Deck 1: Early Cinema, 1893-1914

Question 1

Name the device patented by Thomas Edison that captured photographic images.

A) kinetograph
B) kinetoscope
C) zoetrope
D) daguerreotype

Answer 1

kinetograph

Question 2

Explain why the Latham loop patent was necessary to the development of the Vitascope.

A) It facilitated stop-motion animation.
B) It standardized film speed.
C) It reduced incidences of film breakage and allowed for the screening of longer films.
D) It facilitated persistence of vision better than hand-cranked projectors.

Answer 2

It reduced incidences of film breakage and allowed for the screening of longer films.

Question 3

As exemplified by Dickson's 70mm film format, the wider the gauge of film, the

A) greater the resolution and clarity due to the increased surface area.
B) cheaper it is to produce films.
C) easier it is to transition to color photography.
D) easier it is to transition to sync sound.

Answer 3

greater the resolution and clarity due to the increased surface area.

Question 4

The staging of the Lumière brothers' shorts Leaving the Lumière Factory and The Arrival of a Train at la Ciotat reinforces which of the following?

A) depth of field
B) spatial discontinuity
C) temporal discontinuity
D) photogénie

Question 5

Why does a film shot and projected at 16 fps exhibit greater flicker than a film shot and projected at 24 fps?

A) because 16 fps is slow motion
B) because 24 fps is fast motion
C) because 16 fps film is high definition
D) because persistence of vision and critical flicker fusion require rapid projection

Question 6

Which one of the following terms describes the physical phenomenon of the simulation of movement using still photographs?

A) limelight
B) persistence of vision
C) magic lantern
D) thaumatrope

Question 7

Thomas Edison's employee W.K.L.Dickson innovated which one of the following technological standards for cinema?

A) 35mm gauge
B) sound on film
C) sound on disc
D) color film

Question 8

If you were to make a film about the 21st century in the same mode as those made by Thomas Edison at the Black Maria, what type of film would it be?

A) a special effects-driven superhero film (e.g., The Avengers)
B) a serialized fantasy epic (e.g., The Lord of the Rings)
C) a brief portrait of a popular quarterback throwing a touchdown (e.g., a YouTube video)
D) a comedy about dating (e.g., Bridesmaids)

Question 9

If you were to make a film in the aesthetic style of early cinema, it would include all of the following attributes EXCEPT

A) it would be about 30 seconds long.
B) it would be a single shot.
C) the camera would be on a tripod.
D) the camera would pan and tilt to follow the action.

Question 10

Why was the Lumière brothers' 1895 Grand Café screening unique?

A) It catered to an upper-class audience due to an expensive ticket price.
B) It featured early experiments with sound film.
C) It was the first time a film was screened for a paying audience.
D) It featured early experiments with color film.

Question 11

Which of the following facilitated film's transition from a novelty and technological curio into a significant pop-culture attraction?

A) the endorsement of the upper classes
B) tax rebates and incentives
C) emerging consumer culture
D) the advent of concession counters

Question 12

Which of the following facilitated film's ascendancy over vaudeville as the preeminent mass entertainment medium in 1900?

A) antitrust legislation
B) a variety-show entertainer strike
C) an increased minimum wage
D) the implementation of a 40-hour work week

Question 13

Which optical toy best exemplifies the principles of persistence of vision?

A) magic lantern
B) photograph
C) Muybridge's motion studies
D) thaumatrope

Question 14

Which of the following events marked a turning point for silent cinema by linking its exhibition to a musical accompaniment?

A) Edison's 1894 kinetoscope parlor
B) the Lumières' 1895 Grand Café screening
C) Robert Paul's 1895 London screening
D) Edison's 1896 Koster and Bial screening

Question 15

All of the following were preconditions for the development of early cinema EXCEPT

A) photographs.
B) magic lanterns.
C) motion toys.
D) sound on disc.

Question 16

Name the inventor of the photographic gun, a device capable of shooting multiple images on a single load of film.

A) Eadweard Muybridge
B) Étienne-Jules Marey
C) Thomas Edison
D) Edwin Peary

Question 17

What year was cinema first exhibited to the public?

A) 1893
B) 1894
C) 1895
D) 1896

Question 18

Which inventor, hired by Leland Stanford to settle a bet about horses, inadvertently fueled the evolution of photography into cinema?

A) Eadweard Muybridge
B) Louis Daguerre
C) Thomas Niepce
D) Étienne-Jules Marey

Question 19

Name the inventor of the photograph.

A) George Eastman
B) Louis Daguerre
C) Joseph Niepce
D) Thomas Edison

Question 20

Which device combined camera, film processor, and projector into one unit?

A) the Black Maria
B) the kinetoscope
C) the kinetograph
D) the cinématographe

Question 21

Which studio mogul is credited with starting Hollywood's star system?

A) Adolph Zukor
B) William Fox
C) Jack Warner
D) Carl Laemmle

Question 22

This American president was the first to be captured on film, in a documentary short produced by Biograph.

A) Grover Cleveland
B) William McKinley
C) Theodore Roosevelt
D) William Howard Taft

Question 23

In 1910, the General Film Company established itself as a middleman by beginning an exchange system that defined which aspect of the film industry?

