Why is Hollywood fascinated by Superheroes ?

Superman and Batman are back .... together ! Once each superhero movie was about just one
superhero : Superman, or Batman, or Spiderman, or some other fantastic hero. Now Hollywood
gives us several different superheroes in the same film. Justice League, which comes out in
November 2017, is a movie that includes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more... all in
the same movie
Not just Superman and Batman...

Superman and Batman are just two superheroes out of many. We could also include Spiderman,
Wonder Woman, Robin Hood, James Bond, Zorro, Indiana Jones and a lot more. They're all more or
less the same person, in different forms. Some are in the past, others in the present, others in the
future.
But why does Hollywood love superheroes? Is it a question of money? Of course; but it's not only
money.
People have always loved superheroes.Long before the first Hollywood movie, people loved stories
about superheroes. Robin Hood has been a popular hero for over 600 years ... and there were others
before him.
The first superheroes were real people. Nevertheless, the stories about them were often invented.
Some of the oldest European superheroes were Charlemagne and Roland
(Orlando). Mediaeval writers and singers invented exciting stories about these real men, just as
Hollywood invents stories about tomorrow's superheroes.
A thousand years ago, people sometimes sat round in dark rooms in the evening, listening to the
adventures of brave heroes. Today, we sit in a dark room in the evening, watching the adventures of the
brave Batman. The medium is different, the technology has changed .... but the people are really the
same.
Hollywood doesn't actually invent many new superheroes. Superman, Judge Dredd, Batman and the
others already "existed" before Hollywood discovered them. These three all come from comic
magazines.
The first Batman story came out in 1939! So Batman has now been defending the people of Gotham
City for over 80 years! There have been several Batman movies, with different stars including Val
Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale. How long can it last?
Superman is even older: he dates from about 1932 (the exact year is not certain). Even Judge Dredd
is a familiar figure; he first appeared in England in 1977.

Hollywood's biggest superheroes live in the future. That is not really surprising. Hollywood has fallen
in love with special effects, and the future allows great spectacular special effects. Besides, people
today are frightened about the future. Things do not always look good; perhaps we will need characters
like Batman and Judge Dredd in 100 years' time. Perhaps we even need them today!

WORDS:
movie: film long before: a long time before - nevertheless: but, yet - Charlemagne: Carlus Magnus,
Charles the Great - mediaeval: from the Middle Ages - medium: means of communication - actually: in
fact - last: continue - dates from: first appeared in - besides: also - look: seem, appear

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 Student Worksheet

Exercise:
Imagine you have been talking to Ben Affleck (who plays Batman in Justice League). How did Ben answer
your questions?.

YOU: Is Batman Hollywood's first superstar?

BEN:
YOU: Who is Batman ?
BEN:
YOU: Why do people love superheroes ?
BEN:
YOU: Did superheroes exist before Hollywood ?
BEN:
YOU: Are you Hollywood's first Batman?
BEN:
YOU: Are superheroes always imaginary people?
BEN:
YOU: Do you think we'll see more superheroes in the future?
BEN:

How to talk about movies

Read the following piece and choose the key word that best matches the definition:

I went to see that new horror film that director Spike Lewis made. It was banned in some
countries because it's so shocking. I've been waiting ages to see it so I'm glad it wasn't banned
here. I did read that they had to cut some of the most gruesome scenes, though. I wasn't
disappointed, it was terrific! The movie is set on a university campus and the plot centres on a
small group of students who go there.
The movie stars Hank Bushback as the hero of the film; although, he doesn't have
much dialogue. In fact, there's not really that much talking in the whole film. I guess, whoever
wrote the scriptwasn’t that interested in writing conversations! The film relies more on
amazing special effects that look so real, and a scary atmosphere is created by the music that
they use. The music was so good that I'm going to buy the soundtrack.
My Spanish friend went to see it in Barcelona, but she didn't think it was that good. She said they
ruined it when they dubbed it into Spanish from English. She said she would rather have seen it
in English with Spanish sub-titles. I highly recommend it.

