The second part of the book begins with chapter 4, which explores the key events of 1927–1928, in which the motion picture industry began to bring together companies and workers from the East and West around strategic technological shifts. While the shift to sound was in process, it was not sound but lights and film stock that served as the vehicles for these early collaborative endeavors. With the formation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1927, the studios united behind a single organization designed to standardize both labor and technology practices across all the major producers. In order to gain the cooperation and favor of the studio technicians, AMPAS focused many of its early activities on collaborative technical projects. In the spring of 1928, the Mazda tests united the studio technicians, manufacturers, independent labs, and trade organizations to standardize lighting and film stock technology across the industry. This first “scientific endeavor” of Hollywood, followed immediately by the first Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) convention in the area, created a model for the institutionalization of technological management and innovation in the industry.
