Watching the change from filming in the silent method to filming while capturing sound was on a technical level very interesting. Like in Shadow of the Vampire, watching the actors receive their direction while acting is very revealing as to the relationship between actor and director. It is much less collaborative when the actors do so much less. The conception of movie actors by theatrical actors at this time is shown to be very unimpressed, with Kathy even referring to Don as just “a shadow on film.” Money also could be saved for studios by shooting multiple films side by side, without the worry of sound spilling from one film to the next. All of this changes drastically with sound.

When Singin’ in the Rain first shows us the studio capturing sound while filming, it also gives us some of its most humorous scenes. First off, the actors had to visit diction coaches, although not much improvement was seen in either actor, which leaves the audience to believe you either have it or you do not (Don has it, Lina does not). Once the actors could more or less read lines, it was time to record them for the film The Dancing Cavalier. Since the microphone had to be hidden in the scene (no boom mics yet) the actors had to figure out how to face the microphone and yet still act naturally. The natural part was a bit hard to pull off since the silent movie star was still used to over gesturing their body movements. The actors also decided all of those cumbersome lines were too hard to learn. When the line, “Imperious princess of the night,” seemed too challenging for Don, he changed the dialogue to the much simpler, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Who really