Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Movie-Talk
Reading,
vocabulary & conversation activity
Read the text below and work on the vocabulary exercise that follows.
Lights, camera…. action!
Thrillers, dramas, horror
movies, comedies, or westerns. If they are well-made, you love them all! Musicals,
animated films, documentaries, detective movies, science fiction, war,
romance, action, history, adventure, family, fantasy and even shorts.
You love raving about the
latest Meryl Streep performance and Leo Dicaprio’s acting skills. You are the
type of person who doesn’t care whether the movie is a blockbuster or a flop,
as long as Robert De Niro is in it. And you are literally counting the days
until Steven Spielberg starts shooting his next film. You love foreign films
and couldn’t care less whether the movie is dubbed or has captions. You are
loyal to the industry.
You devour trailers for the
coming attractions. You go to the ticket sales in person, just in case, the
very day tickets are out. And the day of the premiere, you stay at the theater
and read all the credits until the ushers ask you to please leave. Because
you, my friend, are a movie buff with conviction!
Texto: Verónica de la
Vega
|
A.Find the film-related words
and/or phrases in the text above for the following definitions.
1.The place where cinema goers go to buy their tickets.
2.When a film is translated into another language using voice-over the
film is ………………
3.To praise an actor’s performance, director’s skills, etc. is to
……………….. about them.
4.A film with …………………. has a translation using words along the bottom of
the screen.
5.A first public performance or showing of a play, opera, film, etc.
6.The adverts for upcoming movies or coming attractions shown before the
main film.
7.A highly popular film
8.The names of the people involved in the making of the film that appear
at the end.
9. A person
who escorts people
to seats in
a theater.
10.An unpopular film.
11.Someone who knows a lot about films.
12.To make or to ………………. a film.
Discussing Movies
Film genres, setting,
directors, cast, plot, reviews
- What kind of movie is it? What’s its genre? It’s a/ an …
- Who’s the director? / Who directed it? The director is... / It was directed by...
- Who’s in it? / Who’s starring (in it)? ... is in it. / It’s starring ...
- When/ where does it take place? It takes place in... / It’s set in...
- What’s it about? It’s about... / The plot is about...
- What kind of reviews did it get? / What did the critics say? It got ... reviews / The critics...
GAME: Can you name this movie . . .?
“This movie is a sci-fi and it takes place in
space. It stars George Clooney and
Sandra Bullock and it was directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The plot is about a medical engineer and an astronaut who
work together to survive after an accident. The critics loved it.”
|
Think about other movies to describe to your classmates
in this way. Give as many clues as you know.
There’s more to talk about...
 Do you often go to the movie theater?
When was the last time you went to the movie theater? What did you
see?
Do you want to see any new movies now?
Who are your favorite actors? Why?
Do you have a favorite movie director? Who is he/she?
Describe your favorite movie? What is it about? Who is in it?
Describe a very bad movie? Why was it bad for you?
|
And the Oscar Goes to…
Conversation,
reading and video activity
Conversation
& Discussion
What do you think are the most important categories in these awards?
Do you watch the Oscars on TV every year?
What do you think of the nominations, the show, the red carpet, the
fashion, etc?
How important is winning an award for an actor?
|
Reading Segment
Read the text
below and do the exercise that follows.
The Academy Awards, commonly known as The Oscars, is an annual ceremony honoring mostly the American film
industry. Winners are awarded the statuette,
The first Academy Awards were presented on May 16, 1929, at a private
dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people.
At the time there were only a few categories and prizes. The event became
more well-known about 24 years later, in 1953, when the first televised Oscar
ceremony took place.
Oscar Awards have evolved with the passage of time. The number of
categories has gone up to quite an extent and even new segments have been
added. Presently, the ceremony has 24 categories, is one of the most awaited
events of the year, and is watched by millions of people across the world.
All the prominent personalities of Hollywood are invited to the event.
The Red Carpet is rolled out to welcome the guests and hundreds of photographers,
TV cameras, and reporters from around the world try to capture a shot or a
word of the most famous people on the planet.
