Cinema
материал (английский язык) по теме

A Story of Hollywood

          The world capital of filmed entertainment Los Angeles has been a lot of things over the past 100 years. First, it was a little city with orange forest and great weather. But, one day in 1908 a group of people from Chicago came to Los Angeles to shoot a film. Since that day a lot of directors, producers, actors and thousands of other workers have been coming to Los Angeles. In 1911 the first studio appeared in Hollywood (a part of Los Angeles).

          In the 1920s Hollywood made 80% of the world's films. Silent and black-and-white films of those early years starring Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin were forced out by sound films in the middle of the 1920s. Full-length films came up to take place of short films. And the first colour film, Gone With the Wind, was shot in 1939. This film brought a great success to Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable who starred in the film. The number of the studios grew very quickly. They combined in large corporations and now the biggest film companies are MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros, and Universal.

          The first genres of American films were melodrama, western and comedy, later appeared adventure and historical films. But now the range of genres is much richer. Hollywood got the name of the factory of dreams. It is associated with wealth and paradise of sun and palm trees. But it is only a façade for a darker truth.

A History of Russian Cinematography

          The spreading of cinematography in Russia started with the demonstration of the Lumiére brothers' film in May 1896 in St. Petersburg and Moscow and later in Nizhniy Novgorod. Film making industry developed mainly in St. Petersburg and in Moscow and its development is firmly connected with the name of A. Khanzhonkov who founded the first film studios. In the '20s the stars of silent films were V. Kholodnaya, V. Polonski, V. Mashkov and others. The most popular genres of Russian films were historic films and screen versions of famous novels, such as Aelita by A. Tolstoy, and The Quiet Don by M.Sholokhov. The first sound films simultaneously appeared in three countries, the USSR, USA and Germania at the end of the 1920s. In October 1929 the first sound cinema house started its work. Great attention was paid to films for children. One of the most famous directors is A.Rou, the creator of fairy tales. And another famous actor and director whose name is inseparably linked with children's films is R. Bykov. Several generations of children enjoy his films Attention! The Tortoise and Aibolit 66. The names of N. Mikhalkov, A. Konchalovski and A. Tarkovski are known all over the world as the creators of unforgettable, realistic pieces of art.    

1.  What kind of films do you like/dislike?

        1. What is special about such films?                                  

                             stuffed with events                                                        fights of different types                                

                             full of special effects                            They have        a mysterious plot

  They are             realistic/unrealistic                                It has               a dynamic story

  It is                     true to life                                                                      funny/dramatic situations

                             full of tears                                                                    a lot of music/dancing/singing

1. romantic story(ies)

(a) story(ies) about love

(a) romance(s) for girls

                                 life of famous people

                                 real events

  It is about               traveling to …

  They are about       adventures in the sea/space

                                 unreal things

                                 supernatural things

         2.  What is positive about such films? 

                                  to defend justice

                                  to defend the weak and offended

  It teaches you          love for …

  They teach you        to be kind and patient

                                  to find your way in life

                                  to believe in love/reality

                                  to be proud of something  

         3.  What is negative about such films?                                 

                                  aggression

                                  violence

They teach you          to be passive

It teaches you            to be indifferent

                                  to believe in unreal things

         4.  How do you like such films?

                                  excellent/magnificent/wonderful/good

                                  great/superb/outstanding/fantastic/sensational

They are                    impressive/extraordinary/splendid/not bad

It is                            nothing special/nothing to write home about

                                  bad/boring/reasonable/rotten

                                  frightful/horrible/lousy

         5.  How do you feel about such films?

They           keeps(s) you in suspense                                                     laugh/cry/happy/smile                          

 It               grab(s) (catches) your attention                                            feel calm/sick/yawn

                                                                                   It makes you         want to hide/miserable

They are     touching/moving/frightening                                               unhappy/nervous/bored

It is             funny/serious/entertaining                                                   want to scream

                   exciting/boring/melancholic                   I couldn't help      crying/laughing/yawning

                   educational/informative

2. What types of films do these people talk about? Use the names of genres instead of dots.

1. – What do you think of the film?

            – Oh, it was extremely good! I was kept in uncertainly up to the end. The story line was so      

        mysterious.

      – Yes, … always keep audience in suspense. And this one is a really good … .

b)  – It is a pretty good film. The story line is simple but touching.

    – Yes, the plot is really very simple but … don't need to be complicated and mysterious. Usually

            they are naive but we like them for it.

2. – Do you like the film?

– Oh, yes. It was really good. I like films which are full of fights and adventures.

– Oh yes, you do. And this one was really stuffed with fights. I think there were too many of      

               them.

            – You simply don't like … I guess.              

         3.   Here are some teenager's opinions about action films. Which of them are

         for and which of them are against action films?

3. Action films are rotten.
4. They make you want to hide.
5. They teach you to defend those who are weak and in danger.
6. They are very impressive.
7. You get accustomed to violence very quickly.
8. Action films are a good way to relax.
9. They are full of extraordinary fights.
10. They are stuffed with shooting and killings.
11. If you watch too much violence, you become cruel.
12. They are dangerous for young children.
13. They demonstrate the physical abilities of man.

