English Conversation Practice on Film Awards | Oscars, Golden Globes & More

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1. 0:00Even if you never watch a film awards ceremony like the Oscars or Golden Globes, you're likely to hear about it.
2. 0:08You might be a social media scroller, a news junkie or podcast lover.
3. 0:13And if you are, then you're going to hear people talk about who's expected to win, best actress, who's going to wear what on the red carpet and why a particular
4. 0:24film wasn't nominated for best picture. It's kind of hard to escape it, and the language we use in these conversations is full of idioms,
5. 0:33phrasal verbs, and unexpected word choices. Now, I don't know about you, but I love feeling like I've got a handle on
6. 0:43conversations in my second language.
7. 0:46What that means is I have a good understanding, there's no confusion or uncertainty so I can be part of the conversation.
8. 0:54I want you to feel the same way in English on a hot topic of conversation. So today is all about film award ceremonies,
9. 1:03whether we're talking about the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, et cetera. We'll talk about the language we use for predicting winners, describing films,
10. 1:14reacting to winners and unexpected moments and so much more.
11. 1:18So let's start right away at the beginning in the weeks or even months before big award ceremonies, everyone starts making predictions.
12. 1:27Who's going to win best picture? Which actor has the best chance?
13. 1:31And will an unexpectedly popular film get nominated in conversations on this? At work, at parties and on social media,
14. 1:41there are a few key phrases you'll hear over and over again.
15. 1:46The first one is front runner.
16. 1:48A front runner is the person or the film most likely to win. So if someone says she's the front rudder for best actress,
17. 1:58they mean that she has the best chance of winning right now.
18. 2:02This phrase actually comes from horse racing.
19. 2:05It literally means the horse at the front of the pack, but now we use it in all kinds of competitions, elections, sports, and film awards.
20. 2:17So you might also hear this one used in sentences like she's the front runner in the presidential race, or that team is the front runner to win the national championship.
21. 2:29So I'm curious if you are a film buff, if you're someone who loves watching films, do you have a prediction for a front runner this year?
22. 2:39Which film do you think might be the front runner for a best film?
23. 2:44Feel free to share a quick note with me on that in the comments. Now, of course, sometimes when everyone starts talking about the front runner, it starts to gain momentum.
24. 2:55This means to develop rapidly and become more and more popular or more likely to succeed.
25. 3:01So you might say that a film is gaining momentum after its BAFTA wins. It could be a serious contender for the Oscars.
26. 3:11And then there's the Dark Horse.
27. 3:14A Dark Horse is usually a little known contender that makes an exceptionally good showing it's a
28. 3:24surprise competitor. This one also comes from horse racing, and we use it in politics and sports as well.
29. 3:31Let me give you an example of how to use this one. Back in 2017, Moonlight was considered a dark horse that surprised a lot of people by
30. 3:41winning best picture at the Oscars over the front runner Lala Land. Very few people expected it. That's what makes it a dark horse.
31. 3:51Now, if you're someone who loves following all the conversation and even gossip about the awards ceremonies, you're also going to hear the word buzz.
32. 4:01You'll hear buzz around different films.
33. 4:05This means speculative or excited talk and attention.
34. 4:10So in a conversation, you might say there's a lot of buzz around that documentary after its premier at Sundance, it means people are talking about it and there's a lot of excitement building.
35. 4:22Of course, when there's a lot of buzz around various films, people will also debate which performances are truly
36. 4:31critically acclaimed versus which ones are just getting attention because they're a box office hit.
37. 4:38Let's talk about these two expressions because the difference here is really important. When something is critically acclaimed,
38. 4:46this means receiving approval and praise from critics.
39. 4:51And critics are professionals who have a job to review and rate films for newspapers, magazines, and websites like Rotten Tomatoes.
40. 5:02So when a film is critically acclaimed, it means the professional reviewers loved it, but that's different from being a box office.
41. 5:11Hit a Box Office Hit is a film that's super popular and financially successful. In this phrase, the Words Box office refer to ticket sales and how much money a
42. 5:23film makes in theaters.
