TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: The three young royals, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka William and Kate, along with William's brother Prince Harry visited Warner Bros studios in Leavesden on Friday. For once, it was a chance to let their hair down on a royal visit with William assuming the role of Batman by mounting the Batpod. It seemed that William outed himself as a huge fan of the Dark Knight series directed by Christopher Nolan, taking great pleasure in playing around with the special effects and also making a plea to Warner Bros with this speech. PRINCE HARRY: Please, make another of the Dark Knight series. And another. And another. REPORTER: And he got further into the movie making spirit with the use of a clapper board... PRINCE HARRY: Warner Brothers studios, Leavesden, Act One, Take One. REPORTER: After the speeches, it was time for the trio to enter Harry Potter's world - more specifically the Great Hall of Hogwarts. And while Harry checked out the detailed sets, William and Kate were given a lesson in fighting with the franchise's magic wands. But if the pair were to meet in a clash of spells, who would be the winner?
VOCABULARY The Munchkins are the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. They first appeared in the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which they are described as being somewhat short of stature, and wear only blue. They are best-known from their depiction in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, in which they are played by adult proportional dwarfs, dressed in brightly multicolored outfits, and live in Munchkinland. As a result of the popularity of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the word "munchkin" has entered the English language as a reference to small children, dwarfs, or anything cute of diminutive stature. [Source: Wikipedia]
The latest movie news including ''Twilight's'' final saga scoring big at the weekend box office. John Russell reports.
TRANSCRIPT The "Twilight" vampire saga's final chapter debuted with a massive 341 million dollars (USD) in global movie ticket sales as devoted fans bid farewell to Bella and Edward in one of Hollywood's biggest franchises. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" earned an estimated 141 million in the U.S. and Canada over the weekend, that fell slightly short of a record for the supernatural romance series about a human-vampire-werewolf love triangle. The excitement over "Twilight" eclipsed all other movies over the weekend. Last week's winner, James Bond movie "Skyfall" finished in second place with 41.5 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters. "Skyfall" is now the highest-grossing Bond movie to date with a global total of over 669 million, surpassing the 599 million taken in by "Casino Royale" in 2006. 007's Daniel Craig meanwhile made a surprise visit to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, where the actor met with British troops. Dressed in military gear, Craig was on hand for the premiere showing of "Skyfall" at the military base. The historical drama "Lincoln" expanded from a limited opening a week ago and landed in third place with 21 million. The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president near the end of his life as he battles to ban slavery and end the Civil War. The movie is directed by Steven Spielberg and has earned critical praise and an Oscar buzz. Walt Disney's "Wreck-It Ralph" landed in fourth place, while Denzel Washington's drama "Flight" rounded out the top 5.
Today sees the global release of the 23rd James Bond movie, Skyfall. To mark the occasion I did a lesson with my final year EM Normandie marketing students about product placement in Bond movies, in particular the tie-in with Heineken beer, which has upset some fans of the 007 franchise.
We first watched the Skyfall trailer, and then did a comprehension exercise based on the BBC video above (click here to download a questionnaire and transcript). This was followed by a jigsaw reading activity based on articles I'd found about the Heineken/Skyfall deal (see here, here, here, and here). To finish, we did some discussion activities based on this PowerPoint. Have fun!
WRITING Get your students to write an essay on one of these topics: • Does the Heineken beer placement damage the Bond brand? • What are the pros and cons of product placement?
Yesterday, the new James Bond movie Skyfall had its world premiere in London. This cartoon by Paul Thomas from The Daily Express shows Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, arriving at the Royal Albert Hall for the premiere. Camilla is wearing a parachute on her back, and Charles tells her, "Don't get your hopes up—I doubt Bond fancies another Royal parachute jump."
EXPLANATION Charles is referring to the now famous spoof Bond film shown during the Olympic opening ceremony in which the Queen (a double, not the real one!) and Bond (Daniel Craig) are shown parachuting into the Olympic stadium.
