Star Wars: The Exhibition

Andrea:  Hello, I’m Andrea Rose and you’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com.
　　Today in Entertainment, we’re going along to a new exhibition that’s takingthe world by storm. It’s really exciting people. Yes, it’s Star Wars: TheExhibition and it’s been making its way around Europe since the beginning ofthis year.
　　In 1977, Star Wars first played to audiences when it opened in 32 cinemas inthe United States.  Thirty years on and 6 films later, this exhibitioncommemorates or celebrates the magic behind the movies.
　　The exhibition has been in Portugal and now it’s come to London. I met upwith Jonathan Sands, the man behind the exhibition, to take a tour and to findout more about what there is to see.
　　Jonathan Sands‘The exhibition is really an interactive 1 event for all the family. It takes you through all the sixfilms in the Star Wars saga 2, including all the original archive set pieces – from the models, thecostumes, the full-size space ships and weapons and that type of thing – broken down into allthe planets in about 20 different exhibition rooms detailed 3 with films that show the making ofand how certain items were made and used in the film against green screen or on set. So itreally shows the movie-making experience of Star Wars.’
　　Andrea:  Jonathan says that the exhibition is very interactive – there are lots of thingsyou can play with or do there. You don’t simply look at things on display. Healso uses a lot of language to do with movie making. Did you catch some of thewords? He talks about set pieces – those are the pieces built for filming in thestudio. He also talks about models and costumes. He says that you can watchthings about the making of Star Wars. He also talks about the green screen –that’s when people are filmed against a green screen and then the creatures orbackdrop are filled in later. It’s all very exciting. Let’s listen to that clip 4 again.
　　Jonathan Sands‘The exhibition is really an interactive event for all the family. It takes you through all the sixfilms in the Star Wars saga, including all the original archive set pieces – from the models, thecostumes, the full-size space ships and weapons and that type of thing – broken down into allthe planets in about 20 different exhibition rooms detailed with films that show the making ofand how certain items were made and used in the film against green screen or on set. So itreally shows the movie-making experience of Star Wars.’
　　SFXAndrea:  As you can hear, you really get the whole Star Wars experience at this exhibition -theven if like me, you’re not a huge fan. This year is the 30  birthday of the firstStar Wars film, so what is it about Princess Leia and Darth Vader that stillcaptures people’s imaginations 30 years on?
　　Jonathan Sands‘I think as cultural phenomenons go, I certainly don’t know any other entertainment basedfilm, music, experience, education – there’s so many elements in Star Wars that make it whatit is for me, personally but at the end of the day it is a simple story and everybody gets it.
　　There’s lots of action, it looks so fantastic and it never dates.’
　　Andrea:  Jonathan talks about Star Wars as a cultural phenomenon – it’s a huge culturalevent. The plural 5 of phenomenon is phenomena 6. There are so many elements orparts of Star Wars that make it memorable 7. For Jonathan it’s the action, thestory and that it looks fantastic. Jonathan uses the expression ‘at the end of theday’ – that means in the final analysis. At the end of the day it’s all these thingsthat have made Star Wars last 30 years and everybody gets it. Everybodyunderstands it and loves it. Even Darth Vadar.
　　SFXOk, so Darth Vadar didn’t have a lot to say about the exhibition about it was soexciting to come face to face with him! As you can hear, the exhibition is veryvery lively. There’s lots to look at and listen to. But how about some of thosewell known sayings from the films? I asked Jonathan for his favouritequotation from Star Wars.
　　Jonathan Sands‘I think it’s something that’s stood me in good stead, I think. Unfortunately it comes from theDark Side, but certainly in business it’s stood me in good stead, for people not quite believingin you when you’re younger and stuff like that. But I live by “I find your lack of faithdisturbing”. And it’s stood me in good stead.’
　　Andrea:  The quotation 8 Jonathan lives his life by is a quote from the Dark Side. It’s “Ifind your lack of faith disturbing”. He says that he’s followed this in businessand when he was younger when people didn’t believe in him. He says it’sstood him in good stead – it’s been a good moral to follow in life. So there’slots to get from the Star Wars films – not just entertainment!