43. 5:24So a box office hit means a lot of people bought tickets to see the film, and here's why this matters. A movie can be critically acclaimed,
44. 5:35but not a box office hit and vice versa.
45. 5:39The movie Barbie, for example, was both critically acclaimed and massive box office hit.
46. 5:45But some films get great reviews from critics and nobody goes to see them. And of course, some films make a ton of money even if the critics don't love them.
47. 5:57So when people are debating who should win awards, they're often talking about this tension.
48. 6:04Should the award go to films that critics love or films that audiences loved? But of course, before anyone can win,
49. 6:13they need to be nominated. And when nominations come out, the conversations focus on who was recognized and who wasn't.
50. 6:23One of the phrases you'll hear most often is to be up for an award.
51. 6:27This means that someone has been selected as a candidate for receiving a prize. They're on a short list of possible winners.
52. 6:36So in a conversation you could say, ah, she's up for best actress at both the Oscars and the B, but we don't just use this for people. We could use it for the film itself.
53. 6:46For example, the film is up for best picture or the score is up for best original music. Now, sometimes when someone gets nominated,
54. 6:55people will say they're overdue. They're overdue for an Oscar, or they're overdue for an award.
55. 7:02And this describes someone who has been nominated multiple times or someone who has been creating excellent work for years and
56. 7:11deserves the recognition. For example, he's been nominated five times.
57. 7:17He's really overdue for an Oscar. Now, on the opposite end, for filmmakers or actors who are not as well known, a major award nomination can be their big break.
58. 7:29A big break is an opportunity or moment that makes someone successful or famous.
59. 7:35It's the moment that brings them into the spotlight and opens the doors to bigger opportunities. For example,
60. 7:42getting nominated for Best supporting actor at the Oscars was her big break, and now everyone wants to work with her. Okay, before we keep going,
61. 7:52I wanna mention something that's so important when it comes to learning vocabulary. Yes, learning these phrases is useful,
62. 8:00but if you don't practice actually using them and real conversations, they tend to stay stuck in your head.
63. 8:09You'll know the word when you hear it or read it, but you're likely to freeze or be unable to find it the moment you want to say it. That's exactly why I created the Confident Women Community.
64. 8:21It's a place where women from around the world practice speaking English regularly through monthly topics, workshops and conversation sessions.
65. 8:31You get clear study guides every month, so you always know what to practice next, and then you use that vocabulary or grammar in real conversations with
66. 8:41others. If this sounds like something you've been looking for, if you want a space to practice speaking English without pressure and build
67. 8:50real confidence, you can learn more@speakconfidentenglish.com.
68. 8:55Slash community. Okay, getting back to our topic, once the nominees are announced, that's when the real predictions begin about who's going to win,
69. 9:05and you'll start to hear a lot of talk about who's in the mix and whether or not it's a tight race. If someone is in the mix,
70. 9:16it means they're being considered as a possible winner.
71. 9:18They're on that short list and they're part of the conversation about who will win. For example, she's definitely in the mix for best supporting actress after her SAG award
72. 9:30win.
73. 9:30And then a tight race means the outcome is uncertain because the competitors are very close in performance or support. For example,
74. 9:40it's a tight race for best director this year.
75. 9:44Any of the five nominees could win very quickly.
76. 9:47I wanna show you how these phrases work together in a conversation.
77. 9:52So imagine for a moment that you are at a coffee break with a coworker, and in the conversation she asks whether you've been following the awards season
78. 10:02and who you think will win best picture at the Oscars. You might say, well, one battle after another is definitely the front runner right now.
79. 10:12But I think Hamnet is gaining momentum too, especially after its strong performance in other award ceremonies.
80. 10:20It's such a tight race in that one answer.
81. 10:23Those phrases go together naturally, and that's how people actually talk about all of this during awards season.
82. 10:32Now, when people are debating who should win, they're also talking about the films and performances themselves,
83. 10:40including what kind of reception a film got or what the experience was like to watch that film. Some films get rave reviews from critics.
