Deck 7: Movies and the Impact of Images

Question 1

The first sound movie, The Jazz Singer, was basically a silent film with a few spoken words and musical numbers.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

An oligopoly exists when a few companies control an industry.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Georges Méliès made the first western, The Great Train Robbery.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In scriptwriting terminology, the discourse is how the story is told.

Question 5

The Singing Fool was a big commercial disappointment, and demonstrated that movie fans were not ready for talking pictures.

Question 6

Movie palaces looked beautiful on the outside, but were often very shabby on the inside.

Question 7

Thomas Edison's first attempt to create talking pictures in the late 1800s was an immediate commercial success.

Question 8

French director Georges Méliès pioneered a number of camera tricks and techniques, including slow motion.

Question 9

The Motion Picture Patents Company was established in 1908 to share film technology with independent filmmakers.

Question 10

The first public showing of Edison's kinetoscope projector system was in a Paris café in December 1895.

Question 11

The existence of the Motion Picture Patents Company led some independent producers to make their pictures in faraway Hollywood.

Question 12

Georges Méliès opened the first public movie theater in France in 1896.

Question 13

The first movie theaters were called nickelodeons, a name that indicated the cost of admission.

Question 14

American studios were able to gain control of the world film industry during World War I.

Question 15

The first motion pictures were watched by only one person at a time.

Question 16

The Birth of a Nation (1915) was very controversial when it premiered because of its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan.

Question 17

The Motion Picture Patents Company was founded by Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures and William Fox of Fox Film Corporation.

Question 18

Hollywood was the international center of cinema from the very beginning.

Question 19

With the exception of Mary Pickford, the early studio moguls who ran Hollywood were mostly men.

Question 20

To become a mass medium, the early silent films had to offer what books achieved: the suspension of disbelief and stories that engaged an audience's imagination.

Question 21

Documentaries generally avoid controversial or unpopular subject matter.

Question 22

Horror films are successful because they appeal to both teenagers and their parents.

Question 23

During the Hollywood witch-hunts of the late 1940s and 1950s, many film executives and stars accused others in the film industry of being communist sympathizers.

Question 24

Three-dimensional (3-D) movies did little to stem the drop in movie theater attendance in the 1950s.

Question 25

Directing opportunities for women in Hollywood have been limited.

Question 26

Film noir movies are notable for their bright lighting, lush sets, and upbeat story lines.

Question 27

Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director with her film The Hurt Locker.

Question 28

The popularity of radio had a great impact on movie attendance in the late 1940s.

Question 29

Movie attendance began a sharp decline in the 1940s mostly because of television.

Question 30

Hollywood produces the most movies of any film industry in the world.

Question 31

As of 2011, there are still no African American directors in mainstream Hollywood.

Question 32

Blu-ray discs have prevented the streaming of movies over the Internet from catching on.

Question 33

In America, most woman movie directors have first been successful actresses or scriptwriters.

Question 34

As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's Paramount decision, the major film studios divested themselves of their theaters.

Question 35

The Paramount decision ended the dominance of the major studios over the commercial film industry.

Question 36

With television capturing suburban audiences by the mid-1950s, movie producers made only family-friendly films to lure that audience back to theaters.

Question 37

The Hollywood Ten were studio writers and directors jailed for leaking military secrets to the Soviet Union.

Question 38

Grouping films by genre allows the movie industry to achieve both product standardization and differentiation.

Question 39

Cinema verité is a style of documentary filmmaking that closely resembles a big-budget, high-gloss Hollywood feature.

Question 40

Examples of genres include comedy, drama, romance, action, and thriller.

Question 41

Who opened the first public movie theater in France in 1896?

A) Thomas Edison
B) Georges Méliès
C) Auguste Lumière
D) Louis Lumière
E) Adolph Zukor

Question 42

All six major Hollywood film studios today are owned and operated by U.S.-based corporations.

Question 43

American filmmaker Edwin S. Porter ______.