VOCABULARY 1. If you tell someone not to get their hopes up, you are warning them that they should not become too confident of progress or success. 2. If you fancy something, you want to have or do it. • Do you fancy seeing the new Bond movie? • I fancy a beer.
Marilyn Monroe's life and style are remembered and celebrated in Hollywood, 50 years after her death. Roselle Chen reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Actress Marilyn Monroe remains one of the best recognized movie stars in the world, 50 years after her death. Suzie Kennedy pays tribute to the actress by being a Marilyn Monroe impersonator for 14 years, acting in films and plays personifying the late star. SUZIE KENNEDY: "She's the sort of girl that I want as my best friend because she's honest, she's sincere. She can be a pain, but then can't we all. I identify with that." REPORTER: Monroe died from an apparent drug overdose at her Brentwood home. Fans and friends still gather at the iconic star's pink marble gravesite to remember her, who was 36 years old when she died in 1962. Greg Schreiner, who has one of the largest Monroe collections in the world, said it wasn't just about her style that made people love her. GREG SCHREINER: "It's so unusual to see someone who's a beautiful person to have this need inside. You'd think they'd be perfect, that they'd be so happy. But there was this unrest inside of her that we're attracted to and equally men and women, which is unusual for someone who is a sexy blonde, you'd think only men would be attracted, but women loved her too." REPORTER: Sunday, August 5, marks the 50th anniversary of her untimely passing. Roselle Chen, Reuters.
Researchers in New York have shown that measuring human brain waves could help advertisers develop more effective campaigns. The team monitored brain wave activity in volunteers to determine what types of film scenes elicited universal responses. They say their data shows that the method could be far more effective than conventional market research techniques.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Advertisers and film makers would love to get inside your head - and now scientists say they can. For Dr. Lucas Parra and his team at the City College of New York, Alfred Hitchcock's classic film "Bang! You're dead" proves the point. By monitoring and comparing the brain activity of volunteers watching the movie the scientists say they have determined the kinds of visual stimuli that engage viewers. LUCAS PARRA, PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, CITY COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: "From a practical point of view the most important thing we are able to report is that we can tell if you're engaged in a scene down to a say one second resolution. So we could potentially go to a film maker and say look, in this scene, the first two seconds you were good, but then in the third and fourth second you lost your audience." REPORTER: In "Bang! You're dead" a boy is playing with what he thinks is a toy gun… although the audience knows it's real. Tension builds as the boy begins to play a kind of Russian Roulette, unaware of the risk he's taking. While 20 volunteers watched the scene unfold, the researchers measured their neural activity using a cap with electrodes attached to an EEG monitor. In most volunteers, brainwave activity peaked during scenes with powerful visual cues such as a close up of the gun and during meaningful scene changes. Researcher Jacek Dmochowski says the team then re-edited the film, mashing up scenes to see if viewers would have the same response. JACEK DMOCHOWSKI, PHD FELLOW: "When the narrative was disrupted we found much less correlation across subjects, much less correlation across views within the same subject. What that shows is that we're not just machines processing a stimulus." REPORTER: Parra says the he think the research can be used to replace traditional focus groups used by marketers. LUCAS PARRA: "From a practical point of view I think an area that would be naturally suited for this is neuromarketing ... neuromarketing is this whole notion of using brain signals or physiological response to measure an audience reaction to say advertising. the interest in that is that you now have objective measures instead of a study group where you just ask questions and they give you responses , which may or may not be really what they felt or thought about." REPORTER: Next, the team plan to focus their tests even more in hopes of being able to locate where exactly in the brain responses occur, taking mind reading - and the power of persuasion - to new heights. Sharon Reich, Reuters.
COMMENT You can watch the whole of "Bang! You're dead!" on YouTube. It's only 23 minutes long and was an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", first aired in 1961.
