Joy is building a movie theater in the basement of Brains On! Headquarters. She’s got the popcorn, air conditioning, and comfy seats but is overwhelmed by all the cool but complicated technology that makes movies magical. Join Joy and Forever Ago producer Nico Gonzalez Wisler for a silver-screen edition of First Things First!
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CREW: Now entering Brains On headquarters.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NICO WISLER: Hey, Joy. What you up to over there?
JOY DOLO: Oh, Nico, Forever Ago producer extraordinaire, I'm so glad you're here. It's summer. And one of my favorite things to do in the summer is go to the movies. There's always a big summer blockbuster. The air conditioning is so refreshing. And the popcorn. I cannot get enough popcorn.
NICO WISLER: Right. I love the movies, too, but that still doesn't explain what you're doing over there with a box of power tools, tube lighting, and 32 boxes of reclining chairs.
JOY DOLO: Well, let me explain that to you, because instead of taking the whole Brains On team to the movies, I thought it would be fun to build a theater in the basement of Brains On headquarters. You know, a little summer project. That way, we could have movie nights whenever we want.
I've sorted out the decor. I'm thinking black with swirls of orange, purple, and green on the floors and on the walls. But I'm stuck on technology. There's so much to choose from. Film projector or digital? Surround sound or Omni sound? Automatic popcorn butterer or manual butterer?
NICO WISLER: I know just the solution. Grab some popcorn and join me for a game of--
CREW: First Things First.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: Oh, goody. Yes, let's play. You tell me three pieces of movie theater technology, and I'll guess which was invented first, which came second, and which was created most recently?
NICO WISLER: Exactly. Conveniently, I have a comprehensive catalog of marvelous movie technology we can browse. Let's see what we have to choose from.
[FLIPPING PAGES]
OK, let's go with speakers for sound.
JOY DOLO: Right. There was a time when movies didn't have any sound.
NICO WISLER: Oh, this is cool. 3D glasses for a 3D movie.
JOY DOLO: 3D movies are movies that look three-dimensional when you put on special shades. It looks like things are popping out of the screen.
NICO WISLER: Pretty cool, huh?
JOY DOLO: Mm-hmm.
NICO WISLER: And finally, we have green screens. These are green backdrops used when people are filming a movie. Later on, people can put special effects or cool backgrounds over that green screen, so it looks like the actors are anywhere, like on the moon.
So, Joy, your three movie innovations are movies with sound, 3D movies, and movies that use green screens. Which do you think came first, second, and third?
JOY DOLO: So I think it's movies with sound, movies that use green screens, and 3D movies.
NICO WISLER: OK, Joy, are you ready to hear the correct order?
JOY DOLO: I am, but I'm scared.
NICO WISLER: You were close.
JOY DOLO: Oh, no. Oh, no.
[LAUGHTER]
NICO WISLER: You were right that green screen came after sound, but before both of those was 3D movies. How you taking it?
JOY DOLO: I'm taking it rough. I'm taking it rough. I could go for a walk. [LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: So the first 3D feature film to air in theaters was called The Power Of Love and was released in 1922. It was a silent film and premiered in Los Angeles. And viewers could actually choose if they wanted a happy or sad ending, depending on which lens of their 3D glasses they viewed the movie through. 3D movies were most popular in the early 1950s.
Then we have sound. The first movie with sound came out on October 6th, 1927, so five years after 3D films. And then the movie, The Jazz Singer, was the first commercially successful movie to have synchronized sound. There had been many attempts before this to play movies with sound, but they all failed. One of them failed because rats kept trying to eat the cables.
JOY DOLO: Rats were trying to eat the cables?
NICO WISLER: Yeah. So they were just like, you know what? We actually disconnect these microphones.
JOY DOLO: Just take it.
NICO WISLER: Take it. Take it for the rats.
JOY DOLO: Much like the rats in New York nowadays.
NICO WISLER: Not interested in popcorn, only electricity--
JOY DOLO: Electricity.
