The trick that made Mickey Mouse famous

[@lifeonthemark8210]

Another fun fact about Steamboat Willy: if you’re watching a version provided by Disney, chances are you’re watching a censored version. Apparently having your brand mascot play music through animal abuse is “inappropriate”. So, a good deal of that usually gets chopped out.

[@ALegitPooperVideos]

Disney Plus has the uncensored version

[@jonathanree4524]

Plane Crazy is also basically Mickey sexually assaulting Minnie in a DIY airplane, might be part of the reason it hasn't stuck around like Steamboat Willie lol

[@billybollockhead5628]

@@jonathanree4524well in steamboat Willie, her skirt gets lifted and she’s lifted up by her underwear.

[@GuyMcPherson69]

​@@ALegitPooperVideosAin't that a surprise

[@Attmay]

That was true until they restored the uncut version sometime in the 90s.

[@fireaza]

Media history is insane. You'd have to be some kinda mad genius to have "light" be the solution to a sound problem. This is sorta the first steps towards laser-based storage, when you think about it!

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

totally! makes sense yet blows my mind still

[@geckoo9190]

About that, light is always the final solution, it has microscopical precision and its easy to handle, the hard part is to adapt whatever you want to make to use light.

[@CallMeRabbitzUSVI]

​​@@geckoo9190 Not final solution, quantum entanglement and such will make ftl (faster than light) transfers and interations a thing in the near future

[@Bacopa68]

What I wonder is why did this tech not end up with other applications. Why weren't the State of the Union or the King's Speech recorded this way? Why was wire recording a thing when this already existed?

[@jonnyeh]

It's also crazy how Dolby Digital/DTS was encoded on the sides of the film in a similar way decades later.

[@AlexanderGee]

I worked on the companion app for Despicable Me called "Minionator" which provided subtitles for the Minion characters. Since we didn't have long to build it we watched the movie's audio on an FFT and looked for patterns of simple tones we could detect and derive time information from. Whistles, and a section of Pharrell Williams autotuned voice were two I remember we picked. We also got them to redo the buttons sounds when the Minions are interacting with equipment in the movie to make them clearer for our software. So we were using the descendant of this audio sync trick to sync a third stream of information to the movie. This kind of not world leading but very well executed marketing of which we were a small part is what made Minions a thing.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

wow! that's crazy. very cool. i need to find the minionator now

[@zlobzor]

Interesting that you manage to get them to change the sound design! Is this an app that was supposed to go with the cinima release, or home viewing?

[@tortysoft]

Most impressive . Sadly no longer available - unless you know better :-)

[@OfficialOacus]

YOU WORKED ON THAT!? NEAT!

[@RabbitEarsCh]

I've known about all this tech forever since my dad worked in TV for decades, but I had no idea about *why* Steamboat Willie seemed to break things wide open. I had watched the cartoon as a kid and it was pretty good, but it didn't hit me why it was such a smash. Your explanation is great, by the way. Analog sound recording is basically magic, and analog video recording for television and magnetic tape is *also* basically magic in how complex and multifaceted it is. I think you nailed it pretty good.

[@RolandHutchinson]

Respectfully disagree. Digital audio recording is magic. Analog audio recording (especially on film) is alchemy.

[@sion8]

​@@RolandHutchinson Forgive me, but how are you rank alchemy vs magic?

[@RolandHutchinson]

@@sion8 To answer that would be to divulge secret knowledge that is only available to initiates.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@sion8I would personally say magic involves the use of forces and realms we can’t directly access but must instead carefully influence; while alchemy is careful direct manipulation and study of the real physical world. To put it more simply by analogy: magic is summoning a demon wholesale, alchemy is painstakingly building a homunculus. Conversion to and from digital is the demon saying “trust me”, we must simply trust that the conversion is accurate and the bitstream arrives correctly. But with analogue audio we can intuitively understand that a wave is a wave is a wave, merely being transformed by various apparatuses. It never leaves the “physical”, is never quantised, and can be traced down the path step-by-step with no “dude, trust me” stage. Though I would say the alchemical analogy is the most obviously visible when it comes to analogue photography. Given the various chemicals, and the numerous stages of photo-sensitive papers and gels bouncing negative and positive images back and forth. It’s tedious, but it’s all still clearly “real”.