A) production
B) distribution
C) exhibition
D) direct sale

Question 24

Which of the following performers is considered the first movie star?

A) Florence Lawrence
B) Lillian Gish
C) Mary Pickford
D) Douglas Fairbanks

Question 25

American film producers moved west to California for which of the following reasons?

A) to follow the sunlight, which was conducive to year-round shooting
B) to flee the lawsuits of the Motion Picture Patents Company
C) to benefit from location-based tax rebates and incentives
D) to seek financing from oil companies

Question 26

The style of Georges Méliès can best be described by which of the following attributes?

A) staging in depth
B) special effects
C) crosscutting
D) single-shot films

Question 27

Stars provide studios with which of the following?

A) an identity that helps shape the direction and form of the films
B) a valuable asset in the promotion of an individual film
C) a concrete marketing hook that gives the studio a face
D) all of these answers are correct

Question 28

An ethnic-religious divide partially defined the adversarial relationship between social reformers and exhibitors.The latter party consisted primarily of members of which group?

A) Protestants
B) Baptists
C) Jews
D) Catholics

Question 29

Which of the following best describes the verdict of the 1915 Mutual case?

A) Movies are not subject to First Amendment constitutional protections because they are an entertaining "social force," unlike the press.
B) Movies are subject to the currents of a free market system; the purchasing decisions of consumers will decide who or what is objectionable.
C) Movies are protected by the First Amendment but can be censored by individual municipalities via the legal mechanism of states' rights.
D) Movies are protected by the First Amendment, but studios should continue their practice of self-censorship in order to ensure the production of morally uplifting material for the public's consumption.

Question 30

Shortly after founding the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, W.K.L.Dickson developed which of the following devices, refining the visual aesthetic of silent cinema?

A) the Latham loop
B) 70mm film
C) a panning-head tripod
D) sound on film

Question 31

Choose the Hollywood film that best illustrates the narrative and aesthetic trademarks of Georges Méliès.

A) Avatar
B) Moonlight
C) No Country for Old Men
D) The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Question 32

Which Hollywood film exhibits the same sustained use of crosscutting found in the work of D.W.Griffith?

A) Dunkirk
B) Gravity
C) Birdman
D) The Revenant

Question 33

The goal(s) of the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) were to

A) make the best films possible from a technological and narrative standpoint.
B) pool industrial patents in order to curtail competition, both foreign and domestic.
C) expand into exhibition to maximize profits.
D) develop sync-sound technology.

Question 34

In order to appease social reformers, the Motion Picture Patent Company (MPPC) embraced which of the following measures?

A) It closed exhibition venues on Sundays.
B) It embraced federal oversight and regulation.
C) It ignored the social reformers.
D) It embraced self-regulation by submitting films to the National Board of Censorship.

Question 35

Social reformers were concerned about the appeal of movies for which of the following reasons?

A) They would cause immigrants to assimilate into the American way of life.
B) Screenings promoted the mingling of different genders and socioeconomic classes.
C) The fictitious representation of taboo subject matter such as sex and violence would teach audiences not to engage in actual sex and violence.
D) Alcohol was sold on many premises.

Question 36

The crosscutting in Edwin S.Porter's Life of An American Fireman ________.

A) produces temporal continuity
B) produces spatial continuity
C) does not produce continuity
D) provides a linear narrative structure

Question 37

Name the filmmaker who refined crosscutting in terms of spatiotemporal continuity and creating suspense.

A) Georges Méliès
B) the Lumière brothers
C) Mack Sennett
D) D.W.Griffith

Question 38

Before American film producers migrated west to California in the 1910s, film production was concentrated in which two cities?

A) New York and Boston
B) New York and Philadelphia
C) Chicago and New York
D) Chicago and Boston

Question 39

Independent film producers challenged the dominance of the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) through collusive arrangements, court challenges, and ________.

A) the development of a Latham loop alternative
B) the production of multi-reel, feature-length films
C) the establishment of movie stars
D) their migration to Hollywood

Question 40

The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) was a monopolistic trust that engaged in which of the following practices?

A) price fixing
B) the regulation of domestic production
C) an exclusive contract with Kodak that allowed it to control the domestic sale of film stock
D) all of these answers are correct

Question 41

Directed by Alice Guy Blaché, this film is considered the first American feature-length film directed by a woman.

A) The Making of an American Citizen
B) The Heroine of '76
C) Merchant of Venice
D) Why Girls Leave Home

Question 42

Define the First Amendment as stipulated in the Bill of Rights.Do you believe the Mutual decision was constitutional? Why or why not?

Question 43

Do you think the actions taken by the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) were good or bad? Why or why not?

Question 44

Describe what makes a star a valuable commodity in the filmmaking process.Use a contemporary example to illustrate the principles described.

Question 45

Which of the following best describes the films made by Mack Sennett?

A) historical epics that utilize crosscutting extensively
B) sci-fi adventures that utilize special effects and optical trickery
C) sophisticated romantic comedies adapted from popular literature
D) crude comedies based on American burlesque and vaudeville traditions

Question 46

How did the early film industry react to the figure of the "new woman"?

Question 47

You've won the lottery and you want a famous director to make a biopic about yourself.Describe how both Georges Méliès and D.W.Griffith would adapt your life.