Style, sophistication and shaken, not stirred - a new exhibition in London showcases the fashion and design of James Bond. Lindsay Claiborn reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Suave, sophisticated - James Bond has meant many things to many people since he first hit the screen 50 years ago. A new exhibition marking the big anniversary looks at another side of the fictional secret agent - his role as trend-setter. "Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style" is set to open in London and traces the importance of fashion and design in the 22 official Bond movies released so far. Lindy Hemming - a designer who worked on the costumes for Bond films like "GoldenEye" and "Casino Royale" - said designing for the international super-spy entails understated elegance. LINDY HEMMING: "You should keep him so that when you look at him, he looks stunning and beautiful and luxurious. But you shouldn't look at him and think that you noticed him if he was moving quietly through a crowd because he's an agent of espionage. He needs to be able to travel anywhere in the world at the drop of a hat." REPORTER: As well as influencing the cut of men's suits, Bond also opened up the world of women's fashion, with the ever-glamorous 'Bond girls.' The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in "Dr. No," one of cinema's most celebrated scenes, has been loaned by Planet Hollywood International to hang alongside the suit worn by Halle Berry in "Die Another Day". Other bond treasures include Oddjob's lethal hat, the weapon in "The Man With The Golden Gun." and a gold painted mannequin from "Goldfinger." "Designing 007" will be open from July 6 to September 5. Lindsay Claiborn, Reuters.
"The Hunger Games" breaks box office records, as the highest domestic opening of a non-sequel film and for the biggest debut outside the summer blockbuster season. Lindsay Claiborn reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Post-apocalyptic action movie "The Hunger Games" opened with a staggering $155 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices, beating Hollywood's lofty expectations and making history as the third-highest domestic film opening. Internationally, the Lions Gate Entertainment drama about an oppressive society's teen death match added $59.3 million from 67 markets for a global haul of $214.3 million. The massive U.S. and Canadian debut for the film ranked behind only last summer's "Harry Potter" finale and 2008 Batman movie "The Dark Knight." Reuters Hollywood business reporter, Lisa Richwine, said that "The Hunger Games'" success is a notable milestone. LISA RICHWINE: "With a sequel you expect a lot of people to turn out if they liked the last movie, but with a brand new movie that's never been made before, a new concept, you never know if people are going to turn out or not. And for this movie they did." REPORTER: "The Hunger Games" set the record for highest domestic opening of a non-sequel film and for the biggest debut outside the summer blockbuster season. The movie's success brings the first blockbuster franchise to Lions Gate, a smaller Hollywood studio best known previously for the "Saw" horror series and comedian Tyler Perry's films. LISA RICHWINE: "Lions Gate is very happy. They will make a lot of money on this. It's their biggest movie ever, not just biggest opening weekend but it's already grossed more than any movie they've put out before." REPORTER: The "Hunger Games" blew past the domestic debuts for each of the first four "Twilight" films, which Lions Gate now owns after buying Summit Entertainment in January. Lions Gate has already announced that the film version of the second book in the series, "Catching Fire," is scheduled for a November 2013 release. Lindsay Claiborn, Reuters.
