How To Understand Any English Movie
You have
watched an English movie,
but sometimes you asked
yourself, who is that little boy?
Which character is that?
Why are they laughing?
What are they talking about?
Or, what is this movie even about?
Well, don’t worry.
Today I’m gonna teach you
how to understand any
and every English movie.
I’m Teacher Tiffani, let’s jump right in.
Alright, the first thing you need to do
is understand the structure
of an English movie.
Now I do want to remind
you to stay ‘til the end,
because I will connect all of the pieces.
So don’t go, make sure you stay
‘til the end of this video.
Alright, so there are six
stages to every English movie.
That’s right, every English movie.
That includes dramas, thrillers,
horrors, suspense, romance,
every single English movie
has six different stages,
and in between these
stages are turning points.
But let’s look at stage
number one, the setup.
The setup gives the basic
setting of the story.
It connects the viewer, which is you,
with the story and draws
them into the setting.
It gives details regarding
the everyday life of the main character,
and it also gives basic characteristics
of the main character of the movie.
So let’s look at a few examples.
For example, iRobot.
That was a popular movie with Will Smith.
It was science fiction and action.
Now, the setting for
this movie was the city.
Now, another movie is Belle.
It was a drama or romance,
and it was set kind of
in the countryside, okay?
And another example is Mamma
Mia, a very popular movie.
It was a romance/musical, and
it was set in a foreign land.
So it wasn’t in America,
it was somewhere else.
Now moving on,
we’re going to stage number
two, the new situation.
The new situation gives
the character’s reaction
to a new opportunity,
shows the viewer how the main character
reacts to that new
opportunity or situation.
It also displays how the main character
adjusts to his or her surroundings
and then reveals a plan
made by the main character
related to the situation he or she is in.
So again, let’s see how this
plays out in certain movies.
For example, The Intern.
It was a comedy/drama, and
the situation for this one
was trying to get a new job as an intern.
Then we have another one
where there’s a teacher
coming into a new class environment.
The movie was Freedom Writers,
actually one of my favorite
movies, so you can check it out,
and it was a drama.
And then we also have in a hospital,
a hospital scene or scenario.
For example, Patch Adams, okay?
It was a comedy and a drama.
Okay, alright.
Now moving onto stage
number three, the progress.
This stage gives the progression
of the character’s plan.
Okay, it shows the viewer,
which is you again,
how a main character’s
plans seem to be going well.
Also displays possible conflicts,
but shows the character
being able to overcome them,
and then reveals the steps
the character is taking
to reach the goal he or she has in mind.
So again, let’s see some examples of this.
So one movie that was
popular was Two Weeks Notice.
It’s a romantic comedy.
In this movie, the progress of her plan,
she’s planning to leave her job
by giving two weeks
notice to her boss, okay?
Then we have another movie, Sully,
which is actually based on a true story,
so check this movie out.
It’s a drama, okay?
And his plan to how he
was gonna save the people
that were on the plane,
you see the progress.
- And then also we have
Remember the Titans,
another movie that was really good.
It was a sports drama,
and it talks about the plan the coach had
to help the team, okay?
Alright, now we’re moving
onto stage number four,
the big complication, okay?
This stage gives the major conflict
facing the main character, okay?
It shows the viewer the difficulties
the main character must
go through, alright?
It displays the point
where the main character
actually fails in his or
her attempt, very important.
And then it reveals
what seems to be the end
and then shows the main
character only has one last hope.
So for example, one movie
is The King’s Speech.
Also based on a true story
and a very excellent movie.
It’s a drama about
history, it’s very good,
but he had a situation,
a big complication where he
had to give a big speech.
Okay, that was the issue, alright?
And then another movie 127 Hours,
again, based on a true story.
It’s a drama/thriller .
He had a situation that
he had to deal with,
a big complication, okay?
And finally, Jurassic World.
Okay, this is part of
the Jurassic Park series,
science fiction/thriller.
We’re talking about the
complication from this movie, okay?
Alright, now moving on to stage
number five, the final push.
This gives the characters a
last effort to reach the goal.
It shows the viewer, again which is you,
how the main character has to give
all his or her effort and energy,
displays how the process has
affected the main character
mentally and physically,
and also reveals the climax of the movie
and shows the biggest obstacle.
So for example, Batman Begins.
A very popular movie in the Batman series.
It’s a drama/fantasy.
So in this movie, it’s showing how Batman
has to give a final push to
actually accomplish his goal
of saving the people, alright?
Then we have Something the Lord Made,
another movie based on a true story.
It’s a drama, okay?
And there’s a medical situation
going on in the movie.
Don’t worry, I’m not
gonna give anything away.
But there’s a medical emergency
that they’re dealing with, okay?
Alright, and also Everest.
This is a movie about something
that happened on Mount Everest.
It’s a drama, but there’s
a situation that occurs,
and they have to give a final
push to get through, okay?
Alright, stage number six, the aftermath.
This is something very key
and very unique to
American or English movies.
It gives the characters
new life after the journey,
kind of showing you the future.
So it shows the viewer what the result was
of the main character
reaching his or her goal.
It displays how the main character
adjusts to the end of his or her journey,
and also reveals a lesson to be learned
from the main character’s journey.
Alright, so some examples
of this are The Blind Side.
Okay, this is a drama, a sports drama.
Again, based on a true story.
I like giving movies that
are based on true stories,
so you all can learn
a little bit more about
American culture, okay?
It’s talking about the end
of the movie, the aftermath,
how the family actually came
together toward the end, okay?
Then we have another movie, Seabiscuit.
Also based on a true story.
It’s a drama.
This is another sports
drama, but about horseracing,
and it shows you what happens
at the end of the movie
with the family, okay?
And then finally we have a movie
called The Pursuit of Happyness.
Also a movie based on a true story,
and Will Smith is also the
main actor in this movie.
It’s a drama, okay?
It shows you what happened
at the end or after the situation, okay?
So again, these are all great movies.
So, we have six stages to the movies.
Now the second thing you need to do
is connect the characters
based on the stages.
This is where you have to
pay really close attention.
So again, we know all six stages
that are in each and every movie,
and in between we have the turning points.
What’s gonna happen is,
each stage has characters,
and you need to recognize
which characters are important
for each stage of the
movie you are watching.
Trust me, doing this is
gonna help you understand
really what is going on in the movie
and also how to understand
the conversations,
which leads us right into the next phase.
Third thing you need to do
is breakdown the conversations
by characters and stages.
Now I want to show this to you visually.
This is how it’s gonna work.
So, on the top you have your six stages,
and on the bottom you have the characters
that are specific for
each of those stages.
What you’re gonna do is look at each stage
and the characters and the conversations
happening in those stages,
because the conversations
are gonna be related to the actual stages.
So, a few minutes ago I explained to you
how to understand each
stage of an English movie.
So now when you’re looking
and you’re listening
to these conversations,
you know how to connect
them because you understand
how they are related to the
actual stages that they’re in.
This is how you understand
any English movie.
First, get a really good
understanding of the six stages.
Then, understand the
characters found in each stage,
and finally, look at the conversations
in connection with the
stages and the characters.
Now you can really
master any English movie.
(bright music)