II. Read the folloing dialogue
“A Talk About The Cinema”
Setting: Alex Smirnov, a young film producer, who is fresh from the State Cinema Institute, has recently made his first successful film. He is invited to the club of keen cinema-goers where he is warmly received by a group of young people. The producer gets into a conversation with Bob, a pupil of the senior classes, who is interested in the process of film making because after finishing school the young man is also planning to become a producer.
Read the conversation. Try to remember the key problems, facts & most important details.
Bob: Excuse me, but I’d like to know if the making of a film is really a long process.
Alex: Yes, it really is. It is sometimes not only a long but a drawn out and extremely boring process. The director, the writer and producer will work on preproduction problems for months and even for some years before shooting can be started. Long hours can be spent by actors, the crew, make-up men and women while the director may be shooting a small part of a scene with one or two actors over and over again. To set up another scene, the lights and furniture must be rearranged and it also takes much time.
B: And what are the functions of the producer?
A: You see, the producer is a businessman first of all. He provides financial backing and at the same time he may assume creative responsibility. It happens very often that the director and the producer is in reality the same person.
B: Do you find the work very difficult?
A: Sometimes it is really difficult. Especially when more than a hunred people may be living on location. A lot of different problems may come up. And the producer takes care of them.
B: Do you mean to say you don’t have any helpers?
A: No, I don’t mean this. The producer manager is responsible to me. He works out a budget from the script and controls the cost. He is also responsible for the organization of the personnel.
B: I am also interested to learn who is in charge of photography.
A: It’s the director of photography who is an expert in it. He is in charge of the composition of scenes and the art of lighting. He is helped by cameramen and electricians. But it is the cameraman who handles the camera. Besides there is a crew of sound-recording men on the set.
B: I suppose that todau music has become a part of the contemporary film. Is it always composed for films.
A: For some films the music director, together with the producer, will commission an original score to be written. For other films the music director will make selections from existing music and probably make his own arrangements.
B: I can see that a film combines so many of the arts (music, graphics, language) and a good producer should be a versatile person and should have good knowledge of all these arts.
A: Quite so. The people who make films should have knowledge of many things. Besides a film maker should be in touch with his time. The success of any film depends on the ability of the producer to catch and to reflect the significance of the time in which it is made.
B: Do you think documentary films have become more popular of late?
A: I think documentary films have always played an important role in our lives. They are the result of recording life as it exists at a particular moment before the camera. The producer organizes his material and with the help of narration explains it. Of late people have got more interested in current events and documentary films have really become windows to the world.
B: And I personally appreciate most of all the art of cartoonists. Cartoons entertain the young and the old. Don’t you think animated cartoons today deal not only with fairy tale subjects?
A: Sure. Animated cartoons today are connected with modern life and problems of interest to our contemporaries. I agree with you that the art of a cartoonist resembles the work of a jeweller. A lot of a talent and skill goes into producing a cartoon film. Now cartoons have justly become an independent branch of film industry. They are popular both with children and grown-ups. And to cap it all I must admit I also appreciate the ability of cartoonists to bring inanimate objects to life, to humanize the animal and plant kingdoms - all this provides the charm of animated cartoons.
B: Don’t you think that the invention of TV undermined the position of cinema?
A: Some people really thought that TV would apell the end of cinema. And really for some time TV reduced cinema attendance. But then Central Television in its programmes started to pay a great deal of attention to films and to popularize them. Today the position of cinema has been stabilized.
B: And what do you think of the cinema of the future?
A: It’s clear to all cinematographists that the function of the cinema can’t be limited to showing films only.Cinema houses should become real cultural centers which could offer lectures on the history of national and foreign cinema, discussions of new films, meetings with the people who make them. Cinema art must unite and elevate the people’s feelings, thoughts and will. It must stir to activity and develop the art instincts within people. Art must be a source of joy and inspiration to people.
1) Answer the questions:
¨ Where did the talk take place?
¨ What is the subject of the talk?
¨ What was Bob mostly interested to know?
¨ Is there anything that surprise you in the conversation?
2) Read out and then write out:
¨ the names of those people who work in the cinema.
¨ the duties of the producer of photography.
3) Report the talk. The following introductory phrases may be helpful to you:
Bob wanted to find out ...A. Smirnov admitted that ... He was also interested to know ... He described how ... Another question was ... He stated that ... He replied that ... and asked if ... He denied that ...
III. Write a composition “The World of Modern Cinema”.
Контрольная работа № 2
для студентов Ш курса заочного отделения.
(практика устной и письменной речи)
Составители: Соловьева Г.В.