Deck 9: Film and Television

Question 1

The name for what an audience actually sees on the screen is

A) cinematography.
B) mise en scène.
C) point of view.
D) realism.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The term for when the camera follows a subject as she or he moves through a landscape is

A) a dissolve.
B) panning.
C) point of view.
D) tracking shot.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The technique whereby the camera shows the perspective of characters or the audience is

A) documentary.
B) mise en scène.
C) point of view.
D) realism.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The criterion for critical viewing that distinguishes the features of film from the features of other fictional genres, such as novels and plays, involves whether the

A) action follows the rules of probability.
B) characters have rich inner lives.
C) film respects the audience's integrity.
D) style used is unique to the art of video.

Question 5

The film genre where both heroes and villains are cynical and disillusioned is

A) documentary.
B) film noir.
C) horror.
D) western.

Question 6

The invention of the motion picture is credited to

A) D. W. Griffith.
B) Georges Mèliès.
C) Sergei Eisenstein.
D) Thomas Edison.

Question 7

Noises that come from the outside, such as voice-over narration and musical score, are part of

A) diegetic sound.
B) non-diegetic sound.
C) soundtrack.
D) freeze fame.

Question 8

A groundbreaking film known for its editing techniques is

A) A Night at the Opera.
B) Malcolm X.
C) The Battleship Potemkin.
D) The Godfather.

Question 9

Films that aim at revealing nonfictional truth are

A) documentaries.
B) genres.
C) romantic comedies.
D) westerns.

Question 10

A character that is identified with a specific actor, often to the point where the actor and the character are perceived as the same person, is called a(n)

A) auteur.
B) symbol.
C) stereotype.
D) persona.

Question 11

A filmmaker whose innovative camera work played a large part in creating political propaganda is

A) Alfred Hitchcock.
B) George Mèliès.
C) Sergei Eisenstein.
D) Stanley Kubrick.

Question 12

The auteur who was innovative in the use of long-shot and intense color effect and whose work directly influenced The Magnificent Seven is

A) Akira Kurosawa.
B) Alfred Hitchcock.
C) Stanley Kubrick.
D) Steven Spielberg.

Question 13

The filmmaker who developed slapstick is

A) Charlie Chaplin.
B) D. W. Griffith.
C) Groucho Marx.
D) Mack Sennett.

Question 14

Directors who choose their own projects and write screenplays that reflect their signature styles and their personal philosophies are called

A) cinematographers.
B) auteurs.
C) New Wave filmmakers.
D) personae.

Question 15

Godard and Truffant are both French

A) documentary filmmakers.
B) neo-realists.
C) New Wave filmmakers.
D) symbolist filmmakers.

Question 16

Alfred Hitchcock's famous shower scene in Psycho represents his technique of

A) endowing everyday events with danger.
B) filming images that make powerful political statements.
C) satirizing hypocrisy.
D) showing a single event from multiple points of view.

Question 17

Which editing technique involves breaking a short scene into detailed components?

A) dissolve
B) elongated moment
C) panning
D) tracking

Question 18

Romantic comedies of the 1940s such as Bringing Up Baby, It Happened One Night, and His Girl Friday

A) defy conventions of marriage-but with a price.
B) joyfully liberated women from stereotyping.
C) present women in stereotypical ways.
D) pair slovenly male figures with more mature female characters.

Question 19

Breaking Bad, Orange Is the New Black, and Mad Men are all part of

A) a new golden age of television.
B) New Wave television.
C) a wave of recent sitcoms.
D) television's renewed interest in documentaries.

Question 20

According to many, the work that epitomizes Hollywood musicals is

A) Chicago.
B) Frozen.
C) Les Misérables.
D) Singin' in the Rain.

Question 21

Charlie Chaplin and Humphrey Bogart achieved great success for their powerful screen personas. Consider contemporary examples of actors, male and female, who have maintained consistent and recognizable screen personas over a number of roles. Choose two different actors whose careers span many films. Explain what you believe is the purpose of using a familiar persona in a film and what the limits of such a practice might be.
I. Identify at least two contemporary actors who have maintained consistent and recognizable personas.
II. Using these actors' films as examples, explain the advantage of using a persona actor in a film.
III. Explain what might be the limits of using a persona actor in a film.

Question 22

Choose three criteria from the section "A Word on Critical Viewing." Select one film for each criterion that was not mentioned in the text. Justify how that film is appropriate for that critical area.
I. Identify three criteria.
II. Select one film for the three chosen criteria.
III. Justify how each film is appropriate for that critical area.

Question 23

The art of being human is as much about an approach to human creativity as it is about the products humans make. The criteria for critical viewing represent one such approach. Nominate a film not mentioned in this chapter for inclusion as significant and worth viewing. Justify its inclusion using three of the criteria for critical viewing.
I. Nominate a film.
II. Explain why this film was chosen in terms of its significance.
III. Name three criteria and justify the film's choice by explaining how it meets those criteria.

Question 24

Why is Humphrey Bogart considered a prominent early actor?

Question 25

Why is Alfred Hitchcock considered an important auteur?

Question 26

Why is D. W. Griffith considered a brilliant but controversial film innovator?

Question 27

Identify and describe the difference between classic and modern romantic comedies. Using a recent example, analyze what modern romantic comedies show about the nature of love.
I. Describe classic romantic comedy elements: class differences are ignored; characters seem to be a good match; characters and plots provide escape from current reality.
II. Describe modern romantic comedy elements: ill-matched couples; stronger female characters; couples may not wind up together.
III. Name a recent example of a romantic comedy.
IV. Explain what modern romantic comedies show about the nature of love today with reference to the example chosen.

Question 28

What is a sitcom?

Question 29

The animated film was once mainly directed at a very young audience. In recent years, however, the genre seems to communicate well to all ages. Using the text's discussion of animated films as your model, discuss which features of two recent animated films appeal to audiences of all ages and explain what you believe to be the purpose of such an appeal.
I. Identify two recent animated films that appealed to multiple age groups.
II. Identify which features in these films communicated well across ages.
III. Describe the purpose of such an appeal.

Question 30

How did the term slapstick get is name?