84. 10:50This means extremely positive reviews when critics are praising something enthusiastically. For example, that film got rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival,
85. 11:01but other films might be under the radar.
86. 11:06This means they're not getting attention or not getting enough attention.
87. 11:11The film is unnoticed.
88. 11:13So you might say that indie film was totally under the radar during award season and it deserved more recognition than it got.
89. 11:23Now when people start to talk about the actual viewing experience, you might hear a film described as a tear jerker.
90. 11:31A tear jerker is a story, song, play, film, or broadcast that moves you or is intended to move the audience to tears. It makes you cry.
91. 11:43And sometimes people are impressed by an actor's ability to pull off something.
92. 11:49To pull off means to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected, it's to successfully execute a challenging task.
93. 12:00For example, I can't believe she pulled off that accent so convincingly.
94. 12:06Now, this particular phrasal verb is rather versatile.
95. 12:09We use it in many contexts. For example, you can pull off a surprise party, pull off a difficult recipe, or pull off a challenging scene in a film.
96. 12:20This one is not just about acting. All right, with that, let's move on to talking about what happens during the ceremony.
97. 12:28Starting with the red carpet events, a red carpet event is a high profile gathering where a red
98. 12:36carpet is laid out for celebrities, dignitaries or VIPs, and it's used for them to walk on as they arrive.
99. 12:44It's a symbol of glamor and importance.
100. 12:48This particular tradition has been used since ancient Greece to signify honor and welcome important guests.
101. 12:56And Hollywood adopted it in the 1920s and 1930s.
102. 13:00So when someone says the Golden Globes is always such a glamorous red carpet event, they're talking about that whole arrival experience with photographers taking
103. 13:11pictures and reporters asking questions. And of course, everyone's focused on who is wearing what Now during the ceremony itself,
104. 13:20you'll see winners who burst into tears or are completely speechless when they win to burst into tears means to suddenly start crying.
105. 13:31That word burst suggests suddenness and intensity.
106. 13:36It's like a pin in a balloon, and that balloon pops. In this case, the crying starts suddenly and is extremely emotional or even uncontrollable. For example,
107. 13:47she burst into tears the moment they announced her name as the winner.
108. 13:51And then to be speechless means unable to speak, not capable of expressing something in words.
109. 13:59It's that feeling that the words you need just don't exist.
110. 14:03They can't describe the moment that you're in.
111. 14:06And this is often used positively. For example, in an award context, it usually means that someone is so overwhelmed with emotion or
112. 14:16surprise that they can't speak. For example, he was completely speechless when he won.
113. 14:23He just stood there holding the trophy. Now, of course, if you watch one of these ceremonies, you'll also see moments where everyone in the audience gives a standing
114. 14:34ovation. This means to stand up and applaud, to show enthusiastic approval or appreciation.
115. 14:41And usually that moment of everyone standing and clapping, it goes on for a long period of time. For example, the entire.
116. 14:51Audience gave her a standing ovation after her emotional acceptance speech.
117. 14:56Now, if you watch these award ceremonies live, or even just review replays at many different moments during the ceremony, we could say that emotions run high.
118. 15:08This phrase means that feelings become really strong and intense.
119. 15:13For example, emotions ran high when she thanked her late mother during her acceptance speech.
120. 15:20Now with this particular one, we could replace the word emotions with the words feelings or tensions, for example.
121. 15:27Think about that moment just before the winner is announced, the camera starts looking at all the nominees. In that moment,
122. 15:36tensions run high, and once the winner is announced, you know that the winners give acceptance speeches.
123. 15:44It's the speech that they give for winning the award or prize.
124. 15:49And sometimes, or maybe even most of the time, if the speaker goes on for too long, the speaker gets played off the stage.
125. 15:59This means to start playing music to signal that that person has reached their time limit. It's time to finish the speech.
126. 16:08So in talking about this, you might hear someone say, she was so nervous, she talked too fast and for too long, and they almost played her off the stage before she could finish thinking her
127. 16:20family. Now, for some ceremonies, they don't just announce winners and have acceptance speeches from time to time.