A) shot narrative scenes out of order
B) made what is considered America's first narrative film
C) used the first close-up in U.S. narrative film history
D) adapted Méliès's innovations for narrative film
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 44

Movie studios can earn more than double their U.S. and Canadian box office receipts by distributing their films in foreign markets.

Question 45

Time Warner's cable channels can be considered a form of high-tech vertical integration.

Question 46

A consensus narrative is a type of movie that seeks a small, select, niche audience.

Question 47

In the 1970s, suburban multiplex theaters were a failed attempt to increase movie ticket sales.

Question 48

The movie industry has largely embraced the Internet's ability to distribute new films and rentals to consumers.

Question 49

Because of high equipment and operating costs, digital technology is not expected to benefit independent filmmakers for many years.

Question 50

The six major studios were able to dominate movie exhibition in the United States by acquiring all of the country's drive-in theaters.

Question 51

Between 80 and 90 percent of new movies lose money during their theatrical release.

Question 52

Most U.S. films provide shared cultural experiences that operate across different times and cultures.

Question 53

Movie studios in the United States still practice block booking and require that theaters accept lesser films in order to get blockbuster movies.

Question 54

The success of Star Wars had no effect on the business strategies of major studios going forward.

Question 55

Movie studios usually make their films available on DVD and Internet streaming services at the same time as the theatrical release.

Question 56

Six studios dominate the U.S. film business.

Question 57

Why was Edwin S. Porter's 1902 film The Life of an American Fireman important?

A) It was the first to use editing and close-ups as narrative-building techniques.
B) It was the first studio film to use personal style.
C) It was the first sound picture.
D) It challenged racial stereotypes.
E) It was the first film to be shown to a theater audience.

Question 58

Although Hollywood movies may show actual consumer products, such as Pepsi-Cola or BMW automobiles, for the effect of realism, the studios may not receive any money or other compensation for showing those products.

Question 59

Which of the following chronologies best describes the way early movie industry technology developed?

A) narrative films - vitascope - celluloid - zoetrope
B) zoetrope - vitascope - celluloid - narrative films
C) celluloid - zoetrope - vitascope - narrative films
D) zoetrope - narrative films - celluloid - vitascope
E) zoetrope - celluloid - vitascope - narrative films

Question 60

For creative reasons, film studios have generally resisted making product placement deals.

Question 61

Which of the following did Adolph Zukor achieve?

A) Hired D.W. Griffith to direct movies for him exclusively
B) Tried to control all levels of movie production through Edison's trust
C) Ran Paramount Pictures
D) Pioneered the studio system
E) Formed United Artists

Question 62

Which of the following is one of the methods used by the Trust to control the film industry?

A) Distributing faulty movie film to other companies
B) Acquiring most major film distributorships
C) Signing exclusive contracts with actors
D) Forcing film producers to relocate to New York
E) Building the most lavish nickelodeons

Question 63

Nickelodeons were ______.

A) turn-of-the-century theaters dedicated to screening children's films
B) the first fancy downtown movie palaces, located mainly in business centers
C) the original movie theaters, popular with immigrants
D) large, multiple-screen movie complexes typically located near busy highways
E) cheaply priced drive-in theaters

Question 64

Which of the following is not an element of vertical integration in the movie industry?

A) Syndication
B) Distribution
C) Production
D) Exhibition
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 65

Nickelodeons and the silent films they showed were very popular with turn-of-the-century immigrant populations because ______.

A) they advertised outside of Ellis Island
B) they provided an inexpensive escape
C) nickelodeons showed films in color
D) popular Broadway singers were the featured players
E) the elaborate movie sets were visually exciting

Question 66

Adolph Zukor formed the Famous Players Company in 1912 to ______.

A) give young actors a start in movies
B) exert control over movie production
C) serve as an agent for established actors
D) make exceptional movies with the best directors available
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 67

Mary Pickford was able to start United Artists because ______.

