British Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound

Lead Research Organisation: De Montfort University
Department Name: School of Media and Communication

Abstract

In recent years the advent of digital, CGI and 3D technologies have been heralded as revolutionising our experience of cinema, but these are nothing compared to the impact of new sound technologies in the late 1920s when silent cinema as an art form was subjugated to the spoken and sung word. In Britain the films produced in this transitional period, with the exception of Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929), produced in both silent and sound versions, have been largely overlooked. Early British sound films have suffered from critical denigration due to their supposedly clumsy attempts to deal with the spoken word. However, their reappraisal is now long overdue, particularly in the wider contexts proposed by this study which will look comprehensively, for the first time, at the ways in which British cinema responded to the coming of sound across all aspects of production, exhibition, distribution and reception - from the frenzied international competition to patent and install new sound equipment in studios and cinemas, to the impact on film stars and the thousands of cinema musicians who played to silent films, to the kinds of films that were produced and the critical and popular responses to them.

The economic burden of equipping studios and cinemas for sound required massive domestic and foreign investment and coincided with global recession, the Wall Street Crash and the need for fundamental changes to financial investment in cinema. This project will examine British cinema's response to these conditions alongside the various positive and negative drivers for and against sound cinema; from the increasing influence of popular radio and audiences' desire to hear the sung and spoken word and the various equipment manufacturers competing to dominate global markets, to victims such as the musicians and composers who relied on the cinema for their livelihood, the silent stars whose voices did not respond to the microphone, and the scenarists who wrote intertitles for silent films.

In order to carefully periodise this transition, the study will be divided into three key periods corresponding to the project's workplan:

1927-1928 - the period immediately before the arrival of The Jazz Singer in the UK
1929-1930 - the transition between silent and sound when films were made in both formats and the industry experimented with different technologies and methods
1931-1933 - the early sound period when silent cinema technologies and personnel were adapting to the new medium

Using this historical framework, the research will investigate and draw together, the following three areas:

1. The British cinema industry and infrastructure in terms of producers, studios and production companies and the changes caused by new sound technologies including the development of studio recording and cinema exhibition technologies, the rush to patent new systems and those who succeeded or failed. The overall effects on businesses and industrial organisations associated with cinema; the winners and losers including impacts on:
i. personnel with the rapid need for new skills and the loss of those associated with silent cinema and related changes in the organisation of labour.
ii. audiences, cinema-going and the response of press and critics.
iii. the source material for new sound cinema.
iv. international relations in the spheres of co-production and distribution

2. a critical reappraisal of the films themselves in the light of the above including how film techniques and aesthetics changed and developed over these three periods.

3. historical evidence explaining how 'the talkies' changed British cinema forever and the significance of their legacy.

Planned Impact

This study will build upon and extend impacts achieved by the work of the PI in organising the British Silent Film Festival since 1998, and her experience in bringing new research on the first 30 years of British cinema history to wider academic, media and public attention. Participants and audiences range from international academics and public figures to family audiences and children. The Festival has an international profile and an associated multi-disciplinary research community including public academics, music and cinema historians such as Mark Kermode, Neil Brand and Matthew Sweet and a history of engaging with the media including BBC TV and radio, regional and national press; all of which will be approached to maximise the profile and impact of this project. In 2011 the Festival created a precedent for this project in presenting 'The Great British Talking Picture Show' at the Barbican, (Brown and Murphy, 2011) which sparked significant public interest in this period of cinema history. Two four-day public conferences and screenings (2015 and 2017) and a two-day colloquium (2016) will use a similar format in presenting rare films, new research and discoveries and making them accessible to a wide audience spectrum.

Through knowledge-exchange and partnership working, this project will benefit:

i. Independent cinemas, including those involved directly in delivering this project - Phoenix Square, MacRobert Cinema, The Cinema Museum and BFI Southbank - and those involved in hosting aspects of the project's findings such as screening educational materials and packages. 35 independent cinemas across the UK will be targeted using the BFI Film Hubs to disseminate information about the project.
ii. Voluntary sector organisations such as The Cinema Museum will benefit from research into its archive and collections which will be disseminated through events staged there as part of the project including screenings and presentations.
iii. Voluntary sector collections and datasets including BECTU History Project, the CTA and CEA rely on researcher-led contributions and these will benefit from having their datasets referenced, catalogued and promoted.
iv. Teachers of cinema studies in schools will have access to teaching materials produced and disseminated from this project in collaboration with Film Nation and Film Club.
v. independent and private archives benefit from their having their collections and materials promoted.
vi.The BFI National and Scottish Screen Archives will benefit from qualitative and quantitative research into their collections and subsequent cataloguing and disseminating of their films.
v. Future cinema and social historians will inherit more coherent and accessible datasets.
vi. Local cinema historians and study groups will benefit from the value attached to their work from this project.

Members of the project's research team have experience in presenting cinema history research to libraries, special interest groups, adult and University of the Third Age learners, and as part of local cinema education and screening programmes. The project will promote its findings among such groups, offering bespoke talks and presentations.

This study will also re-appraise and re-evaluate the significant output of early British sound films, largely held by the BFI, which have had only rare public screenings, and bring them back to public and critical attention, not only in terms of their qualities as films, but for their significance in working with the new sound technologies and what they reveal about the choices made and the avenues explored by the British industry during this period. A direct beneficiary of this will be the international community of interested public and film historians for whom access to this material is limited, and the 250 or so films in the BFI National Collection covering this period which merit a higher profile and fuller integration into future studies of British cinema.

