V Read the following text on the film genres and do the assignments after it.

MOVIES

v A synopsis is a brief summary of a written work or a movie. Read the movie synopses below and try to guess the title of the movie.

Movie 1: ________________ This is a comedy starring Jim Carrey. When a light falls from the sky, Carrey’s character Truman begins to suspect that something is wrong with the world. He goes on to discover that his whole life is being filmed as a show for others to watch.	Movie 2: ______________ This is a sci-fi thriller starring Keanu Reeves. His character, Neo, is a computer hacker who discovers that life on earth is a façade created by intelligent machines that use humans to generate energy.	Movie 3: ________________ This action/adventure film is a remake of a 1933 classic. Jack Black plays a movie director who captures a giant ape from a lost island and brings the ape back to New York. In the end, the ape escapes captivity and causes destruction in New York.
Movie 8: ________________ In this romance, Kate Winslet plays an upper class woman who falls in love with a poor artist. The story takes place aboard a ship that is struck by an iceberg and sunk. In the end, Kate Winslet’s character, Rose, survives but the poor artist, who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, dies.		Movie 4: ________________ This is a suspense drama starring Bruce Willis. He plays a doctor who helps children with psychological problems. He tries to help a troubled child who sees ghosts. In the end, he helps the boy find peace, but he discovers that he is a ghost himself.
Movie 7: ________________ In this sci-fi action film, Will Smith plays a cop who is recruited into the government’s most secret agency. He has to find ‘illegal aliens’ that are hiding in New York, including an insect-like alien that is trying to take over the world.	Movie 6: ______________ When a criminal maniac, Sirius Black, escapes from prison, Harry Potter, who is played by Daniel Radcliffe, has to be careful. It turns out that Sirius is not who he seems.	Movie 5: ________________ This is an action film starring Tobey Maguire. He plays a superhero who has to stop the evil genius Dr. Octopus. Unfortunately, his real life problems as college student Peter Parker cause him to temporarily give up being the superhero.

v Read the following text on the film genres and do the assignments after it.

Genres. The major film genres developed in the United States are: comedy, musical, Western, gangster, horror, war, science fiction and detective suspense.

Comedy. Charles Spencer Chaplin became the most widely-recognized film figure in the world, and it has been said that he was more universally known than any living person in history. Chaplin emphasized the development of character and plot structure, in contrast to the simple reliance on gags and gimmicks that characterized the work of other comedy producers of the day.

Westerns. The western was the first American genre to be developed and has remained a staple of the American motion-picture art and industry. It has been estimated that one quarter of US films have been westerns. However, today most American westerns are made in Italy and are called "spaghetti westerns."

Musicals. The musicals of the late 1920s and the early 1930s consisted of a series of "numbers" by established stars of Broadway, vaudeville and radio. Later manifestations of the form were the biographical musicals, often highly fictionalized, about great composers, musicians, singers, providing an opportunity to string together some of their most popular hits. The transferring of musicals intact from the Broadway stage became almost automatic beginning in the 1950s, and includes Brigadoon (1954), Oklahoma! (1955), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound of Music (1965) and many more recent productions.

Gangster films. While the western deals with a mythical American past and the musical with a fantasy land, the gangster film is closely tied to a real facet of American life. In earlier films, the gangster had risen to the top to enjoy wealth, power, beautiful women, expensive homes and large cars, but before the end of the film he was bound to be caught by law-enforcement officers, overthrown by fellow gang members, or killed. Such punishment was considered obligatory. By 1971, however, The Godfather showed how far the genre has evolved: Marlon Brando, in the title role, dies of old age.

War films have evolved into a major American genre, since wars have occupied so much of contemporary American history. World War II has been the subject of the greatest number of American films in this genre.

Horror films. In the 1920s the creation of a monster who gets out of control or is coming to life from non-human beings who survive by killing the living provided the basic story lines of countless horror films, e. g. Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931). These films also have dealt with supernatural forces that manifest themselves as an unseen power rather than in individual form, e. g. The Birds (1963), The Exorcist (1973). A third major kind of horror film deals with people who are insane or in the grip of psychological powers beyond their control (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1908, 1941).

Horror films as a genre is associated with the name of Alfred Hitchcock. Like Walt Disney with cartoons, Alfred Hitchcock was thought not just to have invented a film genre but to have patented it (hence Hitch, another name for a horror film).

Disaster films. Another type of popular films depicting serious misfortunes, e. g. earthquakes, crash of planes, etc.

Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, The Posseidon Adventure are examples of disaster films.

