In 1927, silent films had already been around for quite a while. Until 1927 the only sound you would find is live musical accompaniment. People had been trying to find a way to have sound with film for many year. But in 1927 they finally made a breakthrough and released the first ever "talkie" called The Jazz Singer. before this film sound sound had been used. They filmed using phonograph technology so a disc was played which synced with the film. The device was called a Vitaphone. They struggled with the microphone positioning and getting the sound levels right. After a while vitaphones were replaced by Movietone. these were strips of celluloid that ran down one side of the film. These strips carried the sound. This is what the jazz sing used i its film However they still needed to perfect it and in a few years Talkies had pretty much killed silent films.