The venues of this gala has been changed a number of times. The
Chinese Theater in Hollywood, the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, The Dolby
Theater, among others, have hosted the oldest entertainment awards ceremony
on different ocasions.
The voting for the Academy Awards is kept in strict secrecy. First,
the nominees are chosen by the members of the Academy, who are highly regarded
actors and people in the movie industry. Then the nominees are announced to
the public at an event in January. And finally the voting takes place and is
guarded and controlled by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The
results are kept secret until the envelopes are opened on stage, during the
function.
Will your favourite movie, director or actor be announced at the next
ceremony after the famous “and the Oscar goes to...”?
Sources:
awardsandshows.com, oscar.com,and Wikipedia
|
Comprehension:
Are these statements TRUE, FALSE or NOT MENTIONED?
- Academy Awards are also called by another name.
- Nobody knows who will be the winners of the statuette.
- There are more nominations at present that in the past.
- The Oscars have always been a TV hit.
- The first Oscar was given in 1953.
- The ceremony takes place at the Hollywood studios.
- You have to be an excellent film critic to be one of the voters.
- Photographers and reporters walk on the red carpet as well as the big stars.
Video : Oscar Trivia - Fox News
Length: 4.36 min
What's Your Oscars IQ? When
awards season rolls around, are you red-carpet ready? Test your knowledge of the
Academy Awards, past and present, with this video clip from Fox News.
Answer the QUIZ
below and then check your answers with the video to see how you did.
1.Which actor has never won an Academy Award for best
actor?
a)Gary Oldman
b)Nicolas Cage c)Tommy Lee Jones
2.Which famous director has never won an award for
best directing?
a)James Cameron
b)Martin Scorsese c)Afred
Hitchcock
3.What is the highest grossing film that has never won
Best Picture?
a)Titanic b)Avatar
c)Lord of the Rings:Return of the King
4.No actor or actress has ever won an Award for
appearing in a Steven Spielberg film?
a)True b)False
5.Who is the most nominated individual in Oscar
history?
a)Meryl Streep
b)Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
c)Walt Disney
Hayao Miyazaki
Reading and
video activity
Master animator and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is saying
goodbye to the film world with apparently his last animated feature, The Wind
Rises. Since the news, the whole film industry has started to honor and praise the
Anime God. Even The Simpsons decided to say goodbye in an episode released in
January 2014, that pays tribute to Miyazaki with a scene bringing together some
of his most famous films.
Read the short profile below
and answer the questions below.
Hayao Miyazaki is one of
Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling
characters, and breathtaking animation in his films have earned him
international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Hayao was born in Tokyo on
January 5, 1941. He began his career as an animator in 1963 and worked on
many early classics of Japanese animation. After extensive experience in
television, he began directing features in 1979. That year he directed his
first movie, the classic The Castle of Cagliostro. Later, he gained acclaim with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
based on the comic of the same title he had started two years before.
 The success of the film led
to the establishment of a new animation studio, Studio Ghibli, at which
Miyazaki has since directed, written, and produced many other films with
Takahata and, more recently, Toshio Suzuki. All of these films enjoyed
critical and box office successes: Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbor
Totoro (1988), Porco Rosso (1992), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), among others.
Hayao Miyazaki's films have
a fairy-tale spirit, with young protagonists and magical settings. His works
are characterized by recurrent themes, such as ecology, pacifism, feminism,
and the absence of villains.
For the release of his 2013
film The Wind Rises, Miyazaki renewed his anti-war message, with the story of
a young man who designs planes during World War II. With this, his last animated movie,
Miyazaki confirmed his retirement during a press conference, in Tokyo, on
September 6, 2013.
Text
Sources: IMDB, Wikipedia, Warner Movies, TNT
|
A. Read and choose the best
option.
1. a)Miyazaki is best
known in Japan.
b) Miyazaki is best known internationally.
c)Neither.
2.a)Some of his films have a pacifistic message.
b) Some of his films have a violent message.
c)Neither.
3.a)He always worked as an animator.
b)He always worked as a director.
c)Neither.