         4.  Match different kinds of TV programmes with their descriptions.

1. documentary                                        a)  factual film about animals and plants
2. the news                                               b)  informal talk, usually with famous people
3. chat show                                             c)  the latest events in the world and in your country
4. soap opera                                            d)  non-fiction film based on real events
5. nature programme                                e)  drama, usually about family life; often weekly
6. weather forecast                                   f)  advertisement
7. commercial                                          g)  information about temperature, wind, rain, sun and so    

                                                                              on

         5.  Write definitions for the following kinds of films using the phrases below.

         An adventure film has lots of exciting action.

         A comedy ___________________________.

         A drama ____________________________.

         A thriller ____________________________.

         A western ___________________________.

         A romance __________________________.

         A crime story ________________________.

         A science fiction _____________________.

         6.  Cinema combines different arts. That's why people of different professions 

        are involved in film making. Who are these people? Match the name of the

        professions and what they do.

1. has general control of the money for a film but he doesn't direct the actors
2. fixes the lights and all other electrical equipment
3. is the boss and tells everybody what to do. He works very closely with the actors in particular
4. looks through the camera, and operates the equipment
5. decides the position of the camera, and everything to do with light, colour, quantity and direction
6. writes scripts for films, shows
7. holds the microphone
8. does all the dangerous things on the screen instead of actors
9. chooses the best bits of the shooting film, cuts film and puts the bits together
10. operates the microphones and gets very angry with people who makes noises during the filming
11. pretends to be another person and acts in a film
12. prepares costumes: dresses, suits for films
13. can make a new face for an actor

         7.  Here is a short review of the achievements of Australian cinematography.              

        Fill in the gaps in the story using the words from the box.

      Australian film industry is as old as _____________. Australians make a lot of good __________. They are proud of their ___________ and ____________ gives money to the film companies. Australian films are known all over the world. There are some big international successes such as the ___________________ film, about the ___________________ in Australia and Strictly Ballroom – a wonderful story about young ____________. ____________ which is ___________ by Jane Campion, won the main ___________ at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993. one of the most famous Australian ___________ is Peter Weir. He ___________ Picnic at Hanging Rock. It is a story about a group of schoolgirls who disappeared after a picnic.

8. What kind of films do you like to watch? Add the word film where    necessary.

I like different films: ______________________                          musical ___________

_______________________________________                           thriller ____________

I like ___________________________________                          feature ____________

My favourite films are _____________________                          comedy ___________

      _______________________________________                           action _____________

      I hate __________________________________                           documentary _______

                                                                                                               detective __________

                                                                                                               adventure __________

                                                                                                               love story __________

                                                                                                               historical __________

                                                                                                               melodrama _________

                                                                                                               western ____________

                                                                                                               travel ______________

                                                                                                               science fiction _______

                                                                                                               screen version of a novel  

                                                                                                                                   __________

9. WORDSEARCH

Do the crossword. Find the following words. You can look for them in these

ways        and other variations.

         P     E     E     D     E     E      R     R     O     U

         F     R     C     N     T     D     E     O      S     T

        O     R     M     A     E     C     C     T     T     A

        M    A      L     V      I      T     I      I      D     N

        U     C      E     L     O     E     V     N     G     P

        S      I       N    C      E     S     O     T     O     L

        A     E      E     L     C     H     O     Y     T     T

        U     C      N    B     O     M     E     D     E     H

        D     I       E     I      O     R     A     R     A     T

        H    O      R     R     P     E      T     O     E     R

10. Choose the words from the box and put them into the gaps and find out what genres these films are.

I.   Yesterday I saw a 1) _____________ film. I've never seen such a 2) ____________ story before.    The film was stuffed with the adventures of the unusual things such as 3) __________and _________. They were so 4) ____________ that they 5) __________ and hide. But I adore such films.  

                                                                                        The girls saw _____________

II   Some days ago I saw a 1) ___________ film. It was a 2) __________ story. There were a lot of 3) ____________ and ______________. It was so 4) ___________ that I 5) ____________ but the happy end of the film made me feel wonderful too.

                                                                                       The boys saw _____________

KEYS

2.   thriller; melodrama; action film

4.   1 – d             4 – e            7 – f  

      2 – c             5 – a

      3 – b             6 – g

6.   1 – l             4 – a            7 – f         10 – g            13 – e    

      2 – c            5 – k            8 – i         11 – b

      3 – h            6 – m           9 – j         12 – d

7.   Hollywood, films, film industry, the government, Crocodile Dandee, adventures, dancers, The  

      Piano, directed, prize, directors, shooted

8.   musical, thriller, feature film, comedy, action film, documentary (film), detective (film), adventure

      film, love story, historical film, melodrama, western, travel film, science fiction ( film), screen

      version of a novel.

10.  I )   1) wonderful; 2) mysterious; 3) vampires and werewolves; 4) true to life; 5) made me want to

   screan

        a horror film

       II )  1) magnificent; 2) romantic; 3) music and singing; 4) moving; 5) couldn't help crying a love

   story