A UK zoo is hoping a Hollywood film can change its fortunes. Hayley Platt reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: When Benjamin Mee bought a rundown zoo in the English countryside in 2006 he knew it was a gamble. But he didn't know a global financial crisis was on the way. He didn't expect a loan he was given to carry out repairs to be recalled. And he didn't predict his wife would die of a brain tumor. With 200 animals to feed and 60,000 visitors to attract every year he wrote a book about his struggles - which is now a Hollywood film. BENJAMIN MEE, ZOO KEEPER, JOURNALIST, AND AUTHOR OF 'WE BOUGHT A ZOO': "We didn't have money but I thought I might be able to at least get some interest by writing, so I wrote an article and I wrote a book and I thought that might lead to a newspaper column if I was really lucky. I had no idea that it would be made into a Hollywood film and unleash this huge global spotlight onto the place but that is what it needed." REPORTER: Hollywood director Cameron Crowe cast Matt Damon in the lead. Ben received £30,000 for the rights and another £250,000 when the movie went into production. The film premiered in New York in December and recently opened in London . If it's successful he could receive more money and more valuable publicity. His children certainly hope he can succeed and his animals lives depend on it. ELLA MEE, AGED 8, BENJAMIN'S DAUGHTER: "Normal people think I'm going to watch some television or play on DS or something but we wake up and think that's go feed the animals and let's go see the goats." MILO MEE, AGED 10, BENJAMIN'S SON: "I always think I'm very lucky to be living in a place like this." REPORTER: Ben is now a minor celebrity but he still needs a £1,000 a day to keep the zoo afloat. BENJAMIN MEE: "Earlier this month after we've paid the mortgage there was literally £45 in the company account, on a £750,000 turnover you're down to that and there's no credit so we couldn't buy milk in the restaurant and you actually hope that people wouldn't order too much tea." REPORTER: Ben will receive 5 percent of the film's net profit. But exactly how much that will be depends how many people go to see the film. Hayley Platt, Reuters.
COMMENT I visited the Dartmoor Zoo with my daughter in the summer of 2008 and took this photo of a tiger. Who would have thought they'd make a Hollywood movie about it!
The disappointing opening weekend of Walt Disney's John Carter did not just dash dreams of box office success, it also brings down hoped-for revenue streams from everything from product merchandising to theme park rides. Bobbi Rebell reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Disney's "John Carter" landed at the box office with a thud. The sci-fi flick brought in just under $31 million at the domestic box office its opening weekend. Industry analysts say with a production cost estimated at around $250 million dollars, and expensive- though ineffective- marketing costs- the film needs to make at least $400 million just to break even. Media Tech Capital's Porter Bibb: PORTER BIBB, MANAGING PARTNER, MEDIA TECH CAPITAL: "It was maybe the worst marketed big budget motion picture in the last 10 or 15 years It got very, very poor reviews in terms of the preview screenings. The advance notice and advertising was unclear. No one could figure out what the movie was all about and basically it dropped dead at the box office." REPORTER: Disney optioned the film- about an ex-military captain transported to Mars- back in the mid-1980's but held off making the film to wait for the technology to catch up to their ambitions. Disney also hoped it would be its next so-called tent pole movie- a launching pad to a series of movies and merchandising opportunities. But even before its release, John Carter was widely panned, and is now expected to lose money in more ways than one. PORTER BIBB: "What does Disney promote now in their stores? What do they license in terms of the merchandising that they don't do themselves? And there's no new attraction - you are never going to see John Carter events or rides at any of the Disney Theme parks." REPORTER: Contrast that with the success of Universal Pictures' "The Lorax", which in addition to beating expectations at the box office, is a good bet to be a hit in terms of merchandising and theme park attractions for years to come. Bobbi Rebell, Reuters.
A couple are walking past a cinema where there is a huge poster of best actress Oscar winner Meryl Streep in the role of Margaret Thatcher. The man comments, "They could never make a silent movie about Maggie!"
COMMENTARY "Maggie" is a diminutive form of "Margaret" and is often used by the media to refer to Britain's first (and only) female prime minister. The joke is that Mrs Thatcher had a reputation for being outspoken and opinionated, so it would be virtually impossible to make a silent movie about her.
Of course, the horse and the dog have not really been nominated for Oscars, though there has been some debate over whether animal actors should be considered.
A man is shown at the cinema box office wanting to buy a ticket to see The Iron Lady. However, the film has been cancelled, because, as the ticket-seller tells him, "It's been stolen by metal thieves".
LANGUAGE 1. A thief is a person who steals something from another person. 2. The plural of thief is thieves. 3. Steal is an irregular verb: to steal, stole, stolen.
We'll have to wait until January to see Meryl Streep's performance as Margaret Thatcher in the movie 'The Iron Lady'. Until then, we'll have to make do with the trailer.
COMMENT Looks promising. She's got the voice spot on. Another Oscar for Streep?