Publications

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Brown, G. (2020) 'Dead as the Wooden Battleship: The Fate of British Silent Features in the Transition to Sound' in Journal of British Cinema and Television,

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Geoff Brown (2018) Introduction in Music, Sound and the Moving Image

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Izod J (2019) Arthur Dulay and John Grierson: Fitting Drifters (1929) in Visual Culture in Britain

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Izod, K.J. (2019) 'Arthur Dulay and John Grierson: fitting Drifters (1929)' in Visual Culture in Britain: From Silent to Sound: Cinema in Scotland in the 1930s

 
Title Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) 
Description A feature film produced by Focus Features International and directed by Simon Curtis and written by Julian Fellowes. I worked on the production as Historical Film Advisor. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The film was screened internationally several milliona audiences worldwide. 
URL https://www.universalpictures.co.uk/micro/downton-abbey-a-new-era
 
Title Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) DVD/Blu ray Extras 
Description DVD/Blu ray release of Downton Abbey: A New Era (extras) an interview where I talk about the transition between silent and sound cinema in Britain 
Type Of Art Artefact (including digital) 
Year Produced 2022 
Impact The DVD and Blu ray release of Downton Abbey has a substantial reach and distribution via Universal Pictures in the UK. My work on both the film and the DVD/Blu ray has helped to increase the profile of British silent cinema and the transition to sound and my research in this area. 
 
Description Research from the award is ongoing and still being written up in journals and publications as well as contributing to further public events such as the British Silent Film Festival which will take place in Phoenix Cinema, Leicester in September 2019 supported by funds from the British Film Institute. In this respect, the impact from the research will continue for several years as planned projects will be delivered in partnership with other public and academic bodies.
The main achievements of the award were to bring back into the public domain, attention and interest, the films made in the transitional period between silent and sound cinema in Britain. Public film festivals in September 2015 and September 2017 featured many such transitional films, uncovered as part of the research. Many of these had lain hidden in the BFI National Archive for decades and largely ignored by standard histories on this period. The research was instrumental in bringing these films back for public and critical reappraisal, which has generally been very favourable and further planned exhibition projects are being proposed with other international festivals and archives.
Another key achievement was the organisation of a national screening and lecture tour of the Islands and Highlands of Scotland which linked late silent and early sound films to local oral history projects on cinemas and cinema going in these regions. A further tour of East Midland's venues including village halls and community spaces garnered interest in and enthusiasm for the films of this period.
The research associated with the award has also generated significant interest among national and international scholars in exploring the links between Britain, mainland Europe and America during the period covered by the research as the arrival of sound cinema curtailed non-anglophone international partnerships. Some of the more surprising findings have been around the impact of the arrival of synchronised sound cinema on international business relationships and perceived threats from the Americanisation of British language, culture and industry as the USA took control of markets for the new technology.
The objectives were exceeded in that we uncovered significantly more material, including films, reports, papers, personal archives, testimonies and business records, than we anticipated. The impact of the arrival of the talkies appears to have had much deeper resonances across all aspects of British national identity and the areas referenced above than the research team originally considered. The number of public screenings, lectures, festivals has been exceeded due to a growing interest and demand. In terms of academic impact then the research has generated four conferences in addition to two festivals and many conference papers detailed in the relevant section of this report. One special edition of a journal has been published and another is in the pipeline along with two monographs by the PI and Researcher.
Exploitation Route The findings will be taken forward as part of planned projects by the research team. In particular, further collaborative projects with European archives will investigate the impact of the 'talkies' on the different national cinemas as the trans-nationalism of silent cinema was curtailed. In addition, the British Film Institute have expressed interest in curating a progamme of early British sound films at the BFI Southbank and other independent cinemas across the UK will be encouraged to take part. The narratives that the research generated are of sufficient interest for a TV series and this remains a future ambition. The British Silent Film Festival will continue to promote early British sound films and to encourage further scholarship in this field.
Sectors Creative Economy

