- [countable] (especially British English) (North American English usually movie)a series of moving pictures recorded with sound that tells a story, watched at a cinema or on a television or other device
- Let's stay in and watch a film.
- We're going out to see a film.
- There's a good film on tonight (= showing at the cinema or on TV).
- a horror/documentary/feature film
- an action/animated film
- a silent film (= one recorded without sound)
- a film about something As a student he made a short film about his home town.
- to shoot/direct/produce a film
- The film was shot on location in France.
- The film has been downloaded some 21 million times since its release.
- a film crew/critic/director/producer
- an international film festival
- a film version/adaptation of a novel by Henry James
- His film credits (= the films he has made) as director include ‘Mood Music’ and ‘Lies’.
- He's a great composer of film music.
Collocations Cinema/the moviesCinema/the moviesWatching- go to/take somebody to (see) a film
- go to/sit in (British English) the cinema/(North American English) the (movie) theater
- rent a film/DVD
- download/stream a film
- burn/copy/rip a DVD
- see/watch a film/DVD/preview/trailer
- show/screen a film
- promote/distribute/review a film
- (British English) be on at the cinema
- be released on/come out on/be out on DVD
- captivate/delight/grip/thrill the audience
- do well/badly at the box office
- get a lot of/live up to the hype
- write/co-write a film/script/screenplay
- direct/produce/make/shoot/edit a film/sequel
- make a romantic comedy/a thriller/an action movie
- do/work on a sequel/remake
- film/shoot the opening scene/an action sequence/footage (of something)
- compose/create/do/write the soundtrack
- cut/edit (out) a scene/sequence
- have/get/do an audition
- get/have/play a leading/starring/supporting role
- play a character/James Bond/the bad guy
- act in/appear in/star in a film/remake
- do/perform/attempt a stunt
- work in/make it big in Hollywood
- forge/carve/make/pursue a career in Hollywood
- the camera pulls back/pans over something/zooms in (on something)
- the camera focuses on something/lingers on something
- shoot somebody/show somebody in extreme close-up
- use odd/unusual camera angles
- be filmed/shot on location/in a studio
- be set/take place in London/in the ’60s
- have a happy ending/plot twist
Extra ExamplesTopics Film and theatrea1, TV, radio and newsa1- She makes children's films.
- He was an ad director before starting to make feature films.
- Your typical Hollywood film has a happy ending.
- Her dream was to star in a Hollywood film.
- What's your favourite film?
- Do you like James Bond films?
- The latest film by Kathryn Bigelow is out soon.
- The film came out last week.
- Now you can stream films on your mobile device.
- It's an independent cinema screening mainly art films.
- Her music is used throughout the film.
- She thought the film far too violent to show to children.
- The film contains explicit scenes of violence.
- The film depicts immense courage amid the horrors of war.
- The film manages to capture the mood of the times.
- The film opens with a bird's-eye shot of London.
- The film stars Nicole Kidman as a nightclub singer.
- The film was finally released after weeks of protest by religious groups.
- The film was heavily edited for screening on television.
- There is a great car chase in the film.
- There's an interesting film on at the local cinema.
- There's a season of classic films on TV.
- one of the earliest colour films
- They've just started shooting a film of the novel.
- a film adaptation of a well-known fairy tale
- a film version of Jane Austen's famous novel
- This film tells the remarkable story of a disabled actor.
- We went to an awful film last night.
- a film about Nelson Mandela
- a film based on the novel by Charles Potter
- a film dealing with old age
- a film entitled ‘Bitter Moon’
- a film from Spanish director Luis Eduardo Aute
- a film recording the first powered flight
- a film with an all-star cast
- He was killed when a film stunt went wrong.
- We stayed for the film credits to see who the music was by.
- The scramble for the film rights to her next novel has already begun.
- They built a massive film set of an airport.
- the ‘Star Wars’ film series
- the film classic ‘Fantasia’
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- short
- feature-length
- …
- see
- view
- watch
- …
- be on
- show
- come out
- …
- director
- editor
- maker
- …
- in a/the film
- on film
- film about
- …
- the beginning of the film
- the end of the film
- be in films
- …
- [uncountable] (especially British English) (North American English usually the movies [plural])(British English also the cinema)the art or business of making films
- jobs in film and television
- She'd like to write for theatre and film.