[@tortysoft]

Very silly conversation :-) I've watched digital from its birth and used analogue magnetic professionally, I saw magnetic first, it's understandable magic. Digital is also understandable, but only to initiates. Basically Arthur C Clark is still right :-) It depends on your depth of understanding. @@RolandHutchinson

[@jaymogrified]

It’s fascinating how often the specific historical context is key to a piece of media/art becoming iconic. It now makes much more sense that Steamboat Willie was a catalyst for Disney’s success.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yes this definitely happens a lot!

[@Turb0Yoda]

Heh- great timing- I just came back from the Walt Disney museum in San Fran. They did cover this at some point in the displays

[@screetchycello]

Right? The Mona Lisa is as famous as it is because it got stolen in 1911 and there was a ton of publicity for years about about it and it just entered the cultural memory as "the most famous painting".

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

self plug kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmPaqmp8pZeZp9k@@screetchycello

[@felipeamdd]

Because the projector lens and the audio equipment are usually a little far away, the physical distance needs to be compensated by printing the sound about 22 frames ahead of the picture, so you can't perceive the delay. That's why if you watch a RAW scan of the film, the soundwaves on the screen won't match the audio you're hearing but matches the image somehow.

[@geckoo9190]

Well this explains a lot, I always found odd that the short was just mickey using different objects and animals as musical instruments, turns out the whole film was a technological stun. This also explains why other cartoons started to rely so much on music, steam boat willie basically was the starting point of a trend.

[@ferociousfries3563]

Hippedity Hoppity, Mickey Mouse is now my property

[@sergiorestrepo6657]

_Our_ property

[@_Sur22_]

​@@sergiorestrepo6657 СОЮЮЮЮЗ НЕЕЕРУШИИИМЫЙ

[@WoodmanTK]

@@sergiorestrepo6657🫡

[@Shades-the-mouse]

⁠🤓

[@GraciousGoldy]

Umm Public Domain- Homer Simpson

[@FleischerToons]

Big thanks to Max Fleischer and Lee De Forest for bringing sound to animated cartoons!

[@Bacopa68]

And for putting Cab Calloway as the singing voice of Koko in Betty Boop. Best version of "St James Infirmary Blues" is in Fleischer's Betty Boop version of Snow White.

[@mspysu79]

The "Powers CinePhone" system used by Disney for his early sound cartoons, is an almost direct copy of the DeForest system that was left after DeForest and Case parted ways (Because DeForest treated Case like crap) Case took his inventions that made the DeForest system better over to Fox to create the "Fox Movietone" sound film system. If you listen to other film sound systems of the time such as Vitaphone sound on Disc, Western Electric sound on film, Fox Movietone, or RCA Photophone sound on film, they all sound better than Powers CinePhone. But because Pat Powers really did not have to invest a lot into getting the system up and running it was a lot cheaper than using other systems. Disney would switch to the RCA Phonofilm sound system in November 1932, in 1935 Disney would move over to RCA co-owned RKO for distribution until 1956. Disney would continue to use RCA Photophone until RCA got out of the film sound business in the early 80's.

[@matthewvillage]

i studied this and the impact that sound had on the popularity of animation for my dissertation!! amazing rabbit hole of a subject

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

that's awesome. sorry if it seems like I gave the Fleischers short shrift. They have my heart.

[@GlenAndFriendsCooking]

When I was a young lad... I saw a film (actually was film back then) by Norman McLaren, where he painted rando shapes in the soundtrack area and also in the projected area. The sounds were random and amazing. Inspired me to pursue a life in the film business. Now I'm a KZbinr - so.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

madness! if anyone else is curious, i'd never seen! kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqm9lmeegZxmo5o

[@Dstinct]

NFB gave us so many great films. Also gave me lifelong Log Driver nightmares.

[@kitefan1]

It's over on Robotussin Vintage Synths (youtube) and having seen it again I am sure I have seen it long ago.