Education

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

URL https://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/
 
Description Findings have been used in the British Silent Film Festival held in Leicester in September 2015, which featured a two-day screening and presentation programme open to, and attended by members of the public. The PI and Senior Researcher curated and presented a programme of films related to the project. In 2017, the project co ordinated the British Silent Film Festival over five days at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester. Over 70 events have been delivered including public screenings in England and Scotland, presentations and discussions, papers given at national and international conferences and a growing number of publications in magazines and journals. The project has uncovered many films at the BFI and other international archives and re-introduced these back into the public domain. Through archival research at the BFI National Archive and Special Collections, The Cinema Museum in London, international archives and scholastic collaborations, this research has been instrumental in rediscovering 205 feature films and 825 short films and bringing these back to public attention through festival screenings, tours and digitisation projects with the BFI. The research has massively increased the international profile of British silent and early sound cinema by contributing to film festivals including Pordenone, Italy, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Hippfest (Bo'Ness) and Bristol Silents. Year-round large-scale events take silent cinema to community audiences including sell-out screenings of: Metropolis (1927) at St Mary de Castro Church March 2017 which fundraised £400 for the restoration of its medieval spire. The Battle of the Somme (1916) with music from Leicester Symphony Orchestra at Leicester Cathedral (October 2016) raised £500 for local charities and the DMU India Project. Jane Shore (1915), a Richard III-themed film with music by Laura Rossi at Leicester Cathedral (September 2015) generated 120 people including international tourists. 'At Home, At War' performed by Neil Brand at Leicester Museum (November, 2018), employed two DMU drama students, gave a platform to local folk artist Steve Cartwright, attracted 80 people and generated £150 income for the Museum. These four events attracted over 650 people, made positive financial contributions to their venues, increased their profile and generated tourism and footfall. The research has increased access to British cinema heritage by touring to UK cinemas including, Stirling, Dundee, Orkney, Bo'Ness, Hoy, Inverness, Cambridge, Barbican, BFI Southbank, Blackpool, Nottingham, alongside local community venues including Ibstock Cinema, Loughborough Labour Group and Thrussington Village Hall and Rutland Museum, Oakham. Since 2013 the Festival has generated audiences of around 15,000 for partner venues and provided programming expertise to 20 venues. Festival events have financially supported the Cinema Museum in London in its campaign to secure its future by generating £1000 through events staged there. Working with local partners Film Tramp and Centre Screen the Festival delivers screenings to local communities including the Leicester Riverside Festival and Leicester Refugee forum. The research and associated projects help partner venues to achieve targets, set by the BFI, for programming screen heritage. It also makes important contributions to their cultural and financial economies, for example the Festival contributes over £6,000 to Phoenix. It also contributes its technical expertise to ensure that the Phoenix meets international standards set by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) to screen archive film. Phoenix is now one of the only cinemas outside London able to meet these standards. The research has increased access to British cinema heritage by touring to UK cinemas including, Stirling, Dundee, Orkney, Bo'Ness, Hoy, Inverness, Cambridge, Barbican, BFI Southbank, Blackpool, Nottingham, alongside local community venues including Ibstock Cinema, Loughborough Labour Group and Thrussington Village Hall and Rutland Museum, Oakham. Since 2013 the Festival has generated audiences of around 15,000 for partner venues and provided programming expertise to 20 venues. Festival events have financially supported the Cinema Museum in London in its campaign to secure its future by generating £1000 through events staged there. Working with local partners Film Tramp and Centre Screen the Festival delivers screenings to local communities including the Leicester Riverside Festival and Leicester Refugee forum. The research and associated projects help partner venues to achieve targets, set by the BFI, for programming screen heritage. It also makes important contributions to their cultural and financial economies, for example the Festival contributes over £6,000 to Phoenix. It also contributes its technical expertise to ensure that the Phoenix meets international standards set by the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) to screen archive film. Phoenix is now one of the only cinemas outside London able to meet these standards. The project consistently promotes the art of the silent film musician and has provided paid employment for 15 musicians to perform live. Extensive research, into cinema music resulted in a major donation of silent cinema sheet music from the Light Music Society, which is currently being catalogued for public access. Selected media dissemination The project works with broadcasters such as Mark Kermode, Neil Brand and Matthew Sweet to promote British silent cinema on radio and TV. Recent media appearances by Laraine Porter have included: • BBC TV East Midlands Today live outside broadcast for 6pm and 10.30pm news slots 13 September 2017 for 'An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe' at St Mary de Castro Church • BBC Radio 4 The Cultural Front interview with Francine Stock, October 2017 on silent film divas • Silent Cinema and Music, BBC Radio 2, interview with Maggie Ayre, TX 25 February 2013 Partnerships International archives The project works with international archives including the Nederlands Filmmuseum, Swedish Film Institute, Cinematheque Francais, Norwegian Film Archive. MOMA, UCLA and George Eastman House to identify lost and forgotten British films. Working with Gosfilmofund (Moscow) in 2015, research re-discovered a missing-believed-lost early Hitchcock collaboration, Three Live Ghosts (1922), which had lain in the Soviet archive since the 1920s. The impact is ongoing. The September 2019 edition of the British Silent Film Festival has been awarded £20,000 from the BFI and will collect further data and impact measurements. Several outreach events are planned for summer 2019 including working with migrant communities at the Journeys Festival (Leicester) and celebration of canal communities at the Leicester Riverside Festival. In 2021, the PI was engaged by Carnival Films/Focus Features International as Historical Advisor on Downton Abbey 2: a New Era to advise on a sub-plot involving the transition between silent and sound cinema in Britain. This engagement ran from October 2020 to July 2021 and involved research and consultancy around script and dialogue, performance and acting, technology and props, set design, the film business and how early sound films were produced on set etc. The film was released in May 2022. The PI worked with the cast in workshops around the transition between silent and sound cinema and as advisor on set at Ealing Studios and Highclere Castle. She has since delivered presentations on the role of the historical advisor on films and contributed to the DVD/Blu ray release of the film in terms of 'Extras' where she talks about the transition between silent and sound film. She also contriibuted to a 'coffee table' publication on the film.
First Year Of Impact 2015
Sector Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal

Economic

 
Description BFI Audience Fund
Amount £20,000 (GBP)
Funding ID 2018-50308 
Organisation British Film Institute (BFI) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2019 
End 11/2019
 
Description British Film Institute Festivals Award
Amount £8,180 (GBP)
Funding ID 2015-39254 
Organisation British Film Institute (BFI) 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2015 
End 10/2015
 
Description "All the World's a Stage, Especially in Early British Talkies" ; presentation and screening of Caste (1930) at the Cinema Museum, London. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact "All the World's a Stage, Especially in Early British Talkies" as a presentation given by Geoff Brown on 9 November 2017 to members of the public at the Cinema Museum in London. The talk was accompanied by a screening of the film Caste (1930), which had been re-discovered in the course of research on this project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2017/michael-powell-discovery-caste-35mm/
 
Description "Almost, If Not Quite, As Good as the W.E.": On Sound Apparatus, 1929-1930. British Silent Film Festival Symposium, King's College London, April 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by one of the project's PhD students, Nyasha Sibanda at the British Silent Film Festival Symposium at Kings College, London in April 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/16-17/British-silent-film-festival-sym...
 
Description "Directing the Kingsway Cinema, 1927." Paper presented at the British Silent Film Festival Symposium, King's College London, London, April 28-29, 2016. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by PhD student Nyasha Sibanda on research into the transition to sound cinema in Birmingham and the use of localised data and records as part of his PhD research which is revealing significant local characteristics, hitherto largely unrecorded or unacknowledged. The presentation also acknowledged the work of so called amateur local historians in uncovering data and records and how these may be used and interpreted in academic research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description "Here to Stay": Sound Becomes Inevitable in 1928-1930, British Silent FIlm Festival, 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact "Here to Stay": Sound Becomes Inevitable in 1928-1930 was a presentation given by one of the Project's PhD students, Nyasha Sibanda as part of the British Silent Film Festival and Symposium at Phoenix Cinema, Leicester on 13 September 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/2015-festival/at-a-glance-timetable/
 
Description "How to Lose Money in British Films: A Shareholder's Guide": presentation King's College/British Silent Film Festival Symposium. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact "How to Lose Money in British Films: A Shareholder's Guide": presentation given by Geoff Brown on 9 April at the British Silent Film Festival Symposium at King's College London (8-9 April 2017).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/16-17/British-silent-film-festival-sym...
 
