythmisation of it. The inclusion of acoustic elements in film production brought new problems that the screenplay had to contend with and for which the old format offered no solutions. New forms and formats were created, some of them turning to the legitimate stage as a possible model. At the end of this development stands the screenplay format we know today, with differences according to the different modes of production in different countries. These differences are significant, which is why this project examines them with case studies from the United States, France, Germany and Austria. Besides (and sometimes related to) the question of the screenplay format, the issue of rhythm in screenplays is at the centre of this project. Sound film made rhythm a crucial element on all levels (dialogue, editing, music), which can be detected in the screenplay, even if it does not have an explicit effect on the rhythm of the editing. The screenplay gains its own rhythm on different levels from dialogue to the pace of narration. Detecting, contextualising and discussing these forms of rhythm in the screenplays of the early sound era are crucial objectives of this project, aiming to build the case for the importance of this overlooked aesthetic quality of screenplays.

No additional funding sources recorded.