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Mrs Bakewell: I'm afraid I don't agree. Not all children love games. Football for example is much too aggressive. I think we should be teaching children to cooperate rather than compete.
Head teacher: Thank you, both of you...
TS 35
Cinematography is a relatively new art. It probably started in 1878 when a British photographer working in California took a series of photographs of a running horse. For his project, he set up a row of cameras with strings tied to them. When the horse ran by, it broke each string starting the cameras.
In 1893 Thomas Edison and his team developed the kinetoscope. It was a box showing black-and-white films running about 90 seconds. A person watched through a hole as the film moved inside. Soon kinetoscope rooms opened in a number of cities.
In 1895 the Lumiere brothers had the first public demonstration of projected motion pictures in a Paris cafe. In 1906 the first theatre for showing films was built in Pittsburg. A nickel (five cents) was charged for watching a film, and the theatre was called the nickelodeon. In 1914 a number of companies built studios in and around the Hollywood district and the name Hollywood started to mean American films. Films of that time were silent. But in most large theatres they were accompanied by music: either a piano or an orchestra.
In 1927 Jazz Singer, the first successful talking picture appeared. It was mostly silent, but in a few scenes the popular American entertainer Al Jolson sang and spoke. In 1928 Walt Disney made the first animated sound film Steamboat Willie and in 1931 — horror films Dracula and Frankenstein were made.
During the 1990s, Hollywood introduced special effects created by computer graphics. Steven Spielberg made dinosaurs come to life in Jurassic Park. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries, IMAX theatres appeared. In these theatres there is a gigantic screen, a special projector and a huge sound system. By 2002 more than two hundred large-screen IMAX theatres were built in the world, many of them in the United States.
TS 36
Reporter: Good evening, dear listeners. Today our talk will be about the profession of an actor. We invited a world-known actor Bob Timothy to be our expert today. Well, Bob, how does an actor create his or her role? What is happening? Can you describe this process?
Bob: First we start with analysing the role. We analyse a character's appearance, profession, social and economic status and general personality. We try to Understand the behaviour of a character and how this character is related to others in a play.
Reporter: Do you do it sitting alone in a room and reading the play?
Bob: Oh, no. Not only this. We work with the director and other actors in the cast.
Reporter: What else is important after you understand the character you are going to play?
Bob: Movement, gesture, voice. A lot of things. Reporter: Could you please describe it in more detail?
Bob: First of all, an actor needs a flexible, disciplined and expressive body. He or she must be able to use their body to show different attitudes and reactions. The same characteristics of flexibility, control and expressiveness are important for the voice. Actors learn how to breathe properly, how to speak with different intonation and strength so that people could hear and understand them.
Reporter: Are good actors born with these qualities or can you develop them?
Bob: Well, dancing and fencing are useful for the body because they develop body control. Training in oral reading, relaxation and singing are important for the voice. It takes years of practice to change your voice.
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