Use these 13 words taken from the text to match to the definitions below:

director - banned - set - plot - star - dialogue - script - special effect - soundtrack -
dub - sub-titles - cut - scene

 The place or time where a movie's story happens:

 Words shown at the bottom of a screen showing what is being said:

 The talking in a movie:

 The music that is used in a movie:

 What happenes in a movie:

 To act in a movie:

 The written words of a movie that the movie is made from:

 The person who makes a movie:

 Something that the government has stopped people seeing:

 To change the words of a movie into another language:

 A piece of action in a film that was created by special equipment:

 To remove a part of a movie or a book:

 A part of a film in which the action stays for a length of time before moving to another:

How is a movie made?

The process of filmmaking is divided into 3 parts:- pre-production, principal photography and post-
production.
 Pre-Production

All films are born out of an idea. The conception of idea can be done by a producer (or a production
house), or a director, or a scenarist or anyone who want to make it into a film. Once the idea is
decided, the next step is creating a story around that idea. If it is inspired by a book or another film
necessary adaptional changes are made. Once the story is decided, the writers are hired to write the
film (in form of a script). Sometimes, the conception of idea, story and screenplay are done by a
single person.

Scripting is an important part in the process of filmmaking. It decides the integrity of film. The
quality of script affects the success of the movie to be produced. It decides the flow of story. Script
writer tries different narrative techniques to translate the story to the film.

After scripting is done, it is presented before the producer. In some cases, especially for a
debutantes the script is first written and then they look for producers. Such script is called Spec
script. Anyway, the script is read and the producers suggest some changes. Script is written
multiple times until all the parties involved thinks it fit for filming.

After the final draft of script is prepared, the casting is done. In India however, sometimes casting
is done first and the idea, story and script are tailor made based on the actor. Actors are given a
one-liner, or a story or sometimes entire script about the film, and they have to make a choice
whether to act in it or not. In some cases new actors are auditioned. After their decision the actors
are signed, and sometimes a public announcement is made.

The next step (sometimes happening in parallel ) is the story board creation.

A story board is helpful in communicating your ideas with the rest of the crews especially the
cinematographer, art-director who need to create set if needed, make-up man if some special make-
up are to be done (like the extensive one done in Kamalhassan's Dasavatharam or Sankar's I, or
 Amitabh's Paa), special effect supervisor and all those who play an important part in creating what
you see.

After all this, a schedule is drawn based on actors date, locations are decided, and the actual
shooting takes place in different phases.

 Principal Photography

This is were the movies are made actually. Many equipments are used in the method of filmmaking.
Here the crew take care of 5 things- set/location, lighting, sound recording, camera movements,
performance of actors. It can be either shot in film or in digital cameras. Some times green screen is
used to add CGI (Computer Generated Graphics).

 Post-Production

Here the filmed footages are edited, discarded. Editor plays most important role after director and
writer in the narrative of film. A greatly edited films add a lot of excitement and imparts the mood
that the director/writer wished the audience should have. Special effects are added before footage is
sent for editing. The sound are synced and the background music is added. Sometimes actors have
to dub their dialogue or sometimes their voices are recorded as they are performed.

The final movie is then released in theater via a distributing agent. Generally movies are released in
different regions by the distributing company for that region. And finally the audience watch it on a
large screen and decide the fate of hard work poured in by the crew.
And that's how movies are made.

Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

Creedence Clearwater Revival

______________ told me long __________

There's a ____________ before the storm
I know, it's been _______________ for some _______________
When it's _______________, so they ________________
It'll ____________ a ____________ day

I know, shinin' down like ________________

I wanna ______________, _________________________?

I wanna ______________, _________________________
Comin' down on a _____________?

________________ and days ________________

Sun is ______________ and rain is hard
I know, been that _____________ for all my time
'Til _______________ on it goes
Through the circle, _____________ and slow
I know, it can't ______________, I ____________