Description "In Their Own Words": Nostalgia, Trivia and Memory in Local Cinema History. Theorising the Popular Conference, Liverpool Hope University, June 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Presentation by one of the Project's PhD students, Nyasha Sibanda; "In Their Own Words": Nostalgia, Trivia and Memory in Local Cinema History" at Theorising the Popular Conference, Liverpool Hope University, June 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description "The Conversion to Sound of the Kingsway and the Ideal Cinemas in King's Heath, 1929-1932." Paper presented at the Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound Colloquium, University of Stirling, Stirling, 23-24 May, 2016. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by Nyasha Sibanda at the project's symposium at the University of Stirling on PhD research and findings in relation to Birmingham cinemas during the transition to sound looking at and interpreting extant business ledgers and papers in relation to two specific cinemas and interpolating how these reflect wider social and cultural changes in their localities during the late 1920s and early 1930s
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description "The Last Silent Picture Show", presentation, Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema, Bo'Ness. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Public presentation given by Geoff Brown entitled "The Last Silent Picture Show", at the Hippodrome Festival of Silent Cinema, Bo'Ness, Falkirk Scotland on 24 March 2017. The project has developed a relationship with this annual festival of silent film over the past three years and the main audience was the general public and Festival attendees. A general discussion on the material and the transition to sound cinema in Scotland ensued.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/venues/hippodrome/silent-cinema/
 
Description "When Worlds Collide: The Dramatic Tale of the Talkies, British Theatre, Hollywood, and Producer Basil Dean". 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact "When Worlds Collide: The Dramatic Tale of the Talkies, British Theatre, Hollywood, and Producer Basil Dean" was a presentation given by Geoff Brown on 15 June 2017 as part of the Associate Research Fellows Day at the Cinema and TV History (CATH) Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description '"A game of hare and hounds - with one small terrier puffing well in the rear": the work of the Music Director in British Silent cinema'. at the University of Lausanne in January 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation at the University of Lausanne on Jan 12 2018 as part of the 'Working in Music' conference looking at professional practice in music and cinema.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description '"The Film Gone Male"': Women working in 1920s and early 1930s British Cinema. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Conference paper delivered at Kings College, London at the British Silent Film Festival Conference, 12 April 2019.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/events/british-silent-film-festival-symposium-2019
 
Description ''The Skailing of the Pictures": The coming of sound to small rural townships in Scotland', European Network for Cinema and Media Studies, Sorbonne, Paris, 29 June- 1 July, 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A conference paper presented at NECS, Paris 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description 'A Fly on the Wall in 1929: The Production Diary of David Cunynghame' at the CATH Research Centre/BAFTSS postgraduate conference Production Studies: Film, Television and their Industrial Contexts. De Montfort University, Leicester. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact A presentation by Project Research Geoff Brown as part of the BAFTSS Post Graduate Conference at De Montfort University, Leicester attended by post-graduate students and academics. The presentation, which focused on a particular film producer working in the transition between silent and sound cinema sparked a debate about the transitional period among post-graduate students who were not, hithero familiar with this period or the repercussions of the transition.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description 'Al Jolson, The Singing Fool, and the Advance of Talkies in Britain' at the annual British Silent Festival/King's College symposium. King's College, London. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by Project researcher Geoff Brown on the arrival and advance of talking films in Britain around 1929 at the Kings College British Silent Film Annual Symposium which attracts a range of participants including members of the public, cinema historians working outside of HE and academe, as well as post grads and scholars of British cinema history. The presentation was received with considerable interest and sparked ideas for future research and project development. The event is co-organised by the project PI, Laraine Porter, the BFI and Kings College.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/2016/British-Silent-Film-Festival-Sympo...
 
Description 'C'mon feel the noise: what happened when the talkies came to Britain? Guardian Newspaper online review of British Silent Film Festival 2015. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A substantial review in The Guardian Newspaper (online) on the key findings of the project in relation to their public presentation as part of the British Silent Film Festival in September 2015 at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester. Key elements of the Festival form major impacts and outputs from the project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/sep/21/the-talkies-silent-film-british-cinema-alfred-...
 
Description 'Cinema Design and the Coming of Sound: The Construction of Ritz Cinema in Edinburgh, 1929', Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound Symposium, Stirling, 23-4 May 2016. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact The presentation by Dr Sarah Neely was part of the Project's symposium at the University of Stirling in May 2016. The symposium included screenings and public presentations of films related to the Project's research at the MacRoberts Arts Centre at the University of Stirling. Outcomes from this symposium are to be published by the Journal of Popular British Film and TV and the symposium sparked interest in developing European research links, particularly with the European scholars and researchers present.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.silenttosound.org.uk/university-of-stirling-symposium-details/
 
Description 'Getting Kitty to Talk: A Trans-Atlantic Adventure' at the CATH Centre's Associate Research Fellows Symposium. De Montfort University, Leicester. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by Project Researcher Geoff Brown to the Cinema and TV History Research Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester on 10 June 2016. The presentation delivered the project's research to a wider group of researchers and sparked a debate around a rarely-screened transitional part-talkie film, the development of new technology and the relationship between Britain and the US during this period.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description 'THE PROBLEM OF THE FEMALE VOICE WOMEN WORKING IN THE TRANSITION BETWEEN SILENT AND SOUND FILM IN BRITAIN' 18 May 2016, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation on how women responded to and influenced the coming of sound cinema in Britain as part of the three-day Doing Women's Film and TV History Conference 18-20 May, 2016 focusing on their role as critics, public intellectuals as well as performers. The presentation given by Laraine Porter sparked considerable debate about how women's physical and intellectual voices fought to be heard and against marginalisation or otherwise becoming silenced during the transitional period and the role played by early sound technology in this respect.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/research-faculties-and-institutes/technology/cath/wwbft-conference-201...
 
Description 'The Americanisation of England' Anti- American sentiment and the arrival of the Talkies' at Kings College, London as part of the British Silent Film Festival Symposium 28-29 April 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by Laraine Porter on popular and political anti-American sentiment and various governmental responses to the British film industry and associated manufacturers and developers of new sound technology at the end of the 1920s. The presentation sparked wider debate about the repercussions of American globalisation of new technology and how this cemented the global dominance of American multi-national corporations such as Western Electric.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/2016/British-Silent-Film-Festival-Sympo...
 