[@JoeContext]

A lot of Mickey trivia tends to be a bit "Mario 2 was Doki Doki Panic" obvious (or more recently, just reciting the legal limitations to him being public domain) so it's pretty cool to see some stuff I actually never knew before

[@Attmay]

Yeah, they are basically recycling and regurgitating the same content Disney has been putting out themselves for years, just with more buffoonish mispronunciations.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yeah it's nice my local college library had a pretty good animation section - really was necessary to go into non-digitized stuff to get some answers. i think you wouldn't necessarily even know that mickey was variable density if you didn't get into books! i also chatted with an animation historian ray pointer a little bit, and he was helpful to get me in the right direction - i didn't bring him up here because i wanted to make sure any errors were mine alone.

[@MaxOakland]

Haha Doki Doki Panic is something I come across all the time nice to see it in this different context

[@tessiepinkman]

Fantastic video, Phil! I realized now that you've already answered the question with this video, that I always wondered what made Mickey stand out and what made him the ginormous phenomenon he became. This isn't the first time you've answered questions I didn't know I had, and I thank you dearly for that! You are awesome. Have a great week! :)

[@darwiniandude]

First time here - really appreciate you referencing your sources of other clips. Many 'creators' fail to do this. Thanks :) And great video!

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Alec from Technology Collections made a video about sound on film before. A caveat for you when recreating it is that the sound part of the film always lag ahead of or behind (I can't recall) the frame it represents because the part of the projector that reads the waveforms are ahead of/behind (again, can't recall) the part that projects the frames, because the part that reads the waveforms feed the film at a steady rate but the part that projects the frame does a advance-stop-hold motion on the physical film 24 times a second, and so in between the two parts the film needs some slack.

[@The_Sofa_King]

It must feel so good that new copyright works are in the public domain! I can’t wait to see more stuff become free to use now!

[@sergiorestrepo6657]

It also blew my mind when I found out how sound was embedded in the film. Thank you Phil

[@moondoor9031]

The quality of this video is incredible! Congratulations Phil 🎉

[@robotortoise]

This makes a ton more sense. I never got why Mickey Mouse was (initially) such a big deal, and this explains it succinctly by someone who had the same question I did. This also explains, to me, why cartoons hadn't been full-length movies before Disney started doing it this way, either - it simply wouldn't have been feasible!

[@alexareguti]

As per usual, Phil comes in with an amazing video answering a question I didn’t know I had through a super cool story angle. Forever in awe with your storytelling abilities, Phil. Every video you make is so uniquely yours, it’s inspiring. Also…thank you for giving us more content to nerd out about in patreon! 💫

[@aiocafea]

i am actually glad and hoped you did the recreation for the sound tapes, i think it's best for people to see the real-time sinchronisation to internalise how transforming signals feels great and very wonderful video, especially considering the short length!!!

[@briannakadlecik4304]

I wish that I would have had this video during my Film as History class in college. Trying to understand the technology for color and sound in film nearly broke my brain. Great video! I had always wondered what it was about Steemboat Willie that made Mickey Mouse so iconic.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

you might like those old informational films i linked in the description - they did a pretty amazingly good job

[@Bacopa68]

Alec at Technology Connections has a very good video about film projectors and sound. It's more in depth about some things left out here.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yes, linked in description! i think it's a good companion!

[@tomsko863]

8:50 - This is your edge right here. You giving credit to creators, and showing the community of talent you're working with. It will return to you in spades.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

excited so many creative people are out there!

[@robertoluque]

Awesome video, my son loves watching Steamboat Willie and it’s grown on me since I have watched it so many times.

[@SomethingAboutCheese]

is your son me?, cause i love steamboat willie

[@perrybarton]

Good work, Phil. And you're right, it doesn't seem to be a question that anyone else is asking. Happy New Year! 😎

[@bryanchung2023]

I'd say Super Mario Bros. was much more than just innovative for side scrollers. It was one of the earliest games where the focus wasn't arcade style short challenges that drove you to keep playing for a high score, but instead drove you to keep playing through a (relatively) long set of new levels with a set ending. So, a video game about simply experiencing the game, like most single player games today, instead of comparing scores with friends. And just like Mickey, Mario was not the first to do this but the first to be broadly received and acclaimed.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

true!

[@kenneth_romero]

Idk if people care or not. This one other youtuber called Technology Connections did a great video on sound quality throughout the late 50s to now. Might be worth a watch if you're more interested in sound technology and how far we came from physical to digital sound.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yes! linked in description!