NICO WISLER: --cords. And then last but not least, the green screen. The first movie to use the chroma green screen, as it's officially called, was a feature film from 1956 called The Ten Commandments.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CREW: Let my people go.
JOY DOLO: No way, The Ten-- OK, so The Ten Commandments is a show I've seen hundreds times, I can quote it backwards and forwards, because we used to watch it as a family every year for Easter. So I know everything about Charlton Heston and Nefertiri and how she's a jerk. And then how the slaves are trying to leave Egypt and there's always these pyramids. And when he parts the sea. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, when he parts the Red Sea, of course, you can't do that in the film. I mean, come on, it's the '50s.
NICO WISLER: Does it look like a green screen? Is it like a painting?
JOY DOLO: No. Well, when I watched it when I was six, it looked real.
NICO WISLER: [LAUGHS]
JOY DOLO: But when I watched it again, as an older woman, I'm like, this is no way. It looks like 1950s cinema. It looks really, really fake. But it's not even like a painting. It looks real. It looks as real as it could be at the time. Just everybody go to YouTube and watch the parting of the Red Sea. Charlton Heston parts the Red Sea.
And also, not only it's cool because of the green screen, but it's cool because it's also way over dramatized, it's very soap operay. And everybody's like, Moses, Moses.
NICO WISLER: I have never even heard of this movie. And now, my next four hours are planned out.
JOY DOLO: Yup. Yup. It's a long one, so get a whole bunch of popcorn. [LAUGHS]
NICO WISLER: Wow. Incredible.
JOY DOLO: First things first is the best. Now that we learned about the timeline of movie technology, I feel inspired to finish this project. I want to start buying lots of cool cinema tech.
NICO WISLER: Oh, yeah. What are you going to order from the comprehensive catalog of marvelous movie technology?
JOY DOLO: Everything. Just as soon as I get more popcorn.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That's it for this Smarty Pass episode. It was made by Aron Woldeslassie. Our executive producer is Beth Pearlman. And the APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Brains On is a nonprofit radio program. Thanks, Smarty Pass friends. See you next time. Bye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NICO WISLER: Hey, Joy. What you up to over there?
JOY DOLO: Oh, Nico, Forever Ago producer extraordinaire, I'm so glad you're here. It's summer. And one of my favorite things to do in the summer is go to the movies. There's always a big summer blockbuster. The air conditioning is so refreshing. And the popcorn. I cannot get enough popcorn.
NICO WISLER: Right. I love the movies, too, but that still doesn't explain what you're doing over there with a box of power tools, tube lighting, and 32 boxes of reclining chairs.
JOY DOLO: Well, let me explain that to you, because instead of taking the whole Brains On team to the movies, I thought it would be fun to build a theater in the basement of Brains On headquarters. You know, a little summer project. That way, we could have movie nights whenever we want.
I've sorted out the decor. I'm thinking black with swirls of orange, purple, and green on the floors and on the walls. But I'm stuck on technology. There's so much to choose from. Film projector or digital? Surround sound or Omni sound? Automatic popcorn butterer or manual butterer?
NICO WISLER: I know just the solution. Grab some popcorn and join me for a game of--
CREW: First Things First.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: Oh, goody. Yes, let's play. You tell me three pieces of movie theater technology, and I'll guess which was invented first, which came second, and which was created most recently?
NICO WISLER: Exactly. Conveniently, I have a comprehensive catalog of marvelous movie technology we can browse. Let's see what we have to choose from.
[FLIPPING PAGES]
OK, let's go with speakers for sound.
JOY DOLO: Right. There was a time when movies didn't have any sound.
NICO WISLER: Oh, this is cool. 3D glasses for a 3D movie.
JOY DOLO: 3D movies are movies that look three-dimensional when you put on special shades. It looks like things are popping out of the screen.
NICO WISLER: Pretty cool, huh?
JOY DOLO: Mm-hmm.
