Film Fest The History of Film-Making Most people now associate film production with Hollywood, on the West Coast of the USA But back in the 1890s Hollywood was just a tiny village, dedicated mainly to fruit growing and agriculture! However, its ideal combination of good weather and different landscapes made this place the perfect choice for pioneering film-makers who found this area suitable to shoot films on location (outdoors) In 1911, the Nestor Company opened Hollywood’s first film studio in an old tavern where they showed silent movies in black and white, with background music for a more dramatic effect Who invented films? It all started out with photographs and the invention of toys with spinning images which gave the illusion of motion Films are not really moving pictures, but a series of still images which are moved one after the other very quickly in order to trick our eyes and brains to make us believe that they represent moving objects Auguste & Louis Lumière developed this idea and were among the first to project a film as a public performance in the basement of the Grand Café in Paris, on December 28, 1895 They showed the arrival of a train to a station in Paris They called their invention The Magic Lantern and the show became so popular that very soon audiences began to ask for stories That is how studios started producing short films, with comedies and romances among the most popular In the late 1920s, sound was incorporated to these films, alongside music and other effects which gave the audience a better sense of reality These films were first known as talkies, and competed with silent films for some time It was not long before Cecil B DeMille and D W Griffith began making sound movies in Hollywood that the area became home to all the biggest studios and stars During the Golden Age of Hollywood, which lasted from the end of the silent era to the late 1950s, thousands of movies were produced In the beginnings, films were considered a simple fair attraction but nowadays they have become a true form of art, as well as one of the most lucrative industries in the world! English Toolkit - Language & Culture Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 Module 4A Module 4A Activities 1 Scan the text and answer these questions a Why was Hollywood an ideal place for film making? b When was the first Lumière brothers’ film projected? c What did that film show? d What was the Golden Era? a lucrative b landscape c pioneering d spinning (of a job, etc.) bringing in a lot of money turning around and around very quickly an area of countryside or land of a particular type introducing new and better methods or ideas for the first time 3 Read the following sentences and underline the correct option: Simple Present or Present Perfect a The Nestor Company (opened / has opened) the first film studio in 1911 b People (always associated / have always associated) the film industry with Hollywood c Silent films and the talkies (competed / have competed) for a short time until silent films (disappeared / have disappeared) d Nowadays, film making (became / has become) a form of art in itself 4 Look up information on the Web, magazines and / or encyclopaedias and write a three-paragraph composition about one of these: a The Lumiére Brothers b Hollywood c Charles Chaplin English Toolkit - Language & Culture Photocopiable © Ediciones Santillana S.A / Richmond 2011 2 Match the words with the meanings