[@cpucat]

The technology connections video about sound on film goes into more detail about how it works

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yes! linked in description! though they are more waveform than density

[@cpucat]

@@PhilEdwardsInc Nice, I missed that

[@lynx850]

Phil, keep up the good work. Its been great to watch your subs grow. I congratulate you on your bravery on leaving Vox, finding your own voice, and shooting it on your own. You are an inspiration.

[@bandana_girl6507]

So, the reason that the optical sound that you found "didn't fit" is because the film had to be stationary while the soundtrack had to be moving continuously. Which meant that the audio data had to be in a different type of mechanism and so physically separate visual frames it played along with. So the proper audio was probably on the film, just at a different point, and the audio you saw was proper audio, just for a different frame

[@charliemacsart]

Great video! It’s really interesting how most people KNOW Steamboat Willie is iconic, but not WHY. Mickey is cute and all, but watching Steamboat without the historical context just makes it seem like a quaint little cartoon, especially when you compare it to the sound versions of Plane Crazy/Galloping Gaucho and the later early Mickey cartoons. It’s kinda like how nowadays people recognize Super Mario Bros. as iconic but don’t realize how revolutionary it was.

[@MrJoshinJosh]

Sound or no sound, I’m just happy that the first three Mickey Mouse cartoons are Public Domain.

[@richardwarnock2789]

Actually was a french video of Lincoln with sound similar the reels were horizontal!

[@BOABModels]

Thank you for actually making an original and interesting video about Steamboat Willie, rather than just putting the film on KZbin and hoping to get clicks. I agree with you that I never 'got' Mickey Mouse - of the Disney characters, I much prefered the flawed Donald Duck and found him to be far funnier.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

+1! self-promoting: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4q8aJiPbbmNrKs

[@driaan_louw]

This is rad - did not make the connection that it was the synced sound that made Mickey blow up! Also love the content plaque 🤠

[@BenjamintheTortoise]

That's crazy stuff!! Totally blew my mind as well... Great video!

[@ggoedert]

Great take, I think you are right that that innovation made a huge impact and was essential for the success. But to be fair the character was also different and maybe more relatable then the other typical characters at the time... He is a little more naive, more compassionate to other characters while still maintaining smart attitude... I think that made him more relatable then the other popular characters stereotypes of the time.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

fair!

[@АлексейМомот-щ7о]

Steamboat Mickey is compassionate? Yeah, right... 😂

[@SeanPat1001]

I’m not sure about cinematic film, but the films that were shown in schools had the sound strip displaced from the image by about eight frames. The consequence was that if the film broke, the brake in the sound occurred at a different time than the break in the image.

[@backyardr.c.6280]

THIS video is a great example of how to use the version of Micky that just entered the PD.

[@-Evil-Genius-]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:03 🐭 *Mickey Mouse vs. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit* - Discussion on the fame of Mickey Mouse, - Comparison between Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. 00:57 🎙️ *Early Sound in Films* - Introduction to early sound in films, - Issues with synchronization and methods used in early sound films. 02:18 🎥 *Synchronization Method for Mickey Mouse* - Explanation of the method used for synchronizing sound in Mickey Mouse cartoons, - Demonstration of the variable density soundtrack. 03:43 🔊 *Transition to Variable Area Sound* - Transition to variable area sound, - Showcase of variable area sound in a Mickey Mouse Club ad from 1930. 05:09 🎞️ *Innovations for Steamboat Willie* - Discussion on the innovations for Steamboat Willie, - Challenges faced in synchronizing sound and methods used. 06:50 🌟 *Mickey Mouse's Breakthrough* - Revelation about why Mickey Mouse became famous, - Mickey's significance in pushing the boundaries of what film could achieve. Made with HARPA AI

[@HomeAutoBuddy]

That, i didn't know! Thanks for publishing that thought you had, sometimes people need to stop, asking obvious questions and learn something.

[@ExploringFate]

Just like how Dolby & Spatial Sound is changing things except from my understanding Dolby is mixing it with there video which is like 4 & 8 K with 240 FPS.