NICO WISLER: And finally, we have green screens. These are green backdrops used when people are filming a movie. Later on, people can put special effects or cool backgrounds over that green screen, so it looks like the actors are anywhere, like on the moon.
So, Joy, your three movie innovations are movies with sound, 3D movies, and movies that use green screens. Which do you think came first, second, and third?
JOY DOLO: So I think it's movies with sound, movies that use green screens, and 3D movies.
NICO WISLER: OK, Joy, are you ready to hear the correct order?
JOY DOLO: I am, but I'm scared.
NICO WISLER: You were close.
JOY DOLO: Oh, no. Oh, no.
[LAUGHTER]
NICO WISLER: You were right that green screen came after sound, but before both of those was 3D movies. How you taking it?
JOY DOLO: I'm taking it rough. I'm taking it rough. I could go for a walk. [LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOY DOLO: So the first 3D feature film to air in theaters was called The Power Of Love and was released in 1922. It was a silent film and premiered in Los Angeles. And viewers could actually choose if they wanted a happy or sad ending, depending on which lens of their 3D glasses they viewed the movie through. 3D movies were most popular in the early 1950s.
Then we have sound. The first movie with sound came out on October 6th, 1927, so five years after 3D films. And then the movie, The Jazz Singer, was the first commercially successful movie to have synchronized sound. There had been many attempts before this to play movies with sound, but they all failed. One of them failed because rats kept trying to eat the cables.
JOY DOLO: Rats were trying to eat the cables?
NICO WISLER: Yeah. So they were just like, you know what? We actually disconnect these microphones.
JOY DOLO: Just take it.
NICO WISLER: Take it. Take it for the rats.
JOY DOLO: Much like the rats in New York nowadays.
NICO WISLER: Not interested in popcorn, only electricity--
JOY DOLO: Electricity.
NICO WISLER: --cords. And then last but not least, the green screen. The first movie to use the chroma green screen, as it's officially called, was a feature film from 1956 called The Ten Commandments.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CREW: Let my people go.
JOY DOLO: No way, The Ten-- OK, so The Ten Commandments is a show I've seen hundreds times, I can quote it backwards and forwards, because we used to watch it as a family every year for Easter. So I know everything about Charlton Heston and Nefertiri and how she's a jerk. And then how the slaves are trying to leave Egypt and there's always these pyramids. And when he parts the sea. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, when he parts the Red Sea, of course, you can't do that in the film. I mean, come on, it's the '50s.
NICO WISLER: Does it look like a green screen? Is it like a painting?
JOY DOLO: No. Well, when I watched it when I was six, it looked real.
NICO WISLER: [LAUGHS]
JOY DOLO: But when I watched it again, as an older woman, I'm like, this is no way. It looks like 1950s cinema. It looks really, really fake. But it's not even like a painting. It looks real. It looks as real as it could be at the time. Just everybody go to YouTube and watch the parting of the Red Sea. Charlton Heston parts the Red Sea.
And also, not only it's cool because of the green screen, but it's cool because it's also way over dramatized, it's very soap operay. And everybody's like, Moses, Moses.
NICO WISLER: I have never even heard of this movie. And now, my next four hours are planned out.
JOY DOLO: Yup. Yup. It's a long one, so get a whole bunch of popcorn. [LAUGHS]
NICO WISLER: Wow. Incredible.
JOY DOLO: First things first is the best. Now that we learned about the timeline of movie technology, I feel inspired to finish this project. I want to start buying lots of cool cinema tech.
NICO WISLER: Oh, yeah. What are you going to order from the comprehensive catalog of marvelous movie technology?
JOY DOLO: Everything. Just as soon as I get more popcorn.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That's it for this Smarty Pass episode. It was made by Aron Woldeslassie. Our executive producer is Beth Pearlman. And the APM Studios executives in charge are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Brains On is a nonprofit radio program. Thanks, Smarty Pass friends. See you next time. Bye.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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