Listening, speaking and vocabulary: Behind the scenes

 VFilms

1Choose the correct words. 

• 1The Hobbit is a Hollywood blockbusterplot by director Peter Jackson.

• 2J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the original novel in the 1930s, but he didn't write the scenescript for the film.

• 3There are a lot of special effectscast, and most of them are computer generated.

• 4The crewcast includes Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf, Elijah Wood, Martin Freeman, and many other famous actors.

• 5The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed the music for the plotsoundtrack.

• 6The film setcrew for The Hobbit was in New Zealand. The director, who was born in Pukerua Bay, chose the location because of its natural beauty.

• 7However, some of the plotscenes with Gollum were filmed in Pinewood Studios, UK.

VFilm genres

2Complete the sentences with the film genres in the box. There is one film genre that you do not need. 

MOVE
• romantic comedies
• documentary film
• animated films
• horror films
• musicals
• historical dramas
• science-fiction films

• 1Pixar Studios make excellent  , such as Wall-E. The drawings are wonderful.

• 2My mum loves  , like The Sound of Music.

• 3I always think the costumes in   look a bit silly. Did people really use to dress that way?

• 4Would you rather watch a   about something real, or a fictional story?

• 5  are usually about aliens and outer space. I'm just not that interested in that.

• 6I'm not very keen on  . I get too frightened!

Giving and reacting to news

3Play the recording, listen to the dialogues and answer the questions. 

• 1What was in Lucy's stolen bag?

  some books and her purseher keys and homeworkher glasses and some food

• 2What kind of film is going to be made?

  a documentarya romantic comedya historical drama

• 
  

Giving and reacting to news

4Read the sentences from the dialogues. Click to choose G (ways of giving news) or R (ways of reacting to news) next to the phrases. 

• aCool.GR 

• bOh no! Poor … !GR 

• cThere's some exciting news.GR 

• dThat's fantastic news.GR 

• eI was just talking to … .GR 

• fWhat a dreadful thing to happen!GR 

• gHave you heard about … ?GR 

5Complete the dialogues with the phrases in exercise 4. Then play the recording, listen and check. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task. You also need to use correct punctuation.

Dialogue 1

Oliver¹ Lucy?

CarrieNo, what happened?

OliverSomeone stole her bag yesterday.

Carrie² Lucy! Was there anything valuable in it?

OliverMostly books, her lunch and homework, but she also had her keys in there.

Carrie³

OliverLuckily, she had her purse in her pocket.

Dialogue 2

JamesHey, Maria. ⁴ You won't believe this. ⁵ Mr Clark next door, and he said that they're going to film some scenes for a new film in our street. It's called Victoria and Albert.

MariaReally? What's it about? Is it a romantic comedy? Or a documentary?

JamesI think it's a historical drama, set in Victorian times.

Maria⁶ I'm really excited. ⁷ Maybe we'll be in the actual film.

Giving and reacting to news

6Complete dialogues 1–4 with the phrases in the box. 

MOVE
• How wonderful!
• Have you heard about my project? It won first place!
• What a dreadful thing to happen!
• It said on the radio this morning that someone vandalized the library.

• 1A 

  BOh, no! What a shame. How did that happen?

• 2AThere's some exciting news. The school has organized a trip abroad.

  B 

• 3AI was talking to Leah and she said that Jake had broken his leg.

  B 

• 4A 

  BLucky you!