The topic explained
The creative urge
- □ I can describe the plot of a film and give my opinion when talking about films.
LESSON 5A SPEAKING AND VOCABULARY
Film genres: which one is it?
1 In pairs or small groups, discuss the questions.
- 1 What genre do you think the film stills come from?
- 2 Can you think of a film that fits each of the following genres? Give examples.
- Genres
- action
- adventure
- biopic
- courtroom drama
- disaster movie
- mystery
- musical
- period drama
- post-apocalyptic
- Animation
- 3D/CGI animation
- traditional animation
What genre do you think the film stills come from?
Can you think of a film that fits each of the following genres? Give examples.
Listening to a film review: take notes
- Genre of film
- Plot
- Main characters
- Setting
- Overall opinion
Genre of film
Plot
Main characters
Setting
Overall opinion
Describing a film: the phrases to use
- Summarising the plot
- There’s simply no other way to describe this film than to say …
- It’s impossible to sum up this story; there’s just too much going on.
- It tells the superficially mundane story of …
- Describing the plot in detail
- The film kicks off with …
- Just as it starts to look as if …
- An exciting element is introduced.
- To her horror, …
- There’s a parallel plot involving …
- Our heroine finds herself on a journey ...
- Giving your opinion
- I wasn’t sure that I was really a fan of ...
- My expectations were low, and they were met.
- It had me captivated from the very start.
- It wasn’t on a par with ...
- It was worth staying until the end.
- It’s no great surprise that this ...
Listen again and number the phrases in the order that you hear them.
Put the phrases to work
The words in bold are the part to replace.
1 It wasn’t as good as his earlier films.
2 The basic plotline is quite unoriginal, but …
3 He is shocked to discover that …
4 I didn’t think I was very keen on animation, but this film is a work of art.
5 I thought it would be bad, and it was – totally overrated in my opinion.
6 … I’m glad I didn’t leave halfway through.
7 We might have expected that this would become a popular film.
8 The plot is incredibly complicated. However, it had me captivated from the start.