[@geneard639]

I got to see an original print and record of Al Jolson's 'The Jazz Singer' (1927). By the end of the film? It was almost 2 minutes out of sync. When Mickey Mouse's 'Steam Boat Willy' (1928) came out, MM was still ill known, Felix the Cat (1925-), KoKo the Clown was created by Max Fleischer and his brothers (look at Merry Melodies and Warner Bros. Cartoons), and Betty Boop was years away in the 1930s, The early days of Animation is really amazing.

[@houstonmuseum]

What's also wild is that very similar tech was used by journalists to transmit images across the continent over phone lines for print in newspapers. Basically converting light and dark portions into voltages that were then converted from voltages back to light/dark print. Truly INCREDIBLE tech. This is why I adore vintage tech. Apple Vision Pro? Neat! 1940s cell phone!? AMAZING!

[@codetech5598]

Exactly. Some people claim that the invention of the transistor in 1947 enabled modern electronic inventions but the real game changer was the earlier invention of the vacuum tube.

[@readwrecks]

As a former projectionist for both 35mm film and IMAX film, I gotta say Dolby Digital kinda sucks. I mean it’s good in the digital age but it had a huge problem on film. You see where it’s printed? In between the sprocket holes. That’s the only section of film where the emulsion side touches every single part of the projector. The sprockets that pull the film through the projector are slightly raised right where the teeth are so that the film doesn’t touch them where the picture or the soundtrack are. So, the Dolby Digital code was always getting scratched or warped, and then it would glitch out during the show.

[@cardinalhamneggs5253]

There’s a small television screen at the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum that plays a digital copy of _Plane Crazy_ on a loop. I’ve seen it myself.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

i'm gonna look for this next time i'm there!

[@shaider1982]

That Technology connections video he referenced is quite informative regarding this topic. From the video, the sound corresponding to a frame isn’t actually on that frame but offset some frames below since the photocell reading the sound is after the projector. this is why the first few frames on a film are for reference and a beep tells the projector tech if the film and sound is in-sync.

[@timothytikker1147]

At the Disney Museum in San Francisco, there's an exhibit about Steamboat Willy, and how innovative its synchronized sound was. They quoted the famous orchestral conductor Arturo Toscanini calling it "a musical miracle."

[@sarayusarayu832]

Oh my gosh!! Thank you so much for this! This has been my forever question too! It’s so good to finally have an answer 😌

[@BlokeOnAMotorbike]

Quite a few years ago I experimented with sonic bitmapping. Turning an analogue signal into a many-colours bitmap such as a GIF, and playing it back, using an application I wrote in Visual Basic and C++. It worked pretty well, I was almost to the point of embedding the bitmaps into random images, then using value subtraction to extract the sonic bitmap using un-doctored copies of the original image and playing it back. Didn't quite get that far and the code is lost to an EMP. I never bothered to revive the project. There is a HAM project around that uses AD conversion to transmit still images over an analogue radio carrier and convert them back to images using an Android app, which is a fun thing to try.

[@sparky_murph]

Another great video, thank you.

[@UnanimousDelivers]

I thought your Steve Jobs analogy was going to be how Xerox Parc and a few others used mice, mouse pointers, and graphical user interfaces long before Apple "invented" that whole concept for the Macintosh.

[@Xanderall]

Phil you keep blowing my mind with every video. Getting hats to fit is getting more and more difficult with every time!

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

ha apologies to your haberdasher

[@PurpleHippoCinema]

If anyone is interested more about Ub Iwerks, I have a video about him and his history with Disney on my channel!

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

awesome location shoot too!

[@SpacedAug]

I love that you kept your name plate :')

[@flatfingertuning727]

An interesting trait of variable density recording is that it is almost impossible to reproduce accurately via photographic means. When making a print of a film, it would be necessary for the printing equipment to add the sound to the film using aparatus such as shown. This makes it more expensive to produce prints of a film, but also makes it much more difficult for anyone to use those prints to produce unauthorized reproductions.

[@VAM_Physics_and_Engineering]

Never gave it any thought before. Great explanation and cool tech!

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

this does seem up your alley!