128. 16:27There are also performances or surprise moments that can steal the show.
129. 16:33These are moments that tend to be the most popular part of the event. They attract the most attention. For example,
130. 16:41that surprise musical performance totally stole the show at the Golden Globes.
131. 16:47And because you have all these things happening announcing the winners, acceptance speeches, performances, quite often the ceremony runs long.
132. 16:57This means that it lasts longer than it was scheduled for or longer than expected.
133. 17:03And here's one more phrase that you might want to use if you're watching the ceremonies rooting for.
134. 17:10To be rooting for someone means to support them or hope that they are the winner. For example, I'm rooting for her to win best actress,
135. 17:20she was incredible in that role. Now, once again, I wanna give you a quick example of how you might use some of these phrases
136. 17:28together. Maybe you're watching the ceremony with friends or family, eating popcorn and texting your friends while you're watching every moment
137. 17:37of the live event. And then when the actress that you're rooting for wins, you might say, oh my God, I can't believe that she won.
138. 17:45She totally deserved that standing ovation.
139. 17:49I hope she doesn't get played off the stage during her acceptance speech. Okay, now that we've talked about the before and during the ceremony, let's talk about when it's all over.
140. 17:59The next morning when we get all the news articles, memes, social media clips, and post show conversations, people start asking, did the right film win?
141. 18:10Did one movie sweep the awards or were the wins more evenly divided?
142. 18:17To sweep the awards means to dominate an award ceremony by winning the majority or all the majority prizes in a single event.
143. 18:27For example, back in 1998, Titanic swept the Oscars by winning 11 awards, including best picture and best director. Of course,
144. 18:39sometimes there's an upset.
145. 18:41An upset is an unexpected or surprising victory, particularly when someone or something less favored wins
146. 18:51over a heavily favored competitor.
147. 18:53This particular phrase is actually a sports term that's commonly used for awards, elections and all kinds of competitions. For example.
148. 19:02It was a huge upset when she won over the front runner.
149. 19:08And of course, in all of this, people also talk about whether certain films or actors were snubbed.
150. 19:15Now, in general, conversation to snub someone means to insult them by not giving them any attention or treating them as if they're not
151. 19:25important. But in film award conversations, snubbed usually means someone wasn't nominated when people expected them to be or they were nominated,
152. 19:37but they didn't win when everyone thought they should have won.
153. 19:42For example, she was totally snubbed at the Golden Globes.
154. 19:47None of the other nominees even came close to her performance.
155. 19:52Of course, obviously not everyone can win, but people still argue about who deserved to win versus who actually won.
156. 20:00And when someone who was expected to win didn't win at all, people will often say they were robbed.
157. 20:08This means they were maybe unfairly denied a win that everyone thought they deserved. Okay, so now we reviewed the vocabulary that you'll hear before, during,
158. 20:20and after award ceremony.
159. 20:22So now it's time for the most important step using some of this vocabulary. And notice I used that word some.
160. 20:30I don't want you to try using everything you've learned here today that's not an effective practice. Instead, a better way to start is to select a few words that you really liked,
161. 20:40or maybe words that you recognize you've heard them many times before and you want to start using them.
162. 20:47When you are selective, you're able to concentrate on just a small number of words without overwhelm and get them into your everyday vocabulary,
163. 20:57the vocabulary that you use easily in conversations.
164. 21:01And once you've got those down, you can move to a new group.
165. 21:05So here's what I want you to do.
166. 21:06Choose one or two phrases from this lesson and try using them in your own sentence. You can share them in the comments as well. For example,
167. 21:16tell me which film you think is front runner for best picture this year.
168. 21:21Or share whether you think someone was snubbed in the nominations.
169. 21:25Maybe you have a dark horse prediction.
170. 21:29The goal here is to use the vocabulary, make it active, not just something you learned.
171. 21:35And then kind of remember somewhere in the back of your head later. Now, as always, if you found this lesson helpful to you, I would love to know.
172. 21:44So definitely subscribe or follow wherever you're listening or watching from today. Thank you so much for joining me, and I look forward to seeing you next time.