Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2023 i Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

For more than 100 years, going to the movies has been a favorite form of entertainment for people around the world. Here are five filmy facts to get your started. 1 Today’s movies have come a long way from the earliest silent films. In addition to sound, some modern movies feature crisp digital images, surround sound, and motion seats that tip or tilt with the action on screen. 2 India’s film industry, called Bollywood, produces about 1,000 films each year—more than twice the amount the United States does. While their stories vary, most Bollywood films are lavish productions. The heroes and heroines are gorgeous and glamorous. Settings showcase spectacular scenery and vibrant colors. Music and dance numbers come alive with elaborate choreography. 3 The inspiration for one…

You don’t just watch movies. You experience them in vivid color, sharp detail, and spectacular sound. Here’s the big picture on how theaters bring movies to life on the big screen. Going Digital For years, most movies were made on 35-millimeter film. With film, a long strip with thousands of small pictures and a soundtrack feeds into a projector. Bright light shines through the film and a lens. Then magnified images appear on screen at the rate of 24 frames, or images, per second. Now, most theater screens in the United States work with digital projectors, says cinema expert David Hancock at HIS Screen Digest. Digital theaters download movies as data from a satellite or from fiber-optic cables. Or they get a computer hard drive that holds the movie. DLP,…

Lagos is home to Nollywood, one of the world’s largest film industries. More than 2,500 movies are made in Nollywood each year. The industry adds about $10 billion a year to the country’s economy. According to the International Monetary Fund, as many as one million Nigerians work in the movie industry. Nigeria has very few cinemas, so most Nollywood movies are never shown in movie theaters. Instead, they are released directly to DVD. Most theaters closed because of the country’s economic collapse in the 1980s. High crime rates and violence made it unsafe to go to the theater. In the 2000s, a few cinemas began reopening. By 2022, there were 68 cinemas throughout Nigeria. Most theaters are in Lagos or the country’s other large cities. It was because of the…

Snoopy (Peanuts) This cartoon beagle has been the cunning and inventive sidekick to the ever-sullen Charlie Brown since 1950. Originally a comic strip by Charles Schulz, this dog, along with Charlie Brown and friends, became stars of many movies and TV specials. Snoopy often performs as one of his alter egos, including Joe Cool and the Red Baron, in movies and specials. Scooby Doo This Great Dane from the cartoon of the same name has been solving mysteries involving the supernatural since 1969. Scooby is famous for his love of Scooby Snacks, which are used to coax him into doing just about anything. “Rut Row…” Toto (The Wizard of Oz) I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore! This tiny, fierce terrier made his debut in books in 1900…

Most of us are familiar with these words, which scroll up the screen in the opening frames of the movie Star Wars. The movie opened on May 4, 1977, and since then has spawned an empire of 10 more movies, nine television shows, countless toys, books, video games, and merchandise, and millions of fans all around the world. But the impact of Star Wars is much bigger than just the movies themselves and all the marketing that has gone along with them. The film helped start the new era of blockbuster movies, which were extremely popular, exciting, action-filled thrillers such as Jaws. Star Wars paved the way for movies such as Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. Before Star Wars, most movies were heavy, serious dramas. Star Wars led…

1. “Don’t let the muggles get you down.”2. To infinity and beyond!3. There’s no crying in baseball!4. There’s no place like home.5. “Try not. Do—or do not. There is no try.”6. King Bob!7. Elementary, my dear Watson.8. Just keep swimming.9. Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.10. If you built it, he will come. A. The Wizard of OzB. The Adventures of Sherlock HolmesC. Finding NemoD. It’s a Wonderful LifeE. Toy StoryF. Field of DreamsG. A League of Their OwnH. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes BackI. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanJ. Minions Answers:1. I; 2. E; 3. G; 4. A; 5. H; 6. J; 7. B; 8. C; 9. D; 10. F.…

“What better way to forget poverty, corruption, pollution, warring factions, danger, or starvation than with a love story?” Mili longs to become a movie star. Munna is a streetwise guy with no steady work. Urging Munna to find a good job, Mili breaks into song on the streets of Mumbai. Nearby bystanders begin dancing along with the music’s pulsing beat. As the song plays on, the setting suddenly shifts to the seashore. This is one scene from Ram Gopal Varma’s 1995 film Rangeela, or Bollywood Dreams, and it’s one of thousands of movies made in India. Formerly called Bombay, Mumbai has come to be known to Westerners as India’s Hollywood or Bollywood. Other cities make films too, including Kolkata, Pune, and Chennai. Indian filmmaking began with short silent movies in…

A CLOSER LOOK No one leaves Hollywood without seeing the Hollywood sign. High on Mount Lee, the sign keeps watch over the homes, businesses, and tourist sights of Hollywood. Consisting of nine giant letters, each 50 feet high by 30 feet wide, the sign was erected in 1923 to advertise a new housing development, Hollywoodland. The original sign was lit up at night. A maintenance man named Albert Kothe was responsible for the 4,000 lightbulbs surrounding it. The letters are made from corrugated steel mounted on a metal frame. The sign was built by Harry Chandler, publisher of the Los Angeles Times and developer of the Hollywoodland development, as a billboard to promote the venture. In 1949, the last four letters were removed, and the sign became a symbol of…

CRITTER CORNER Crystal the Monkey is one of the biggest animal stars in Hollywood. She has worked with some of the best directors and actors, stolen scenes from top comedians, and walked the red carpets at the Oscars. Her acting career began when she was a baby. In 1996, Birds and Animals Unlimited, a company which provides animals to Hollywood, sent its trainer to buy a capuchin monkey in Florida. The trainer bought a 2-½ year-old monkey who was just losing her baby teeth. He named her after the famous country music singer Crystal Gayle. In her first movie role, the 1997 film, George of the Jungle, Crystal stole audiences’ hearts when she played sweet and sassy “Little Monkey.” Then, in Night at the Museum, she was naughty Dexter who…

What do Lili Reinhart, Eddie Murphy, and Winona Ryder have to do with British Columbia, Canada? All these stars have filmed movies or television shows there. Why has Vancouver, British Columbia, become “Hollywood North”? Filmmakers have been shooting in British Columbia since at least 1897, notes Mike Gasher at Concordia University. Besides entertainment films, the province produces many educational, travel, and industrial films. In 1978, filmmakers spent around $12 million (Canadian) there. In the 1980s, British Columbia’s film industry took off. In 2021, the industry spent about $4.8 billion (Canadian). It employed more than 70,000 British Columbians. The British Columbia Film Commission now ranks the province’s film industry as the third-largest in North America, right behind those of Los Angeles and New York City. Filming in British Columbia can cost…

Put on your 3D glasses and the dinosaur jumps off the screen. There are butterflies in the air around you. How does this happen? At a 3D movie, a bouncing red ball hurls toward us. Our brain and eyes smoothly coordinate the size, color, and shape of the object. It appears to be coming right off the screen when it really is not. Our eyes function like a video camera. They note the features of the red ball. They capture every physical detail of the ball (such as size, color, and shape) and every movement the ball makes. This is like taking high-speed photographs at about 1,000 shots per second. In the meantime, while our eyes focus on the ball, our brain anticipates the next move. This is what makes…