[@BobMori]

I never understood the success & fascination with Mickey. This helped. Thanks. 🎬

[@herzogsbuick]

This is how Leon Theremin's Great Seal Bug worked, too: sound vibrations caused two membranes to get closer and far apart, and an external radio source (which is still a form of light!) would be aimed at it through the walls of the US Embassy in Moscow. The membranes were hidden in a decoration hung on the wall, and when the radio waves had bounced back they'd be changed by the vibrations -- just like the play back of the audio on the film. The difference between what was sent and received back represented the sound. I had a feeling you were going to do something unique and interesting about Steamboat Willy. Which means you made me feel smarter since I was right. And for that, I'm even more grateful.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

wow! never heard that theremin story!

[@herzogsbuick]

@@PhilEdwardsInc it's fascinating. he returned to the USSR in the late 30's (conflicting conclusions as to why), was thrown in a gulag with a secret lab and developed the underlying ideas. he's like the Nikola Tesla of electricity [ducks] heh, but really neat story, his whole life is ridiculous.

[@noahcochran3442]

Having a sort of "credits" at the end of the video instead of just saying "check the link in the description" in the middle is one of my favorite ways I've ever seen this done

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yeah my inner nerd wanted to blurt out everything in the video, but i didn't wanna slow the story.

[@Stealth_Pilot]

i sold a copy of the film for 1 dollar at new year.

[@what-uc]

The obvious question is how does the sound track move smoothly when the picture is jumping frame by frame. And the answer's obvious if you know - the sound is offset by about a second from the image it syncs with, so the sound "reader" is away from the projector mechanism.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Apologies for taking a little while to get to this one, but I already knew a fair bit about sound on film. However, I love your sociological comparison to the buzz generated around Toy Story. I knew Mickey wasn’t the first sound on film, but had no idea why it had such buzz. And that comparison was so apt, it all clicked.

[@LivetTvLIFESTYLE]

Credit to Ub Iwerks 😊

[@MeinDeutschkurs]

Wow, thx for the illustration! 🎉

[@readingthepsalms7513]

Thank you! I always wondered why Mickey was a big hit - this is great! 🙏🏼

[@moi5219]

So cool! Love you went the nerdy extra miles.

[@TrainedSniper12]

Yeah, I’ve been splicing different wav formats for some of my videos and various projects I’ve done over 40 years. I have about three videos that I made back in the day. The matrix and resident evil are two of my best projects I’ve done.

[@Flakester]

TL;DW: They added sound to the video.

[@Anutushara]

How did they get the sound off the film? With most theaters set up for silent cinema was there a transition period in the past where sound on film was being made but theaters hadn’t converted? Would they play them in silence or just not show them in those theaters? If you didn’t see a movie in theaters did that mean you never saw it until the invention of home viewing media?

[@tedrobinson372]

Popeye was much more popular in the 1930's

[@SauloBenigno]

Amazing story 😮

[@mmixo]

Great! Love your work

[@yanikkunitsin1466]

Hi Phil! Thank you for that wonderfull excurse in history. I'm a subscriber and had to manually check your page, because it was not on my main. Do you need to pay for this? As allways, beautifull story beautifully told. Thank you.

[@matthiaspfisterer2066]

Great video! New subscriber. Did you ever check out Evgeny Sholpo´s "Variophone" and the history of optical sound synthesis in the early USSR? Coming from the field of avantgarde art, they worked at around the same time on problems (and solutions) there that were in part stunningly similar to those addressed in the fascinating piece of history you tell here, but with a markedly different edge - a definitely too little-known media history rabbit hole absolutely worth the jump into it.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

i'll check it out! i would love to learn about the soviet parallel development world

[@biggles258]

Loved it. Subscribed.

[@jonnyeh]

I need to know more about how the decoding of the waveforms worked! How were light vibrations turned into audio?

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

yeah it's crazy - some of the links in my description get into it. i think the videos are pretty helpful.

[@klaxxor]

I hope your thumb heals up okay. Great video Phil!

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

haha ty

[@gilkruger]

I love this look inside the Mouse House. IMO, sound is at least 50% of the audiovisual experience.

[@td3993]

Same method is used for transmitting your internet signal, except that the light is modulated purely electronically, and not with a ribbon light gate.

[@willychilton]

If you showed me a frame from 4:33 I would have thought it was a Casio ad. handsome! and damn, that golden backlight

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

casio ad is all i aspire to.

[@FavioWinehouse]

A wizardry investigation [ thourough and easy to digest as usual mate 🙌🏽 ] regards...

