| Earlinde | Дата: Среда, 28.11.2007, 16:58 | Сообщение # 1 |
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| In this topic I offer you the theme " the Cinema". Texts, dialogues, some words and expressions about it.
Matherials: 1. А. Г. Елисеева, И. A. Ершова "ENGLISH WORDS AND HOW TO USE THEM".
2. A.L. Diment "BRUSH UP YOUR TALK"
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| Earlinde | Дата: Среда, 28.11.2007, 17:02 | Сообщение # 2 |
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| Text FILM ACTING
...In the theatre, the spectator is stationary1 as he watch-es and listens to the spectacle moving before him. If an actor has to give emphasis to a particular gesture or expression he must draw the attention of the audience to himself by taking up a conspicuous position, or by striking a pose or making a movement or pause that will lead the other actors to look at him; and whatever he does must be performed so obviously that it cannot fail to be observed by the most distant members of his audience. His make up, even his stage-whispers, must be exaggerated for the same purpose.
In a film, none of this is necessary.
The fundamental difference between the methods of the theatre and the film involves considerable differences between the technique of stage acting and that of film acting. In the first place, the exaggeration and overstatement8 which the stage actor has to employ become quite unneces¬sary in the film. On the contrary, because the camera can approach so close and give such an enlarged view of the least detail, it is restraint and understatement which are required. ("I had always believed," George Arliss tells us, "that for the movies acting must be exaggerated, but I saw in this one flash, that "restraint" was the chief thing that the actor had to learn in transferring his art from the stage to the screen.")
All that is essential and effective on the stage, the wide sweep of gesture, the make-up, the declamatory style of speech, becomes false and ridiculous on the screen simply because it is out of place. "When we speak of the 'unnecessary staginess,' of a film actor's performance, we so term it not because staginess necessarily involves anything of itself wrong or unpleasant. We simply register an unpleasant sensation of incongruity, and therefore falseness, as though at the sight of a man striving to negotiate a nonexistent obstacle."
A second difference is that whereas on the stage an actor's chief instrument of expression is his voice, and his movements are almost entirely an accompaniment to, and an extension of, what is said, in the film he acts with the whole of himself. A glance, a movement of the hand., a slight shrug of the shoulders may be far more significant than anything said. This means that the film actor must exercise a far higher degree of self-control. Falseness and insincerity are much more apparent in a screen performance than on the stage, where, as Robert Donat has testified, it is easier for the actor to disguise an imperfectly assimilated characterization. "In the theatre," he says, "it is the audience which receives; in the studio it is the camera, with this surprising difference that whereas one can get away with flippancy, sloppiness and insincerity in the theatre, infinite care must be exercised in front of the camera. In the theatre the broad methods necessary to reach topmost galleryite and lowermost pittite6 sometimes cover a multitude of sins."
To make the same point in a slightly different way, whereas stage acting is to a considerable extent conventionalized and stylized, film acting is in the highest degree naturalistic, nothing is so effective on the screen as complete sincerity, provided always that it is tempered with restraint.
(Art of the Film, by Ernest Lindgren) Notes to the text 1. stationary — not moving or changing position; cf. remain stationary — remain in the same place
2. overstatement — an exaggerated statement; an exaggeration; cf. understatement=a statement which is excessively restrained
3. we simply register art unpleasant sensation — we merely feel unpleasantly affected
4. to negotiate an obstacle — to show a certain skill in overcoming an obstacle; to get past or over smth.
5. to get away with smth. — to do something with im punity, i. e. without ill effect for oneself
6. galleryite — a spectator in the lower gallery; pittite—a spectator in the pit; cf. standing-roomite
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| Earlinde | Дата: Среда, 28.11.2007, 17:12 | Сообщение # 3 |
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| Text THE PECULIARITIES OF FILM MATERIAL
In the earliest years of its existence the film was no more than an interesting invention that made it possible to record movements, a faculty denied to simple photography. On the film, the appearances of all possible movements could be seized and fixed. The first films consisted of primitive attempts to fix upon celluloid, as a novelty, the movements of a train, crowds passing by upon the street, a landscape seen from a railway-carriage window, and so forth. Thus, in the beginning the film was, from its nature, only "living photography." The first attempts to relate cinematography in the world of art were naturally bound up with the theatre. Similarly, only as a novelty, like the shots of the railway-engine and the moving sea, primitive comic, or dramatic scenes played by actors began to be recorded. The film public appeared. There grew up a whole series of relatively small, specialized theatres in which these primitive films were shown.