- the film industry
- a film buff (= somebody who is very interested in and knows a lot about film)
Culture HollywoodHollywoodHollywood, more than any other place in the world, represents the excitement and glamour of the film industry. The world's major film companies have studios in Hollywood and many famous film stars live in its fashionable and expensive Beverly Hills district. But Hollywood is also Tinseltown, where money can buy an expensive lifestyle but the pressure to succeed can destroy lives, as in the case of Marilyn Monroe and River Phoenix. Both the British and Americans have mixed feelings about Hollywood: they are attracted by the excitement of the film world and by the lives of the stars, but also see Hollywood as a symbol of trashy, commercial culture.Hollywood is now surrounded by Los Angeles. In 1908, when film companies began moving west from New York, it was a small, unknown community. The companies were attracted to California by its fine weather, which allowed them to film outside for most of the year, but they also wanted to avoid having to pay money to a group of studios led by Thomas Edison which were trying to establish a monopoly (= control of the industry so that only they could make films). By the 1920s, companies such as Universal Pictures and United Artists had set up studios around Hollywood. During this period Mary Pickford, , and John Barrymore became famous in silent films. Mack Sennett, a Canadian, began making comedy films, including those featuring the Keystone Kops, in which Charlie Chaplin and 'Fatty' Arbuckle became stars. D W Griffith directed expensive ' epic' films like The Birth of a Nation, and William S Hart made westerns popular. Hollywood also created its first sex symbol, Theda Bara (1890-1955).The 1920s saw big changes. The first film in Technicolor was produced in 1922. Warner Brothers was formed in 1923 and four years later produced Hollywood's first talkie (= film with spoken words), The Jazz Singer. Huge numbers of Americans were now attracted to the movies. Stars like Pickford and Chaplin reached the height of their fame, and new stars were discovered, such as Rudolph Valentino, Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton.The 1930s and 1940s were Hollywood's ' golden age' and films became popular around the world. Hollywood even made successes out of America's worst times: Prohibition led to the gangster films of Edward G Robinson and James Cagney, and the Great Depression to films like The Grapes of Wrath. World War Two featured in successful films like Casablanca. The great Hollywood studios, MGM, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures, controlled the careers of actors. Famous directors of the time included Orson Welles and John Ford and screen stars included Clark Gable, John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren BacallBette Davis, Gregory Peck, and Robert Mitchum.New words were invented to keep up with Hollywood's development: cliffhanger, tear-jerker, spine-chiller and western describe types of film. Villains became baddies or bad guys. As equipment became more complicated more people were needed to manage it. New jobs, still seen on lists of film credits today, included gaffer and best boy, his or her chief assistant.In the 1950s large numbers of people abandoned the movies in order to watch television. The film industry needed something new to attract them back. This led to the development of Cinerama and 3-D, which gave the audience the feeling of being part of the action. These proved too expensive but the wide screen of CinemaScope soon became standard throughout the world. 3-D has become popular again in the 21st century. The stars of the 1950s, including Marilyn Monroe, Rock Hudson, James Dean and Steve McQueen, also kept the film industry alive.In the 1960s many companies began making films in other countries where costs were lower, and people said Hollywood would never again be the centre of the film industry. But the skills, equipment and money were still there, and Hollywood became important again in the 1980s. The old studios were bought by new media companies: 20th Century Fox was bought by Rupert Murdoch, and Columbia Pictures by the Sony Corporation. New energy came from independent directors and producers like Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford and Martin Scorsese. Rising stars included Meryl Streep, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Costner and Tom Hanks.Now, more than ever, Hollywood leads the world's film industry, having produced the most expensive and successful films ever made, such as Jurassic Park (1993), Titanic (1997), Avatar (2009) and Black Panther (2018). Companies like MGM own their own movie theaters in the US and elsewhere. Studios make extra profits from selling films to television companies and from selling downloads directly to consumers through streaming services such as Netflix. The Oscars, presented by Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, are the most valued prizes in the industry.Extra Examples- You can study theatre, film and dance as well as painting at the school.
- Many of them work in film or photography.
- She knows everything there is to know about film.
- He wrote several books about film in the 1970s.
- the history of film
- one of the greatest talents working in Indian film
- He worked for a major film studio.
- Tyrannical Hollywood film moguls ruled their stars' lives.
- The star has plenty of what film people call ‘bankability’.
- Working Title is a British film production company.
- We're a small film company.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- short
- feature-length
- …
- see
- view
- watch
- …
- be on
- show
- come out
- …
- director
- editor
- maker
- …
- in a/the film
- on film
- film about
- …
- the beginning of the film
- the end of the film
- be in films
- …
- [uncountable] moving pictures of real events, shown for example on television
- television news film of the riots
- on film The accident was caught on film.
- It was amazing to be able to capture those moments on film.
- They showed a film clip of the interview.
Extra Examples- film taken by security cameras
- When I watched the film back, I noticed someone in the background.
- They study film of their opponents before the game.
- CCTV film captured the assault.
- Police examined video film from a security camera on the bus.
- He hoped the existence of the security film would lead to a successful prosecution.
- You can download film clips from the news archive.
- There is some old film footage of the meeting.
- Music plays over the film footage.
- The news always contains several film reports.
- They captured the incident on film.
- It's one of the most dramatic moments I've ever seen on film.
- Their encounter has been preserved on film.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- long
- short
- feature-length
- …
- see
- view
- watch
- …
- be on
- show
- come out
- …
- director
- editor
- maker
- …
- in a/the film
- on film
- film about
- …
- the beginning of the film
- the end of the film
- be in films
- …
- [uncountable, countable] thin plastic that is sensitive to light, used especially in the past for taking photographs and making films; a roll of this plastic, used in cameras
- a roll of film
- a 35mm film
- There was no film in the camera.
Extra Examples- Fast film is best for action shots.
- He spliced the two lengths of film together.
- In the darkroom they found that only half the film had been exposed.
- I used to get my films developed at a local shop.
- a roll of 35 millimetre film
- She put a new film in her camera.
- Do you use a film camera or a digital camera?
- He returned with several rolls of colour and black-and-white film.
- He used 16mm colour film.
- The film got accidentally exposed and ruined.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- black-and-white
- colour/color
- fast
- …
- reel
- roll
- load
- put in
- remove
- …
- [countable, usually singular] a thin layer of something, usually on the surface of something else synonym coat, coating, layer
- Grease coated everything in a thin film.
- film of something Everything was covered in a film of dust.
Extra Examples- There was a film of soot everywhere.
- The leaves were still covered with a film of dew.
- The film of water left by the tide shimmered in the sun.
- There was a fine film of sweat on her forehead.
- The books were covered in a thin film of dust.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- fine
- thin
- surface
- …
- be covered in
- be covered with
- film of
see also cling film
moving pictures
in cameras
thin layer
Word OriginOld English filmen ‘membrane’, of West Germanic origin.
Check pronunciation:
film