The History of Film

I.	European Film in the 1920s – 30s
	Country	Famous directors	Contribution	Actors and actresses
II.	European Film in the Postwar Period
III.	Nonwestern Film Production

L. Study the main dates in cinematography:

1828 – the invention of the photography played a very important role in the development of

the cinema

1877 – Eadweard Muybridge discovered a way to take photos quickly, one after the other

1888 – George Eastman produced the first celluloid film on a roll

1890 – it was possible to take up to 40 photos per second

1893 – Thomas Edison invented kinetoscope

1895 – 28 December is considered to be the birthday of cinema

1904 – the first movie theatres appeared

1907 – the literature works started to be widely used for the movie scripts

1912 – Hollywood was established

1929 – the first complete talkie was “Lights of New York”

1932 – since films in color have become more general

1950s – appearance of 3-D movies

1968 – introduction of a new rating system

1990s – latest advances in film technology: IMAX, digital sound, DVD

M. Speak on the following issues:

1. How the era of the talking film began.

2. The golden era of the Hollywood studio film.

3. The peculiarities of the European post-war movie production period.

4. The contribution of Nonwestern direction into the world cinematography.

5. The main characteristics of the American film of the 1960s and 1970s. The most successful directors and actors/actresses.

6. Contemporary American Film: a change in film content and arrival of new visual technologies.

N. Press Conference. You’re the representatives of different countries: the USA, France, Sweden, Eastern Europe, Japan, India, etc. Speak about the contribution they made into the world cinematography.

Part II. Film Genres

What types of film do you know? Fill out the boxes below in pairs.

Read the text and answer the questions below.