The film now began to assume all the characteristics of an industry (and indeed a very profitable one). It was realized that many positives can be printed from a single negative and that by this means a reel of film can be multiplied like a book, and spread in many copies. Great possibili¬ties began to open out. No longer was the film regarded as a mere novelty. The first experiments in recording serious and significant material appeared. The relationships with the theatre could not, however, yet be dissolved, and it is easy to understand how once again the first steps of the film producer consisted in attempts to carry plays over on to celluloid. It seemed at that time to be especially interesting to endow the theatrical performance—the work of the actor whose art had hitherto1 been but transitory, and real only in the moment of perception by the spectator —with the quality of duration.
The film remained, as before, but living photography. Art did not enter into the work of him who made it. He only photographed the "art of the actor." Of a peculiar method for the film actor, of peculiar and special properties of film technique in shooting the picture for the director, there could as yet be no suspicion. How, then, did the film director of that time work? At his disposal was a scenario, exactly resembling the play written for the theatre by the playwright. Only the words of the characters were missing, and these, as far as possible, were replaced by dumb show, and sometimes by long-winded titles. The director played the scene through in its exact theatrical sequence, he recorded the walkings to and fro, the entrances and exits of the actors. He took the scene thus played through as a whole, while the cameraman, always turning, fixed it as a whole upon the celluloid. The process of shooting could not be conceived of otherwise, for as the director's material served these same real persons-actors with whom one worked also in the theatre, the camera served only for the simple fixation of scenes already completely arranged and definitely planned. The pieces of film shot were stuck together in simple temporal sequence of the developing action, just as the act of a play is formed from scenes, and then were presented to the public as a picture. To sum up, the work of the film di¬rector differed in no wise from that of the theatrical producer. A play, exactly recorded upon celluloid and projected upon a screen, with the actors deprived of their words—that was the film of these early days.
(Pudovkin, Film Technique) Notes to the text 1. hitherto — until now, until then
2. long-winded — lengthy and dull, boring
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| aquamarine | Дата: Четверг, 29.11.2007, 20:27 | Сообщение # 4 |
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| New words and expressions feature film - художественный фильм
newsreel - кинохроника
animated cartoon film - мультипликационный фильм
popular science film - научный фильм
documentarty - документальный
a full-length film - a feature film that lasts about one and a half hours
reel - part of a film
short - a two- or three-reel film, lasting only 15-30 minutes
travelogue - a geographical film about travels
cinema audience - people who come to the cinema
'All Sold Out' - sign that shows that all the tickets are sold out the film version of a novel - экранизация романа
to shoot (shot) a film - to photograph (to make, to produce)
to release a film - when a film appears it is usually shown at one central cinema for a certain period, after which it is released that is shown in any cinema
widescreen - широкоэкранный (фильм)
the film is short in color (black and white) - a film may be short in color or in black and white
sound track - is the recording of all the sounds in a film
sound (silent) - long time agoall the films were silent. Now all of them are sound.
the title-role - the leading role
close-up - is a shot taken at close range and showing something in detail
cinema-bill - a notice giving information about the films which are on
camerawork - the photography of the film (качество съемки)
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| aquamarine | Дата: Четверг, 29.11.2007, 20:30 | Сообщение # 5 |
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| Types of Feature Films Tragedy
Comedy
Drama
War
Historical
Epic
Musical
Thriller
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| aquamarine | Дата: Четверг, 29.11.2007, 20:48 | Сообщение # 6 |
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| New words and expressions Genre - жанр
To dub (in) - foreighn films may be dubbed, that is the original sound track is replaced by a new one with dialogue in the language of the country where it is to be shownsubtitles - instead of being dubbed a foreighn film may be given subtitles (inscriptions)
screenplay - сценарий
scriptwriter - the person who writes screenplays
cameramen - is the person responsible for the photography (оператор)
designer - the person who designs (draws) the sets
The sets (the scenery) and costumes - in the cinema sets generally preferable to scenary
director - the person who is responsible for the artistic side of a film
manager - the person who runs a cinema (meaning the building) hiring films, arranging for them to be shown
to produce - to make a film
joint production - if two film companies, often from different countries, cooperate to make a film to be running - to be on
just a block away - в следующем квартале
in good time - early enough
to admit - to allow smb. to enter
a trailer - tells about the film for the next week
to entertain - to amuse
to exaggerate - to enlarge smth. disproportionately
movie house - cinemas
to be packed to capacity - to hold as many people as possible
contemporary - belonging to the same period of time
to be conspicuous for - remarkable, prominent
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