Cloverfield

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• psyched
• amusement park
• thrill ride
• cam

• thing
• hand-held
• stoked
• reimburse

• a cross between
• sold on it

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

If a monster were attacking your city, the first thing you would reach for would probably be one of two things: a weapon…

...or a camera.

I mean, it’s not every day that the Statue of Liberty (or equally famous monument in your city) gets destroyed, you know? This is a historic moment. You’re going to want pictures of this…or video.

Cloverfield is a new movie that follows five New Yorkers as the city is destroyed by a monster. But unlike most Hollywood disaster movies, Cloverfield was filmed on a single hand-held digital camera. It makes the movie seem really realistic.

Since the fake amateur footage looked so real, the advertisements for Cloverfield were kind of scary. They didn’t explain that it was a movie. They just showed the hand-held camera footage and gave a date a few weeks in the future. Kind of scary.

The ads made some people want to see the movie, others not want to see it and everyone else confused. Listen to Mason and Devan talk about the movie so that you won’t be confused!

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

Log in to Listen

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Mason

Devan:  So you know that new movie, Cloverfield that’s out right now?

Mason:  Yeah, I was actually really stoked about all the previews and stuff…

Devan:  I thought that it looked terrible, but then my sister called me and she said that if I went and saw it and if I didn’t like it she would give me my ten dollars back to reimburse me for the ticket.

Mason:  Seriously?

Devan:  Yeah. She was completely sold on it. So I went…

Mason:  So, are you ten dollars richer now?

Devan:  I did not ask her reimburse me. I enjoyed it. I was pleasantly surprised.

Mason:  OK, but you had low expectations though.

Devan:  For having low expectations…I think that made a big difference. I think if I had been really psyched about it I might not have been that impressed. And it’s also a movie you have to see in the theater. If you rent it, it’s pointless. Like, don’t even bother renting it. If you’re going to see it, go see it now in the theater because that’s the whole fun of it. It’s kind of like an amusement park ride. It’s like a thrill ride.

Mason:  Right because it’s all just a single-hand cam.

Devan:  Yeah it’s all just a single-hand camera which is really neat because it was kind of like a cross between the Blair Witch and Godzilla, basically, because it’s got this giant creature that’s destroying the city, but it’s all about the hand-held camera which was the Blair Witch thing.

Quizzes

Go Super to take Quiz

Lesson MP3

Go Super to download full lesson MP3