[@callibor3119]

For Mickey to truly be safe in the public’s hands, we need to expand public domain with the 1790 Copyright Act.

[@johnspooner1403]

Technical point: It’s impossible, or extremely difficult to decode edge-printed audio svnchronously, or at the exact frame to which the sound corresponds, while projecting. Much easier to do it further down the film’s path through the projector. The audio directly beside any frame is actually for some other frame a second or so behind it. Usually. So the problem of missing frames un-synching the audio is not solved by this, it just becomes a different problem.

[@JordanAnastasio]

I only watched to the end for the mustache.. very nice. Authoritative.

[@bff2109]

Happy new year

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

🎉

[@davidribeiro]

And now he will push the edges of terrible horror movies. 😅

[@TooTRUEtoBeG00D]

Pushing the EDGE of cineacoustics seems like a SOUND idea.

You should check the work of an amazing animator/filmmaker called Norman McLaren. He was part of The National Film Board of Canada, and he developed a method of creating music and sound effects by painting them in the optical track of the film. Watch "Neighbours", a 1952 Oscar winning short film where he not only animated the people in it, but also created the soundtrack optically.

[@midiwall]

@1:27 - and, THAT recognition got you a subscription! lol

[@joseybryant7577]

A great companion to your rotoscoping vid on Vox

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

Thank you! Now I just need to do a multiplane video to make it a trilogy!

[@GoingtoHecq]

Thanks for making a good video. Also, that little clip where I guy is stealing and eating bones out of a picnic basket. Imagine the actual sound for that.

[@lachlanlau]

I watched that sound on film video already but great summary and animations!

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

it's amazing how good those vintage videos are. it was rather laborious for me to create animations that are inferior, yet i had the benefit of 2024 technology! geniuses.

[@lachlanlau]

@@PhilEdwardsInc I love watching those old military/vehicle manufacturer videos from channels like @USAutoIndustry and Periscope film, there's just a beauty in the accent of the voiceover and the method of presentation, the soft fade transitions.. its a whole vibe.

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

The interesting thing is that digital video works similarly. The video and audio are two separate parts of the digital stream and have to be time sync'd. Today's CPUs have no problem with this. You do have some play because audio has a much higher frame rate than video. Being in sync is major especially for video games and streaming. In streaming, too much audio processing on your CPU can add latency. With video games, you have that trade-off with the size of the audio buffer on top of audio processing. Larger buffer = better and more reliable sound quality, but also means latency. Latency = how far off the audio is from the video.

[@andrewlonghofer]

5:22 Fun fact: DeForest Kelley was named for the inventor of Phonofilm

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

now that is some good trivia!!

[@ivan.flrs2]

Really excellent video as alway. Would it be worth doing an investigation in early sound-sync in film? You mentioned the method used by Disney wasn't the first. It's my understanding that Mexican engineer José Rodríguez Ruelas was one of the early pioneers in the technology and took his "Rodriguez Sound Recording System" from Mexico to Hollywood which led to a shift of power between the countries and their film production output.

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

there's definitely a lot in that era. i downloaded a really cool scrapbook of early phonofilm stuff too.

[@ejonesss]

synch may not matter if they did not use precussive instruments like cymbals and drums to show violence. like there is a distinct clang sound used when hit over the head with something. if they dont add it and it is just the bland piano playing in theater then they could get away without proper sync not only is it nerdy but pop rocky and skittly and mentoy

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

they tested this out just playing it in their garage - banging on a bunch of pots and pans.

[@Bacopa68]

There was a weird time in the seventies when restoring old theatre organs and showing old silent movies in a theme restaurant was a thing. Pipe Organ Pizza in Houston was the one I went to, but there were over a hundred such places in the late seventies. The organist played from memory and watched the screen. Old school theatre organs had both pneumatic and electric percussion. I am sure old time organists could soon learn to get the cymbals and drums right on time after viewing the film once or twice.

[@robfut9954]

Entire video’s explanation in one word: innovation. 👍

[@Vidgmchtr]

Was keeping much of the music on the right speaker intentional in this video? Since the sound on the film was on the right side of the film?

[@PhilEdwardsInc]

lol if only. i have decided to blame my children for the error