Description 'The Last Silent Picture Show", presentation at the British Silent Film Festival, Leicester. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 'The Last Silent Picture Show" was a presentation and screening given by Geoff Brown on 14 September 2017 as part of the British Silent Film Festival at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester. The 5-day Festival provided an opportunity for public engagement and the delivery of research outputs from the project to the general public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/
 
Description 'This New Noise' Women working in the transition between silent and sound cinema' as part of the Women in Film and TV Network day Breaking the Sound Barrier: Women Sounding Out In British Film & Television 18 June 2016at BFI Southbank 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation as part of a day event organised in conjunction with the Women in Film and TV Network group which unites industry practitioners with academics and researchers into women working in the media. The presentation by Laraine Porter considered the role and influence of women working in the British film and broadcasting industries during the transition to sound. This offered a rare opportunity to present research to industry professionals and to get feedback on the current situation regarding women working in sound.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL https://womensfilmandtelevisionhistory.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/breaking-the-sound-barrier-women-sou...
 
Description 'When Britannia Ruled the Sound Waves: Britain's Transition to Sound in its European Context' at the Stirling University symposium Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by Geoff Brown at the British Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound Symposium at the MacRoberts Arts Centre, University of Stirling on 23 May, 2016. The symposium was attended by international range of scholars and cinema historians.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.silenttosound.org.uk/university-of-stirling-symposium-details/
 
Description 'Where Did You Get this Old Fossil?:' Michael Powell's First Film Rediscovered. Article in Sight and Sound Magazine 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article by Geoff Brown on the rediscovery of Michael Powell's first film as part of the research conducted for this project. The article was published in Sight and Sound magazine (online 20 October, 2017) and linked to a public screening event of the film Caste (1930) at the Cinema Museum in London on 9 November 2017 (see additional entry). This article was commissioned in the light of new research emanating from this project and heralded the first public screening of this film for several decades.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/michael-powell-first-film-caste-red...
 
Description 'Windjammer': a Film Journey from Silent Documentary to Sound Fiction Film 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation given at the British Silent Film Festival on 12 September, 2015 to accompany a screening of a lost film that the project's PI and Researcher rediscovered in the National Film and TV Archive. The purpose was to explain the provenance of the film and to examine the ways in which it was shot as a silent documentary and re-purposed into a sound fiction film.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://britishsilentfilmfestival.com
 
Description 'Women Not Strong Enough to Do Much Beyond String Instruments': Changing Attitudes to Women Musicians in Silent Cinema 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation at the 'Working in Music: The Musicians' Union, Musical Labour and Employment' conference at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow on 15 January 2016. The aim was to explore the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration with scholars and practitioners in music, labour and music history. The event was organised by the University of Glasgow and the MU.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.muhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/Working-in-Music-programme.pdf
 
Description 3MT competition (global) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Having won the University of Stirling's 3MT competition I was asked to record my speech to be included as a podcast and downloadable file. My speech, which is based on my research is available on iTunes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description A Brief History of Independent Cinema Exhibition in Leicester 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An illustrated presentation to the general public at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester on the ways in which Leicester cinemas responded to the coming of the talkies. This was part of a wider public event on the history of cinema-going in Leicester repeated on 2 March 2016 after a sell-out performance on 9 September 2015. The event engaged widely with local people who were invited to share their memories of cinema going in Leicester
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016
 
Description A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquith, UK, 1929) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An introduced screening of A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929) a late silent film with live music by Stephen Horne and introduced by Bryony Dixon, Curator of Silent Film at the British Film Institute. The event took place at the MacRoberts Arts Centre at the University of Stirling in as part of the project's symposium between 23-24 May 2016 and was attended largely by members of the public who were not previously aware of the issues raised by Dixon's presentation. The event was organised in conjunction with the MacRoberts Arts Centre who have requested further public events of this kind.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.silenttosound.org.uk/university-of-stirling-symposium-details/
 
Description A disaster attaching to a stampede: British exhibitors and the conversion to sound 1927-1933. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact '"A disaster attaching to a stampede": British exhibitors and the conversion to sound', was a presentation at the British Silent Film Festival Symposium at Kings College, London 7 April 2017. The presentation delivered research findings from the project to a mixed audience of scholars, members of the public and BFI attendees. It will form part of a monograph on the transition to sound in British cinema.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/16-17/British-silent-film-festival-sym...
 
Description A game of hare and hounds with one small terrier puffing well in the rear: the work of the Musical Director in British Silent Cinema. University of Lausanne 18 Jan 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation of research at the Working in Music Conference at the University of Lausanne on 18 Jan 2018. I hope to have my research published if there is a special edition journal coming out of this conference. Otherwise, it will form part of my monograph on British Silent Cinema and the transition to sound.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://musicalist.hypotheses.org/wim18
 
Description Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail, presentation and screening at the Palace Cinema, Ibstock, Leicestershire. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A talk about the transition between silent and sound cinema in Britain at The Palace Theatre in Ibstock, North Leicestershire given by Laraine Porter on 13 October, 2017 as an introduction to a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929). The talk presented some of the key findings of the research project to an audience of local people from the Ibstock area and focused on the transition to sound in Ibstock, engaging with local cinema historians and their own historiography in this respect. Audience reported a deeper understanding of the aesthetic and technical issues associated with the transition to sound cinema.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description All Quite on the Western Front: World War I in early sound cinema at Thrussington Village Hall, Leicestershire 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation and screening of All Quite on the Western Front (1930) which examined representations of World War I in early sound cinema at Thrussington Village Hall, Leicestershire in association with Film Tramp Rural Touring organisation. The event took place on 11 November 2017 as part of the Armistice commemorations and played to a packed village hall and audiences engaged in a lively debate around the different representations of World War 1 in British, German and American early sound film.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description All Singing! All Dancing! All British!: the birth of the British Musical 1929-1933 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation on the birth of the British musical in the transition between silent and sound cinema at the 'Musical Moments' conference in Salzburg in March 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description All Singing! All Talking! All British! Early British Musicals Find Their Voice. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact All Singing! All Talking! All British! Early British Musicals Find Their Voice was a presentation given by Laraine Porter on Friday 9 March 2018 at the 'When the Music Takes Over, Musical Moments in Film and Television Conference '' at the University of Salzburg, Austria 8-11 March, 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL https://musicalmoments2018.com/
 