Detective, thriller and spy films, films telling exciting stories of crime, violence, spies and detectives trying to find out who the murderer is and why the murder happened. These include first of all the James Bond series: Goldfinger (1964), Thunderbolt (1965). Hitchcock's films of this genre feature ordinary people who accidentally become involved with spies or other evil doers: Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959).

Science fiction, films about imaginary future developments in science and their effect on life, often concerned with space travel. After World War II science-fiction films increasingly suggested that the dangers of the future stemmed from what human beings were doing in the present: On the Beach (1959), Planet of the Apes (1968). In 2001 man breaks through the confines of both time and space. In Star Wars the emphasis is on the technology employed. Cocoon is an example of science-fiction fantasy. Visitors from another planet return to Earth to retrieve a secret hidden on the ocean floor thousands of years ago and find love and adventure.

On the right there are some of the ways we use to classify the films. On the left there are some film titles. Match each title with the most appropriate kind of film from the column on the right.

	Last Days of the Black Rock Gang	a cartoon
	Bridge over the Seine	a western
	John loves Mary loves Tom loves Judy	a science fiction movie
	Born to be a Star	a disaster movie
	Light Years from Yesterday	a travelogue
	The Blood of the Innocents in White	a documentary
	The London to Glasgow Express	a war film
	Avalanche	a (Hollywood) musical
	Goldilocks at the Teddy Bear’s Picnic	a horror film
	Wildlife and the West	a blue movie
	Bonaparte and Alexander	a thriller
	Casablanca to Cape Town in 20 days	a historical film
	Life begins at Midnight in Amsterdam	a romantic comedy

2. In what situations might you say the following? Match each question with one of the situations on the right. Make up a dialogue, using the questions:

	What’s on?	You want to know whether the actors are any good
	Who’s it?	You can’t see a free seat anywhere
	What’s it about?	You need to know what time to get to the cinema
	Where’s it on?	You’re thirsty
	What time does it start?	You are leaving the cinema with a friend
	Where shall we sit?	There are three cinemas in town and you don’t know which is showing the film you want to see
	Where’s the bar?	You haven’t a clue what to go and see
	What did you think of it?	It might be a horror film and you wouldn’t enjoy it

3. Make up dialogues, using the following expressions as well as the expressions above:

Let’s take a break.

What shall we do?

How about…?

Let’s see…

Why don’t we…?

I’d rather see…

No way. That’s too scary.

What is showing at the…?

What is on at the…?

When does it start?

It starts at 7:30.

How much does it cost to get in?

It’s really cheap.

That sounds good.

They are showing Home Alone at the Cathay.

4. Here are some of the categories for the annual Academy Award Winners. Each winner gets on Oscar. Look back over the past few years – not just this year – and note down who you would give your awards to for as many as you can of the categories bellow. If you don’t know the name of the person involved, then just give the name of the film. If you are working in a group, compare and discuss your notes with a partner:

Best film

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Director

Best original Screenplay (script)

Best Screen Adaptation

Best Cinematic Photography

Best Editing

Best Special Effects

Best Original Score (music)

Best Costumes / Wardrobe

Best Title Sequences / Credits

Best Short (film)

Special Award for Services to the Cinema Industry, the motion picture business, the dream factory, the movie world.

V Look at the following pictures and extract the necessary information on the studio equipment and professions related to film production. Describe the process of film production using the words and expressions.

1-13 film studios (studio complex) 1. lot (studio lot) 2. processing laboratories (film laboratories, motion picture laboratories) 3. cutting rooms 4. administration building (office building, offices) 5. film (motion picture) storage vault (film library, motion picture library) 6. workshop 7. film set (Am. movie set) 8. power house 9. technical and research laboratories 10. groups of stages 11. concrete tank for marine sequences 12. cyclorama 13. hill 14-60 shooting (filming) 14. music recording studio (music recording theatre, Am.) theater 15. “ acoustic” wall lining

16. screen (projection screen) 17. film orchestra 18. exterior shooting (outdoor shooting, exterior filming, outdoor filming)19. camera with crystal-controlled drive 20. cameraman 21. assistant director 22. boom operator (boom swinger) 23. recording engineer (sound recordist) 24. portable sound recorder with crystal- controlled drive 24. microphone boom 26-60 shooting (filming) in the studio (on the sound stage, on the stage, in the filming hall) 26. production manager 27. leading lady (film actress, film star, star) 28. leading man (film actor, film star, star) 29. film extra (extra) 30. arrangement of microphones for stereo and sound effects

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