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Course Materials World of Cinema

 

Cherkasy – 2005

 

 

Foreword

 

This booklet consists of materials and activities that can be used by the teachers and students of the third year of study to practice communication skills while studying the topic “Cinema”.

The booklet consists of seven parts: History of Cinema, Film Genres, Movie People and Show Business, Legends of World Cinematography, Film Festivals and Consolidation. Each part contains the materials on the suggested topic supplemented by the exercises that allow for continual assessment of progress. The sixth part is constituted by the exercises to check the general knowledge of the topic.

The booklet is not all-encompassing. The first objective of this booklet is to review essential information concerning the world of cinema. Then, using this information as a knowledge base, the booklet provides specific information about the development of cinema, the people who are involved in film-making, how a film is made and the most famous international and home film festivals.

This booklet has been prepared primarily for University teachers to be used at the lessons of conversational English and teachers of English at secondary specialized schools. The material compiled in the booklet was meant to serve not only as vehicles for classroom instruction but also as resources and self-study. In each part, the combination of texts, topical vocabulary and expansive exercises provides a complete and invaluable reference guide for the student. After students have gained exposure to the content area and have practiced reading skills and strategies, conversational practice in each part they move on to developing clear and effective writing skills.

 

Writing this booklet has been fun and challenging. We are indebted to many people who helped us in all kinds of different ways. Specifically, though, we want to express our appriciation and gratitude to:

L.A. Pashis, for her confidence and encouragement,

L.P. Rudakova, for her invaluable suggestions,

D.M. Kolesnyk, for her excellent and sharp-eyed production editing,

our colleagues and students, for contributing ideas and activities included into this booklet.

 

Part I. History of Cinema

 

This special report looks at cinema’s early development.

Where did it come from and who invented it?

Our journey begins in the Far East.

 

Moving images have always been popular. In China, for example, there were 'shadow plays' 5,000 years ago. These used firelight to project images of puppets onto screens. So projection is a very old idea. But cinema only became possible when this old Asian idea met a new European one – photography.

 

The two came together in the middle of the 19th century. That's when photos were first used in 'magic lanterns′. Before then, these early projectors had used glass slides. The pictures on these slides were painted by hand and very expensive. In comparison, photos were cheap and easy to produce.



So – by 1850 projection and photography had come together. But the result still wasn't 'cinema'. How could it be when the pictures didn't move? The solution to that problem came in several stages.

 

  • The first, in 1877, came via English inventor Eadweard Muybridge. He discovered a way to take photos very quickly, one after the other.
  • Eleven years later, an American called George Eastman produced the first celluloid film on a roll.
  • By 1890, it was possible to take up to 40 photos per second.
  • Next, in 1893, came another invention – Thomas Edison's 'Kinetoscope'. The kinetoscope projected moving pictures, but it had three problems,

(a) It was noisy

(b) The pictures it produced were very low-quality

(c) Only one person could watch a kinetoscope at a time.

 

Before cinema could be born, one last invention was necessary – a quiet machine able to project high-quality pictures onto a large screen. And the men who produced that were two French brothers from the city of Lyons.

 

Louis and Auguste Lumiere

The Lumiere Cinematograph allowed large audiences to watch 'moving pictures'. Its debut took place on 28 December 1895 in a Paris cafe. That day the Lumieres showed several short films. They were all documentaries and one of them was called 'Arrival of Train at Station'. Afterwards, Auguste Lumiere talked to reporters about his invention. 'It can be exploited for a certain time,' he said, 'but apart from that it has no commercial value at all.'

Well, he was completely wrong. In less than a year cinemas had started to open in Europe and America. The public's appetite for films was instant and enormous – which meant that more and more had to be made. By 1905 movie-making wasn't just an interesting idea – it was a successful new industry. And by 1915 it was an industry with a capital – Hollywood, USA.

 

The Silent Era

Hollywood was established in 1912. That's when a group of New York film producers decided to open a new studio in California. Why California? Because the climate was good, labor was cheap and there were lots of beautiful locations nearby.

As a result of their decision, Hollywood soon attracted film actors and technicians from all over the country. While World War I was fought in Europe, and for several years after, these cinema pioneers made thousands of black and white films – comedies, tragedies, fantasies, romances and historical dramas. This was 'the silent era' – the era of Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Douglas Fairbanks and Buster Keaton. It was called 'silent' because there was no recorded sound. Instead, the actors' dialogue appeared on cards shown every 15 or 20 seconds. At the time it seemed perfectly normal. That's simply how films were.

In fact, even as late as 1924, director D. W. Griffith declared 'There will never be speaking pictures'. But Griffith, like Auguste Lumiere 29 years before, was wrong. A revolution was coming, and its name was...

 

The Talkies

Recorded sound ended the silent era in 1927. That's when Al Jolson both spoke and sang in 'The Jazz Singer'. (His first words were 'Wait a minute, wait a minute folks. You ain't heard nothing yet!') The impact on cinema-goers was enormous. They loved 'The Jazz Singer' and demanded more and more talking pictures. The studios quickly obliged and by 1930, audiences were up from 57 million a week (1926) to 110 million a week. Only 31 years after the Lumieres' first film-show, modern movies had arrived.