Description Anthony Asquith's Prophetic 'A Cottage on Dartmoor': British Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound: 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation at the 'New Directions in Film and TV Production Studies' conference at Watershed Cinema in Bristol organised by the Universities of Bristol, Portsmouth and West of England. The purpose of the presentation was to use a particular film case study to examine the effects of early sound cinema on audiences as represented by Anthony Asquith's late silent film, 'A Cottage on Dartmoor'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Britain's Screen 'Inferiority Complex': Union and Institutional Responses to the Coming of Sound, 1929-35 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact A presentation given at the Cinema and Television History Research Centre Postgraduate Conference at De Montfort University, 18th June 2015. The purpose was to present research findings to UK-based post-graduate students and to garner feedback for future directions. The presentation elicited debate on the role of Trades' Unions in the coming of sound in the UK in relation to employment.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description British Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound: influences and implications of new sound technology 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation at Kings College London on 24 April 2015 which introduced a number of key themes of the project's research around new technology. The purpose of this was to publicise the research at a London venue and to request further information, feedback and participation from peers. The audience included a mixture of academics, post-graduates and interested members of the public.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/2015/bsff-2015.aspx
 
Description British Silent Film Festival 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The British Silent Film Festival was a four-day event at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester featuring presentations and screenings of silent and early sound films from the British Film Institute and other international archives. It provided us with a public platform to present research and discoveries linked to our project. It was intended to promote further interest in late British silent and early sound film and was attended by around 450 people, including families with young children for a matinee screening and presentation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/
 
Description British Silent Film Festival 13-17 April 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A five-day film festival at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester between 13-17 September 2017, featuring silent and early sound cinema. The Festival is organised in conjunction with the British Film Institute National Archive and other international archives in Europe and the US. The Festival featured 26 different events with illustrated talks, readings and live music presentations. Musical accompaniment to silent films was provided by some of the world's leading silent film musicians, including broadcaster Neil Brand and American Philip Carli, multi-instrumentalist Stephen Horne and John Sweeney. The Festival brought re-discovered films back into the public domain, many of which had not been screened for decades, and also included programmes of curated short films and a family matinee. Larger-scale events included a screening of late silent Edgar Allan Poe films at a medieval church and a screening of the early sound film Vampyr by electronic ensemble, Minima. The event attracted around 3,000 people. BBC East Midlands News conducted an outside broadcast from St Mary de Castro Church covering our candlelit screening of Poe adaptations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.britishsilentfilmfestival.com
 
Description British Silent Film Festival 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The British Silent Film Festival is a five-day public film festival at Phoenix Arts in Leicester. It took place between 11-15 September 2019 and featured 26 different events, screenings or rare or unseen material, family events, talks and presentations, live music and collaborations with other partners such as Leicester Museum and Art Gallery and University of Leicester.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/
 
Description British Silent Film Festival at the Cinema Museum 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The programming and delivery of a silent British feature films in conjunction with the British Film Institute and the Kennington Bioscope at the Cinema Museum in London. Unfortunately, the train strike prevented me from attending the event so I produced programme notes and a written introduction to be delivered in my absence.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2022/kennington-bioscope-sixth-silent-film-weekend-saturday-5-novembe...
 
Description Conference presentation, NECS 2018 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact a conference presentation with Özge Özyilmaz (Istanbul Sehir University), Cross-Cultural Adaptation in the Early Talkies: The Reception of Tell England (1931) in Turkey, History of Moviegoing, Exhibition and Reception Network, NECS, University of Amsterdam, 27-29 July.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Day of Silent Films with Live Music at the Cinema Museum in London in collaboration with the Kennington Bioscope 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Participation in the Fourth Kennington Bioscope Weekend in September 2018, screening The Garden of Resurrection and a programme of short films in conjunction with the British Film Institute and the British Silent Film Festival
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
URL http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2018/the-fourth-kennington-bioscope-silent-film-weekend-saturday-prog...
 
Description Downton Abbey's Film within a Film: The role of the Historical Film Advisor 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A 60minute presentation for DeMontfort University's annual public arts and cultural festival 'Cultural Exchanges'. The presentation detailed the ways in which my historical research was translated into Downton Abbey's film within a film subplot including working with script, actors, costume, music and set design etc.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Elstree melodies and 'the charm of the English voice': musical moments in early British talkies 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation as part of the British Silent Film Festival Symposium at Kings College in London, April 2018
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description From Orchestra Pit to Spool Box: Musical Accompaniments in Early British Talkies, British Silent Film Festival 13 September 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact 'From Orchestra Pit to Spool Box: Musical Accompaniments in Early British Talkies' was a presentation given by Geoff Brown, the Project's Researcher to a mixed audience as part of the British Silent Film Festival at Phoenix Cinema, Leicester.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/2015-festival/at-a-glance-timetable/
 
Description His Master's Voice Goes to the Movies: New Technology, the Gramophone and British Cinema's First Sound Features 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Geoff Brown presented his research at two separate events:
14 April, 2015 at University of the University of Bristol 'New Directions in Film and TV Production Studies' and on 24 April at the British Silent FIlm Symposium at Kings College, London. The purpose was to disseminate the project's research to wider audiences and to receive feedback and engagement from academics and 'amateur' historians who attended.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Hollywood Scotland: To See Ourselves as Others See Us, a presentation on early representations of Scottishness in USA cinema (1895-1927). 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact 'Hollywood Scotland: To See Ourselves as Others See Us', a presentation on early representations of Scottishness in USA cinema (1895-1927) on 8 April 2017, as part of the British SIlent Film Festival Symposium at King's College, London, delivered by one of the project's PhD students, John Ritchie from University of Stirling.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/16-17/British-silent-film-festival-sym...
 