A) early Hollywood was known for respecting women and promoting their careers as producers, directors, and studio executives
B) Adolph Zukor wanted more studios competing to make films
C) she had become very popular with audiences and influential in the industry
D) she was born into a wealthy family
E) she was an award-winning director

Question 68

In commercial filmmaking, who is considered the "author" of a film?

A) The lead actor/actress
B) The executive producer
C) The studio
D) The screenwriter
E) The director

Question 69

According to your textbook, what is a main reason that Hollywood tends to make films that belong in certain genres?

A) It makes it easier for studios to find good scripts.
B) It is easier for studios to promote a film that fits into a preexisting category.
C) Filmmakers don't like to be challenged and would rather be told by studios what kind of film to make.
D) It costs less money to make films that fit into a specific formula.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 70

Through the 1920s, 85 to 95 percent of all film revenue was generated by ______.

A) small neighborhood theaters
B) downtown first-run theaters
C) multiplexes in shopping malls
D) home video rentals
E) drive-in theaters

Question 71

What is vertical integration?

A) Control of the production, distribution, and exhibition of a film or other cultural product by one company
B) A system for predicting whether a film will succeed or fail at the box office
C) The theory that media elites atop the social hierarchy can persuade the citizenry to act in certain ways
D) The process a movie goes through from script to promotion
E) A unionizing tactic in which all levels of movie production-from actors and directors to camera operators and janitors-are brought into a single bargaining force

Question 72

Under the studio system ______.

A) actors were independent contractors who could work for any studio
B) movies were made using an assembly-line process
C) the studios had no control over the private lives of their creative talent
D) producers were hired to direct the pictures
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 73

Which of the following statements about women and/or minority film directors in the United States is true?

A) The influence of Mary Pickford meant women enjoyed the same directing opportunities as men, even if minorities didn't.
B) With a few exceptions, women and minority directors have received little recognition and opportunity for much of the history of movies.
C) Minorities, as long as they were men, have for decades enjoyed the same status as white male film directors.
D) Both women and minorities have received the same degree of recognition in Hollywood as white male film directors.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 74

Mary Pickford was ______.

A) instrumental in founding the studio system
B) a founder of Paramount Pictures
C) an experienced stage actress before going into the movies
D) known as "America's Sweetheart"
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 75

Who launched United Artists?

A) Mary Pickford
B) Adolph Zukor
C) Edwin S. Porter
D) Thomas Edison
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 76

Which of the following is true about early major Hollywood studio heads like Adolph Zukor?

A) They allowed independent, smaller filmmakers to thrive because of their own experiences fighting the opposition and control of Thomas Edison and the Trust.
B) They struggled because of stiff competition from European filmmakers following World War I.
C) They tried to give actors and directors a great deal of choice about the kinds and numbers of films to make.
D) They believed that the three main areas of the movie business-production, distribution, and exhibition-should be handled by separate companies.
E) None of the options are correct.

Question 77

Which of the following is not one of the original five major studios that once dominated the film business?

A) RKO
B) Warner Brothers
C) Paramount
D) Disney
E) Twentieth Century Fox

Question 78

In an early attempt to monopolize the film industry, inventor Thomas Edison formed ______.

A) The Motion Picture Monopoly of America
B) General Electric
C) The Edison Oligopoly Company
D) Paramount Studios
E) The Motion Picture Patents Company

Question 79

Which film was the first successful talking motion picture?

A) The Great Train Robbery
B) Snow White
C) Birth of a Nation
D) The Jazz Singer
E) The Life of an American Firefighter

Question 80

When a studio engaged in block booking, it ______.

A) opened a big-budget film in at least one thousand movie theaters across the United States
B) hired an entire neighborhood or category of people to appear in a film
C) guaranteed an exhibitor that a film would attract a minimum number of paying customers
D) required exhibitors to book a large number of new or marginal pictures in order to get the movies they really wanted
E) required movie actors to sign exclusive contracts