📙 Part 2: Describe a film you watched recently

You should say: what the film was, where you watched it, what the film was about, and explain if you enjoyed it or not.

This episode's vocabulary

• To sit through something (phrasal verb) - to stay until the end of an event such as a meeting or performance that is very long or boring.
• Found footage filmmaking (noun) - a subgenre in which all or a substantial part of the film is presented as if it were discovered film or video recordings, often left behind by missing or dead protagonists.
• Creepy (adj.) - strange or unnatural and making you feel frightened.
• To pull something off (phrasal verb) - to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected.
• Eerie (adj.) - strange in a frightening and mysterious way.
• Creeps (plural noun) - a feeling of fear and disgust.
• To weird out (phrasal verb) - if someone or something weirds you out, they make you feel strange or uncomfortable.
• Remarkably (adverb) - used to emphasize how surprising or unusual something is.
• On a shoestring (idiom) - if you do something on a shoestring, you do it with a very small amount of money.

Questions and Answers

R: Oh, well, I like this film called Savageland. I first watched it about five years ago, but I watch it at least once a year because it's so well done, and I took some time to watch it again the other week. It's one of the few movies I will actually sit through, since it's so good, at least in my opinion. It's a sort of found footage-style horror film about a mass murder in this isolated town on the Mexican-American border. Instead of being video footage, though, like you would have traditionally in these films, it focuses on a set of really creepy images that people investigating the crime find after the massacre happens. And you would think that would be hard to pull off, but it's shot in a documentary style, looking at the photos and interlacing it with all the human drama and reactions to the photos that result. And the music and sound design is also really eerie. So if you watch it in a darkened room, it really gives you the creeps. The last time I watched it, I was on my couch late at night with my partner, who had never seen it before. And they get really weirded out by things like this very easily. So when I suggested watching it, I was ready for a real emotional roller coaster on their part, but they coped remarkably well, given that they don't particularly like horror. And I love the whole thing. As always, I really liked the movie again, or I really liked seeing the movie again, and it was fun to have the shared experience with someone else. Usually, I just watch these things by myself, so it was good to change things up a little, even though it was shot on a shoestring budget and uses pretty basic techniques, the people who made it have done a brilliant job. I always recommend it to anyone who asks for movie recommendations. And the best part was, it was and still is available online for free, so I get to watch it anytime I feel like it. I don't need to go to the cinema or something like that.

M: And what about your other friends? Do they like it?

R: Um, I don't think my other friends have seen it yet. I need to ask them.

Discussion

M: Hey, dear listener, so describe a film you watched recently. The task could be a bit different. Describe a film you like, or describe a film that you would like to watch, or, I don't know, describe a film you've never watched and want to watch, but it will be something about a film. Okay? So you should choose one film and talk about it. It doesn't matter what the topic is exactly. And here you should research it. So you should be ready with the actors, with the plot of the film, and some adjectives about the film, like, what happened, the story. But remember, you have only two minutes, dear listener. So if you start describing the film in detail, there won't be any time, okay? So very briefly. Rory talked about Savageland.

R: It's honestly one of the best horror films I've ever seen.

M: 2015, American mockumentary horror film. Okay? It's a mockumentary film.

R: So that means it's not a real documentary, or it's shot in a documentary style.

M: So it kind of involves some zombies.

R: Well, that's the thing. We don't know if they're zombies or not.

M: But they're dead people who walk.

R: Well, they said that they were dead people that walked, but we don't really know. They might have been demons or something like that. Who knows?

M: And you can say that like, I love this film called Savageland, or I don't know, Kung Fu Panda. I would talk about Kung Fu Panda. It's amazing. Dear listener, if you haven't watched Kung Fu Panda, watch it, there are four movies. So we watch films or movies, and you can say that I watch it at least once a year. I rewatch it every now and then. It's so well done. So it's like really well made. It's well shot. We shoot a film, make a film, and if you sit through a film, you watch it till the very end. So some films are very difficult to sit through. They're long and boring.

R: Because they're boring.

M: Yeah. Usually like they're boring, or like you just don't like it, yeah? But this film is very easy to sit through. Rory then gives us more details about the film, but very briefly. In this question, many students tend to give all the details about the film. They start saying everything, all the details. So there is no need for this, only the major bits. This horror film is about mass murder. Okay, all right, Rory, if you like it, okay, fine.

R: I like the story. I don't like mass murder.

M: So it's about a mass murder in an isolated town. Okay. Kind of sounds like a zombie movie. And do you like zombie movies?

R: If they are done well, then yes.

M: It focuses on a set of really creepy images. Creepy? Like whoo... Like horror images, like horrible images. Like the images that give you the creeps, you know, like creeps, like, when you see something and you're afraid, you're kind of like, oh, like goosebumps.

R: Oh, I don't like this.

M: Yes. Oh, creepy, scary. Well, it's a horror film, so yeah, like creepy scenes, and moments in the film. It's shot in a documentary style like it's filled, it's made. The music and sound design is also really eerie. Eerie? Like creepy.

R: Or spooky.

M: Spooky. Like... Negative. Yeah?

R: Well, it's used to describe negative situations.

M: And if you watch this film in a darkened room, so if it's dark, it really gives you the creeps. So it's creepy, you start feeling afraid. I watched it on my couch at home, or I watched it at the cinema. I watched it with my friends who had never seen it before. So I watched it with my friend who had never watched it before. Past Perfect. Because we refer back to the past, past, past. And my friend got weirded out by things like that.

R: Yeah, but it's just another way of saying creeped out by something or finding something weird.

M: And give us another sentence with weird out.

R: Yeah, I get weirded out by personal questions from people I don't know.

M: So if strangers keep asking Rory questions about money, Rory gets weirded out.

R: Very weirded out.

M: It's a real emotional roller coaster. Roller coaster? You know, this thing that you ride on in an amusement park. And if it's an emotional rollercoaster, you become sad, then happy, then sad, then depressed, and scared.

R: Or frightened, then normal. All kinds of things going on.

M: It is fun to watch. It is fun to share this experience with someone. It's fun to watch with other people. This film was shot on a shoestring budget.

R: Yeah, it was shot or filmed for almost no money. They had almost no money to make it.

M: And you can say like even though it was shot on a shoestring budget, this film is pretty good. It has basic techniques, but they've done a brilliant job. So it's like, it's a well-made film. I recommend it to anyone. So to recommend something to other people, or you can say, I suggest watching it. I suggest it, watching it. Suggest doing something. Yeah, dear listener, so if you are looking for a film to watch on a dark night with this full moon and you kind of feel a little bit... I need to get scared to death, so you can go ahead and watch Savageland. I wouldn't, because I usually watch something brighter. So I don't enjoy massacres.

R: Oh...

M: Yeah, I let only positive things into my head, dear listener. I recommend you to do so, yeah? Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next episode about films and the film industry!

R: Bye!

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