Description Invasion: Legitimate Language and the Coming of Sound in the Nottingham Evening Post, 1928-1930 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact The presentation was given at the British Silent Film Symposium on 24 April 2015 to mixed group of interested public and study participants. The purpose was to communicate research findings from local newspaper archives on the resistance to the Americanisation of the English language as a result of the arrival of the Talkies in Nottingham. The presentation sparked debate about the linguistic issues associated with early sound cinema.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Jenny Gilbertson's Rugged Island', presentation and screening of Gilbertson's film (with live accompaniment from Neil Brand), British Silent Film Festival, The Pheonix, Leicester, 17 Sept, 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact An introduction to a screening of Jenny Gilbertson's Rugged Island at the British Silent Film Festival, 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Jenny Gilbertson's Rugged Island: Silent Cinema in Scotland and the Transition to Sound, Istanbul Silent Film Festival, 19 December 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An illustrated talk on the work of Jenny Gilbertson at the Istanbul Silent Film Festival, 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description July 2017, Burns on Film, a paper given at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway, on Robbie Burns on Film. 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact July 2017, Burns on Film, a paper given at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Alloway to members of the public. This presentation was the result of a paper given at University of Glasgow's Burns conference.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Magazine article in Sight and Sound, January 2016. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An article in the film magazine Sight and Sound entitled "Primal Screen: Geoff Brown explores the early years of the talkies in Britain" p.63
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/january-2016-issue
 
Description Musicians' Union Campaigns in the Late 1920s. Working in Music: The Musicians' Union, musical labour and employment, 14.1.2016 - 15.1.2016, Glasgow. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation by Prof John Izod as part of the Working In Music Conference, Glasgow on research findings related to the history of the Musicians' Union which prompted further ideas for conferences, publications and public engagement activities. This conference was part of the Celtic Connections Music Festival in Glasgow and was aimed at music practitioners as well as academics and music historians.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.muhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/Working-in-Music-programme.pdf
 
Description Okay for Sound? The reception of the early Talkies in Britain as part of Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound The MacRobert Arts Centre, University of Stirling 23rd-24th May 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A keynote presentation on the various intellectual, scholarly and popular responses to early sound cinema in Britain at the MacRoberts Arts Centre at the University of Stirling which was delivered to conference delegates and members of the public. The presentation will be published in the Journal of Popular British Film and TV.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.silenttosound.org.uk/university-of-stirling-symposium-details/
 
Description Paper Presentation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact University of Glasgow's Centre for Robert Burns Studies Annual conference. I presented a 30 minute paper to an audience of circa 80. I was then invited to contribute a chapter to the new Oxford Handbook on Burns by the conference Chair who is also the editor of the book.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Presentation and screening at Cromarty Hall cinema, Orkney Scotland on the film A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929) 4 November 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation by Laraine Porter on the transition between silent and sound cinema, with a focus on the Scottish Highlands, followed by a screening of the silent film A Cottage on Dartmoor (Anthony Asquith, 1929) with live piano and musical accompaniment by multi-instrumentalist Stephen Horne. The event, which was part of the Highlands Film Fortnight, was presented in the Gable End Theatre within an informal setting and with a discussion with audience members afterwards.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://filmfortnight.wordpress.com/films/a-cottage-on-dartmoor-pg/
 
Description Presentation and screening at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland on The Informer (1929) 10 November 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation on the arrival of sound in British cinema followed by a screening of the silent version of the Arthur Robison film The Informer (1929) with piano and musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. Members of the public came to discuss the film after the event including how this had given them a unique and new insight into this period of British film history and had changed their views on the period.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-informer
 
Description Presentation and screening at Gable End cinema, Hoy Scotland on the film A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929) 5 Sunday November 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Presentation and screening at Gable End cinema, Hoy Scotland on the film A Cottage on Dartmoor (1929) 5 Sunday November 2017
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://filmfortnight.wordpress.com/films/a-cottage-on-dartmoor-pg/
 
Description Presentation and screening at the Hippodrome cinema, Bo' Ness, Scotland on Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929) 11 November 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation and screening on Britain's first talkie, Blackmail (1929) including a screening of the silent version with live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The event was part of the Hippodrome's 'Taste of Silents' programme. Members of the public discussed how their views on silent film and early talkies had changed and been influenced by the presentation and screening, which was also intended to help promote the work of the Hippodrome in Bo Ness, an independent and historically significant cinema. Presentation was delivered by Laraine Porter
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/whats-on/events/event.aspx?eid=5803&did=28830
 
Description Presentation at the British Silent Film Festival in Leicester, Sept 2015 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact An illustrated presentation entitled "Was Blackmail Really Britain's First Talkie?" given by Geoff Brown, the project Researcher and illustrated with film clips. The audience were given programme notes outlining the results of the project's research and the purpose of the presentation was to change our understanding of early British sound films and to introduce newly-discovered and rare archival films into the public domain.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.britishsilentfilmfestival.com
 
Description Presentation at the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival, Bo' Ness, Scotland 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The presentation was entitled 'You ain't heard Nothing Yet!' and featured PhD Researcher John Ritchie presenting clips and newly-discovered early sound films to the Festival audience. Films included The Loves of Robbie Burns (1930), Harry Lauder in a Series of His World Famous Songs (1931)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Preview of British Silent Festival in the Guardian Guide 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A preview of the British Silent Film Festival in the Guardian Guide Saturday 5 September, 2015 p.22
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Silent Cinema Music and the Transition to Sound, University of Nottingham. Djanogly Lecture Theatre 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact A presentation based on my research to a mixed group of students and members of the public on 28 February 2017. Members of the public who attended, contacted me later to express how the presentation had given them new knowledge and awareness on silent film music.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Silent to Sound: Britain and Europe in Transition', preceding screening of Prix de Beauté, Cinema Museum, London, 10 November 2016 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation and screening by Geoff Brown at the Cinema Museum in London to a packed audience of members of the public who expressed considerable interest in the research and the relationship between Britain and Europe during the transition to sound cinema. The event which received some very good Twitter responses was considered very successful by the Cinema Museum who have requested further events from the Project.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.cinemamuseum.org.uk/2016/kennington-bioscope-special-silent-to-sound-in-europe/
 