4.a)He didn’t work much in television.
b)He worked much in television.
c)Neither.
5.a)At some point in his career he designed comics.
b)He designed comic books when he was a child.
c)Neither.
B.Find the words in the text
for the following synonyms, meanings or definitions.
1.Fame, recognition
2.Story, argument
3.Topics, subjects
4.End of a career, job, profession.
5.Location, places where a movie or book happens.
6.Roles in a film or book, people.
7.Professional life, job.
Hayao Miyazaki retires
5.18 min. BBC News report
As news emerges
of the retirement of Japanese film director Hayao Miyazaki, presenter Lucy
Hockings interviews Chie Kutsuwada about his legacy.
00.00 to 01.17
a)The presenter
says she will never forget the day she saw the film “Spirited Away”.
b)It was the first
animation film she saw.
c)Miyazaki’s
career spun for almost a century.
d)His films are
characterized by his attention to detail and social conscience.
e)His most recent
film, The Wind Rises, has been critized.
01.18 to 5.18
f)Chie Kutsuwada
is a comic book artist.
g)She has worked
with Miyazaki.
h)Animation is
part of the Japanese culture.
i)Miyazaki’s films
are for children.
j)Children born in
the 70’s or later, grew up watching Miyazaki’s works.
k)His films have
deep messages.
l)Adults are
mainly his central characters.
m)Kutsuwada believes
Miyazaki is against fight.
n)She is surprised
that The Film Rises is his last film.
o)For her Miyazaki
shows that the world is black and white, good or bad.
p)Miyazaki’s
influence on her is to do work that is purely entertaining.
The First Sci-Fi Movie
Audio &
video activity
From “The Engines
of Our Ingenuity” by Haleh Ardebili, University of Houston's College of
Engineering
Length: 3.36 min.
Part 1 – 00 to
01.40
Listen to the
first part of the audio and answer the questions below with a number.
1)In which decade did the Lumière brothers, Thomas Edison and Georges
Méliès make their first short films?
2)In which year did Georges Méliès produce the first science fiction
film?
3)How many years before the first unmanned landing on the moon was the
film?
4) How many years before the
first human touched the Lunar soil was made this first sci-fi film?
5)How many minutes long is this silent film?
6)How many cannons did the
characters use to shoot a capsule into space?
Part 2 - 01.41 to 03.49
Listen to part
2 and complete the blanks with the words missing.
Georges Méliès was born on
December 8th, 1861 in
Paris. He had a strong artistic (1)............................ from an early
age as he enjoyed sketching people and (2)............................
and made cardboard (3)............................. After his education, he
purchased a theatre in Paris and began writing and directing illusion (4)............................
He eventually entered the field of filmmaking.
In his film A Trip to the Moon, we get to see the space (5)............................ point of view. The
Méliès' trip to the moon is a
story of humanity's long-time (13)............................ of space exploration.
It displays elements of dream and (14)............................, with the
suggestion of the (15)............................ that would make it happen.
We can feel the magic and excitement of (16).............................
Perhaps the same feeling that we had when Armstrong walked on the moon or when
the first rover landed on Mars.
We search for something (17)............................,
surprising and powerful that can transform our (18)............................
forever. For the first time, Georges Méliès conveyed this through a motion
picture.
Watch the
original “A Trip to the Moon” with music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold &
Laurence Rosenthal here
Movie Crossword Puzzle
Vocabulary/Game activity
Use
the clues below to complete the crossword puzzle.
Across
2. A
movie in space.
3. What is
used to shoot a film.
8. Main
actor in a film.
10. a
flat surface on which a film is projected.
13. What the
director says at the beginning of a scene.
14. A
movie with cowboys.
15. Type of
movie.
16. Place where
a movie takes place.
17. The story,
what happens in a film.
18. Someone
who finances a film.
19.
A type of movie where people sing and dance.
Down
1.
A piece of paper that allows you to see
a movie at a theater.
4. Actors who are usually in the background and do not
have a speaking role.
5.
A movie about real life.
6.
A scary movie.
7.
A cartoon movie.
