Get ready for Pangea Day - May 10th

Technology may be helping the world get smaller, but people are still a long way from understanding each other. So here's a question: If you had the entire world's attention for just a few minutes, what story would you tell?

This is the idea behind Pangea's Day, an event that will gather viewers in six different places in the world (Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro) and be broadcast live through the Internet, television, digital cinemas and mobile phones.

Anyone can participate, uploading their own films on YouTube or getting involved in many different ways. To learn more about Pangea Day, visit the official website.

100 unforgettable film soundtracks

"Duh dum, duh dum, duh dum, duh dum..." Is there anyone who does not recognize the two notes played over and over announcing the appearance of the terrible white shark in Spielberg's classic movie 'Jaws'? Do names like Ennio Morricone and John Williams ring a bell?

A good soundtrack can help make a movie unforgettable. Here are, according to British newspaper Sunday Telegraph, 100 memorable soundtracks everybody should know.

And here's music composer Randy Newman (Toy Story, Boogie Nights, The Full Monty) in a video interview, talking about his writing style.

Paul Scofield - a man for all seasons

He was considered one of Britain's greatest actors of all times, in the same league as sir Laurence Olivier, sir John Gielgud and Richard Burton. Paul Scofield, who died yesterday at age 86, received an Academy Award for his portrayal of sir Thomas More in the film 'A Man for All Seasons'. Based on Robert Bolt's acclaimed play, it's the story of Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, who refuses to approve of the king's divorce to his first wife Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. It's a great play (and quite short, in only two acts) and you can read it clicking here.

Here's a scene from the movie 'A Man for All Seasons', in which sir Thomas More talks about respecting and following the Law. You can click here to read the extract of the play first (it's only slightly different from the film script).

Getting accents right

It seems that some actors can do it and some can't. Meryl Streep, one of Hollywood's greatest living actresses, is well-known for her ability to master almost any accent perfectly; Kevin Costner, on the other hand, tried to sound British while playing Robin Hood but sounded, well... like Kevin Costner trying to sound British.

The L.A. Times has published a list of Hollywood stars who have managed - or not - to give their characters a credible foreign accent. But here is a young aspiring American actress named Amy Walker who has received raving reviews from YouTube viewers for her apparently flawless 21 different accents - in less than 3 minutes. What do you think? You can also listen to Amy's interview on NPR clicking here.

See also:
Improving your accent (funny video)

Jackie Chan: where action meets comedy

Unlike most martial arts action heroes, Jackie Chan prefers his films to add a bit of physical slapstick comedy that is typical of old-time actors like Buster Keaton. For years Chan has enjoyed an incredibly successful career as an actor, director, writer, producer of his own films, but he is also known for his lovable character and for the fact that he usually does his own stunts (and after injuring himself countless times, most insurance companies refuse to insure him now).

His fights, however, are carefully choreographed and he wants people to see his movies as family entertainment rather than violent action films that made Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Segal famous.

Here is a TV interview (the host is German but the conversation is actually in English) with Jackie Chan and a gap-fill activity to practise for the CPE exam.

Adapting novels: the pressures on the screenwriter

The top Golden Globe winners this year were movies whose screenplays were adapted from novels (Ian McEwan's Atonement, Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and Jean-Dominique Bauby's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and a Broadway musical (director Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeeney Todd). How hard is it for screenwriters to adapt books and plays to the big screen? What kind of pressures do they face? Read more about that in this article published by the Associated Press.

See also
an interview with screenwriter John Milius about his adaptation of the novel Heart of Darkness, which became the film Apocalipse Now.

TV and movie writers go on strike

Maybe you'll think it's déjà vu ("Isn't that the same episode that was aired last week?") and now you are as lost as those guys in Lost, maybe you'll notice there's been an increase in the number of reality shows on your television. Well, you're probably right. This is all due to a TV and movie writers' strike which started today threatening to bring to a halt several ongoing shows. Their most important demand this time isn't for better salaries, but a bigger share in the profits made by production companies when the programmes are sold on alternative media, such as DVD and the internet. Read (and watch the news story) about it clicking here.

The Wilhelm scream

Hollywood spends millions of dollars every year producing blockbusters filled with special effects, right? But some things never seem to change... One of the most classic movie clichés is the Wilhelm Scream, which first appeared in a 1951 production. Since then, a lot of directors have used exactly the same scream in their films and TV programmes. It may sound frightening when heard once, but when edited (like in this video), it sounds, well... silly! Can you recognize the films? What other movie clichés can you think of?

Philip Pullman talks about adapting novels to film

Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass) has sold millions of copies around the world. The first volume has now been adapted to the big screen (watch the trailer), directed by Chris Weitz and starring Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Sam Elliot. In this article, the writer discusses some of the problems of turning novels into films.