Description Sing As We Go: Gracie Fields, early British musicals and the transition to sound cinema in Britain, Unity Hall, Loughborough Leicestershire. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation by Laraine Porter and screening of Gracie Fields' Sing as We Go (1934) at the Unity Hall in Loughborough on 21 October 2017, hosted by the local Labour Group co organised by Film Tramp rural cinema touring organisation. The event involved a discussion with audience and participants on the representation of class and regionalism in early British sound film and audience members actively engaged in debating the issues raised by the film and the project's research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Tantalizing Fragments: Scots language, dialect and song in the early talkies, Silent Film Festival Symposium, King's College London, 6 April, 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A conference presentation at the Silent Film Festival Symposium in 2017, the paper will be published as part of a special issue of the Journal of British Cinema and Television.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description The Americanisation of England: Anti-American Sentiment and the Arrival of the Talkies 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation of the project research findings at the What is Cinema History Conference at the University of Glasgow in June 2015. The purpose was to present the research to peers and to obtain feedback
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://earlycinema.gla.ac.uk/blog/2015-conference/
 
Description The Evaluation of Audio in Britain in Early Sound Cinema. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact Presentation by Nyasha Sibanda: "The Evaluation of Audio in Britain in Early Sound Cinema2 at the. NECS Conference: Sensibility and the Senses at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris, on 3 June 2017.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description The Informer (1930) at Rutland Museum in Oakham 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A presentation by Laraine Porter on the transition between silent and sound cinema followed by a screening of Arthur Robison's early sound film The Informer (1930) on 20th October, 2017. The event was organised in conjunction with Rutland Museum who worked with the project to select the film on the basis of it likely appeal to local people.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description The Loves of Robert Burns (Herbert Wilcox, UK, 1930) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A screening of a re-discovered early sound film about Robbie Burns introduced by Project PhD student John Ritchie to a public audience at the MacRoberts Arts Centre at the University of Stirling. This film sparked considerable interest due to the rarity of the film screened, which had been rediscovered by Project PI and Researcher at the BFI National Archive. The subject matter was particularly relevant to audiences in Scotland and the film will be screened more widely in Scotland as part of the Project's follow-up activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.silenttosound.org.uk/university-of-stirling-symposium-details/
 
Description The Magnetic North: pulling away from metropolitan-focused approaches to the study of cinema (conference paper) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact What is Cinema History (A Homer Conference), Glasgow, 22-24 June 2015.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The Magnetic North: pulling away from metropolitan-focused approaches to the study of cinema' What is Cinema History (A Homer Conference), 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A conference paper presented at the Homer conference in Glasgow, 22-24 June 2015.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://framescinemajournal.com/?issue=issue5
 
Description The Partial Empowering of British Cinema Operators, 1927-33 given at the British Silent Film Festival Symposium, King's College London, April 2017. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact The Partial Empowering of British Cinema Operators, 1927-33' was a presentation given by Prof John Izod (University of Stirling) at the British Silent Film Festival Symposium, King's College London, April 2017, as part of the British Silent Film Festival Symposium.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/filmstudies/eventrecords/16-17/British-silent-film-festival-sym...
 
Description The Technology and Impact of Early British Talkies 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation given at the Centre for Film and TV History at DMU to members of the Research group with the aim of disseminated and profiling the research among peers and British cinema historians.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The Transition from Silent to Sound Cinema in Leicester: a Local Case Study 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation as part of a wider panel on the History of Cinema in Leicester at 'What is Cinema History?' conference, Glasgow June 2015. The purpose was to focus the project's research on a smaller geographical area and to test the amount and scope of data and information available to use.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description The arrival of the talkies in cinemas in Orkney, Shetland, Wick and Thurso, Film Forthnight, Orkney, 4 Nov, 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A talk on local cinema at the Orkney library, held as part of a new film festival, Orkney's Film Fortnight.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Tries to talk with a Scotch accent; British Silent FIlm Festival Symposium September 2017 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact "Tries to talk with a Scotch accent" was a presentation examining local newspaper reactions in Scotland to the first wave of American 'talkies' featuring Scottish characters at the end of the 1920s. The presentation was given by John Ritchie, one of the Project's PhD students and was the opening talk at the 19th British Silent Film Festival Symposium at Phoenix Cinema in Leicester.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://britishsilentfilmfestival.com/2015-festival/at-a-glance-timetable/
 
Description Women! Have You a Happy Voice? Women Film Stars and the Transition between Silent and Sound Film in Britain 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact A presentation delivered at the Women and Silent Screen Conference a the University of Pittsburgh, US on 17 September 2015, looking at the ways in which women's voices, accents, intonation and vocal delivery, became the focus of attention during the transition to sound cinema. The purpose was to bring this aspect of cinema and social history in the UK to a wider audience and to look at the comparative situation in the USA.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://wssviii.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/wss-viii-conference-program-20151.pdf
 
Description Working on Downton Abbey: The role of the Historical Film Advisor 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact A 15 min presentation and introduction to Downton Abbey (2022) detailing my work as the historical film advisor on the film's subplot about the transition to sound cinema in Britain delivered to a screening of the film at Leintwardine in Herefordshire.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description conference presentation - Calling the Shots, Southampton 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Conference presentation, 'Holding her tongue: from silents to sound in the career of Scottish-born Hollywood screenwriter, Lorna Moon' Doing Women's Film and Television History: Calling the Shots - Then, Now and Next, Southampton, 23-25 May.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018