8. Popular snack at the movies.
9.
A very famous actor.
11.
A funny movie.
12. The list of songs or music in a film.
17. Acting roles in a movie.
20. Someone who gives opinions about movies in a
professional way.
The Movie Issue
Movie-talk
1.The ticket sales
2.Dubbed 3.To rave 4.Captions
5.Premiere 6.Trailers 7.A blockbuster 8.The credits 9.Usher
10.A flop 11.A movie buff
12.To shoot
GAME: Can you
name this movie . . .? The movie is “Gravity”
And the Oscar Goes to…
Reading
Segment
1.T 2.F (technically the
accountants know the results) 3.T 4.F
(TV transmission began in 1953) or NM (it is not said whether the first
transmissions were successful) 5.F (1929) 6.F
( it takes place at theaters) 7.NM or F (you have to be prominent in the film
industry) 8.NM
Video
: Oscar Trivia - Fox News: 1.a 2.c
3.b 4.a 5.c
Hayao Miyazaki
Reading
(A)
1.c 2.a 3.c
4.b 5.a
(B)
1.renown/acclaim
2.plots 3.themes 4.retirement
5.settings 6.characters 7.career
Video
a) T b) F (She
had never seen animation like this before)
c) F (over half a century) d)
T e) T
f)T g) F (she admires him) h) T
i) F (for everyone to enjoy)
j)T k)T l)F (children are) m)T
n)F o)F p)F (and also delivers important
messages)
The First Sci-Fi Movie
Part 1
1)1890s 2)1902 3)57
4)67 5)14 6)1
Transcript : THE MOON'S EYE
Today, the first sci-fi film.
The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about
the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity
created them.
It's 1902. The motion picture
technology is in its early years. It wasn't long before, in the 1890s, when the
Lumière brothers, Thomas Edison and Georges Méliès made their first short films.
However, this particular year of 1902, the French illusionist and filmmaker
Georges Méliès made something special. He produced the first science fiction
film: A Trip to the Moon. And it's from this film that a famous iconic image
emerges: A space ship lands in the moon's eye. This was 57 years before the
first unmanned landing on the moon and 67 years before the first human touched
the Lunar soil.
The film is silent and runs
for about 14 minutes. It starts with a group of scientists, professors and
astronomers gathering in a large hall. They wear long robes and pointed hats.
They discuss how to travel to the moon and eventually find a way to do it. They
insert a space capsule inside a giant cannon and shoot it into space.
Georges Méliès was born on
December 8th, 1861 in
Paris. He had a strong artistic passion from an early age as he enjoyed
sketching people and places and made cardboard theatres. After his education,
he purchased a theatre in Paris and began writing and directing illusion shows.
He eventually entered the field of filmmaking.
In his film A Trip to the Moon, we get to see the space traveler's point of view. The moon has a person's face and it magnifies, as the space capsule gets closer. When it lands, we see the iconic image of the bullet-shaped capsule stuck in the moon's eye. We see the planets and stars in the sky with their faces and identities, watching over the Earthling visitors. A celestial connection can be felt. We also see the image of the earth from the moon's horizon — eerily similar to another iconic image, the actual photo taken by NASA many years later.
Méliès' trip to the moon is a
story of humanity's long-time dream of space exploration. It displays elements
of dream and fantasy, with the suggestion of the science that would make it
happen. We can feel the magic and excitement of discovery. Perhaps the same
feeling that we had when Armstrong walked on the moon or when the first rover
landed on Mars.
We search for something new,
surprising and powerful that can transform our lives forever. For the first
time, Georges Méliès conveyed this through a motion picture.
I'm Haleh Ardebili at the
University of Houston, where we're interested in the way inventive minds work.
Movie Crossword Puzzle
Across: 2.sci-fi
3. camera 8.protagonist
10. screen 13.action 14western 15. genre 16. setting
17. plot. 18. producer 19musical
Down: 1. ticket 4. extras 5. documentary 6. horror 7.animated
8. popcorn 9. star 11. comedy
12. soundtrack 17. parts 20. critic
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