 

Golden Era

In 1932 Technicolor arrived. Coming only five years after the sound revolution it made cinema more popular than ever. So popular, in fact, that the next 20 years are often called Hollywood's 'golden age'. In the ’30s and ’40s millions queued every week to see films produced by the top studios. These included Paramount, RKO, Warner Brothers and most successful of all – Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Run by Louis B Mayer, MGM's motto was 'more stars than there are in heaven'. This referred to the 'family' of film stars who had contracts with the studio. (In those days actors only worked for one company.) During the '30s and '40s, MGM's family included The Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Spencer, Tracy, Judy Garland, and Gene Kelly.

It was an impressive list, but only one of several. All the other 'dream factories' had stables of the top box-office names, too. In fact, competition was an important part of Hollywood's success. The reason was simple. Each studio, wanted to make bigger, better films than its rivals. After 1948, though, movie tycoons like Louis B Mayer began to face another kind of competition. And this time it wasn't from inside the cinema industry – it was from outside.

 

Television

America's TV revolution began in the years following World War II. At first Hollywood didn't worry. After all – what was there to worry about? John Logie Baird's invention only produced small, black and white pictures. It was a gimmick. It wouldn't last. But as more and more people bought sets, cinema queues began to get shorter. And not just 5% or 10% shorter. By the early '50s, weekly audiences had been cut in half to 50 million. Clearly the movie industry had a serious problem on its hands.

 

Hollywood Fights Back

Studio bosses tried to solve the problem in several different ways. These included:

CINEMASCOPE –This technique made it possible to show films on a wider screen than ever before. Several action-packed Cinemascope films were made. The first, a Biblical epic, was called 'The Robe'.

3D – To watch 3D or 'three-dimensional films, audiences had to wear special glasses. These gave images on the screen extra height, width and depth. The idea was used in several '50s horror films, but never really caught on.

CINERAMA –Three projectors were needed to show Cinerama films. Each one filled a third of a huge, curved screen. Again the idea didn't catch on – this time because it was too expensive.

SMELL-O-VISION – Another Hollywood scheme for winning back TV audiences was Smell-O-Vision. This was an electronic system, which sent the smell of roses, gun smoke, coffee, etc. (whatever was showing on the screen) over moviegoers during a film.

70MM FILM – Before the '50s, movie cameras and projectors used film which was 35mm wide. The arrival of 70mm film produced a much bigger, clearer image. 70mm is still used for some films today.

 

Basically, then, the Hollywood studios competed with television by making movies bigger, better and more realistic. Some of their ideas succeeded – others failed. However, what really saved the cinema industry was not a technical development at all – it was another '50s invention...teenagers.

Movies and youth culture discovered each other in the mid-'50s with two key films – 'Rebel Without A Cause' (1955), starring James Dean, and 'Rock Around The Clock' (1956), starring early pop idol Bill Haley. For Hollywood it was a turning point. Before then, the average cinema-goer had been over 30. Suddenly, all that began to change. And it's a change that's continued ever since. Today 75% of all box-office tickets are sold to people between the ages of 15 and 25.

 

The Modern Movie Industry

 

These days, cinema and television live side-by-side. The movie industry didn't collapse (as some people predicted) in the '50s and '60s. But cinema audience-figures are still low compared to 50 years ago. In Britain, for example, most people only see one or two films per year. In Europe it's three or four and in America six or seven. Because of this, modern movie-making has become very different from how it was in Louis B Mayer's time. For example:

- Hollywood has more competition from international film­makers now than ever before

- enormous 'picture palaces' with one screen are being replaced by 'multi-screen’ cinemas

- there are still large studios, but the old 'studio system' (with groups of stars working for one company) has disappeared

- modern films have three lives instead of one. First, they appear in the "cinema then on video, and finally they're shown on TV.

 

A. Read the article about the development of cinema. Say whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F):

 

1. Projection is a very old Asian idea _____

2. The kinetoscope was invented in 1893 by Eadweard Muybridge _____

3. The first movie was shown in 1890 in a Paris café _____

4. Hollywood was established in California because of climatic conditions and picturesque location _____

5. The first black-and-white movies were comedies, tragedies, romances, horror films and thrillers _____

6. During Golden Era Hollywood studios faced stiff competition from computer games producing companies _____

7. The term “golden age” in Hollywood cinematography is associated with the appearance of world famous studios and stars ______

8. Making films for teenagers became a turning point that helped Hollywood regain its popularity _____

9. Hollywood dominates the world cinematography and doesn’t have any competition from international film-makers ______

10. Modern films have several lives instead of one ______

 

B. Pick out from the text sentences describing the main problems in the cinema’s development.

 

C. Finish the sentences:

 

1. The idea of image projection came from…

2. By 1850 projection and photography had come together, but…

3. Thomas Edison’s kinescope projected moving pictures, but…

4. The debut of the Lumiere Cinematograph…

5. The silent era was famous for…

6. Hollywood was established…

7. “The Jazz Singer” was…

8. With the arrival of Technicolor…

9. The most successful of the dream factories included…

10. After 1948 the cinema industry began…

11. Modern movie-making has become… .

 

D. You are supposed to deliver a presentation about the main stages in the cinema’s development. The following questions can be helpful:

 

1. Where did the idea of moving images come from?

2. How did the idea of projection and photography come together?

3. What happened in a Paris cafe on December 28, 1895?

4. How was Hollywood established?

5. What were the films made by the cinema pioneers?

6. Who were the stars of the silent era?

7. How did the arrival of Technicolor influence the cinema popularity?

8. What were the inside and outside rivals of the cinema industry?

9. How did Hollywood win back their audiences?

10. What is the modern movie-making characterized by?

 

 


Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1977


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