Deck 8: Sound

Question 1

The original soundtrack of the French version of March of the Penguins featured ________.

A) an academic, non-diegetic voice-over
B) no music
C) voice-over dialogue "spoken" by the penguins themselves
D) A and B

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The conclusion of Dr.Strangelove combines the song "We'll Meet Again" with images of ________.

A) the two central characters getting on separate planes
B) nuclear annihilation
C) the two central characters reuniting
D) the main character wistfully reminiscing about her time with a former lover

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The process of combining dialogue,music and sound effects into one soundtrack is known as ________.

A) mixing
B) meshing
C) building
D) weaving

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Clunky dialogue that states the obvious is called ________.

A) on-the-nose dialogue
B) off-the-cuff dialogue
C) tip-of-the-tongue dialogue
D) back-of-the-hand dialogue

Question 5

The Big Five Agreement stated that the major exhibitors of films would jointly agree to ________.

A) adopt a single sound system for the entire film industry
B) distribute musical cue sheets with all of their films
C) compose individual scores for each of their films
D) all of these

Question 6

Differences in the sound of ________ in Alien and Star Wars evoke the gritty industrial setting of the former and the idealized,highly efficient setting of the latter.

A) computers whirring
B) doors opening
C) weaponry being fired
D) air whooshing through empty corridors

Question 7

When films during the silent era were shown in theaters they were accompanied by ________.

A) music
B) live narration
C) sound effects
D) all of these

Question 8

Analyze an example of how collage establishes the idea that the infant isn't the only one getting baptized: Michael is also being baptized in blood.

Question 9

Sounds that are not part of the story world (those which characters cannot hear)are called ________.

A) non-diegetic
B) sound effects
C) conceptual
D) ADR

Question 10

Analyze an example of how the timing in this scene emphasizes Michael's hypocrisy.

Question 11

Sound recorded on location is called ________.

A) dub
B) diegetic
C) non-diegetic
D) direct sound

Question 12

A sound bridge can be ________.

A) the aural equivalent of a dissolve
B) a dominant sound at the end of one scene that carries over into the next scene
C) the gradual emergence of the next scene's dominant sound
D) all of these

Question 13

Which of the following developments in film sound technology arrived in the 1930s and consequently freed cinema from the idea that "everything seen on the screen must be heard on the soundtrack"?

A) Dolby
B) DTS
C) multi-track recording
D) post-synchronization

Question 14

A soundtrack includes ________.

A) dialogue
B) music
C) sound effects
D) all of these

Question 15

________ produce many of a film's sound effects by creatively manipulating various materials.

A) Foley artists
B) Gaffers
C) Best boys
D) Score composers

Question 16

The 1927 film Sunrise was ________.

A) the last film of the silent era
B) the first feature-length film to include synchronized dialogue and musical numbers
C) a visual tour de force featured a synchronized pre-recorded score but no dialogue
D) the first film to feature a score composed specifically for it

Question 17

This sequence in which the film cuts back and forth between lines of action happening simultaneously is an example of ________.

Question 18

The unstated meaning behind spoken words is called ________.

A) subtext
B) text
C) intertext
D) all of these

Question 19

Which of the following sentences is describing a vocal tic?

A) Kane's voice reverberates down the empty hallways of Xanadu.
B) The gangsters in Pulp Fiction repeatedly utter foul words.
C) Owen Wilson speaks in slow, fluid phrases with offbeat intonation.
D) In Alien, Ripley's voice is soft, conveying her calm, rational approach to the crew's problems.

Question 20

________ refers to the degree to which a sound effect is "true to life," or realistic.

A) Verisimilitude
B) Veracity
C) Veritiserum
D) Verification

Question 21

The arrival of pre-recorded,synchronized sound in 1927 allowed filmmakers at last to begin making cinema into a highly sophisticated visual medium.

Question 22

Harpo Marx,one of the members of the outrageous comedy act the Marx Brothers,was associated with ______________________.

A) Communism
B) Zany, sexually-suggestive dialogue
C) the harp
D) all of the above

Question 23

The use of Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries" during a helicopter attack on a Vietnamese village in Apocalypse Now is an intertextual reference to ________.

A) Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will
B) the Ku Klux Klan's triumphant charge in Birth of a Nation
C) John Wayne's favorite song in The Green Berets
D) F.W. Murnau's expressionist classic Faust

Question 24

As the term "Silent Era" implies,films during the early years of cinema were free from dependence upon the relationship between sound and image.

Question 25

Almost all commercial films use dialogue re-recorded in post-production.

Question 26

The score of Taxi Driver emphasizes that Travis Bickle's romantic longing for Betsy,hatred for the city and desire to rescue Iris are all contradictory aspects of a fractured personality that are unable to coalesce.

Question 27

The most effective uses of film sound will replicate the image,giving audiences an aural equivalent of what's onscreen.

Question 28

In No Country for Old Men,the sound effects that typically connote modern urban spaces__________________.

A) occur throughout the movie's most exciting chase scenes
B) disappear in the second half of the film
C) are noticeably absent
D) were digitally added to the soundtrack

Question 29

Which of the following is an example of how music carries a cultural significance?

A) The lyrics to Van Morrison's "Wild Night" speak to the giddy anticipation both women feel.
B) Public Enemy's lyrics to "Fight the Power" echo Buggin' Out's demand that Sal put pictures of African American heroes on the wall.
C) For Star Wars, John Williams developed two distinct melodies, each associated with opposing sides in the inter-galactic battle.
D) After Richie tries to commit suicide in The Royal Tenenbaums, audiences hear Nick Drake, a folk singer who killed himself at an early age.

Question 30

The new sound technology of "talking pictures" sacrificed visual inventiveness,placing a higher value on the novelty of hearing actors speak.

Question 31

The primary function of spoken dialogue is to externalize a character's thoughts and feelings.

Question 32

A musical phrase can function as a motif in film,just as any visual or narrative detail can.

Question 33

What happens to the score at the climax of Taxi Driver to suggest that Travis Bickle's romantic chivalry and his seething anger are complementary mindsets?

A) a romantic jazz tune plays during the bloody shootout
B) the two musical motifs running throughout the film fuse
C) the score includes an intertextual reference to The Birth of a Nation
D) the musical score disappears, leaving the soundtrack oddly silent during the bloody shootout

Question 34

The sound of the adding machine in Days of Heaven disrupting the farmer's relaxation shows that,despite their class differences,the farmer is just as overwhelmed by the industrial system that engulfs the main characters,Abbey and Bill.

Question 35

A cardinal rule of using sound in film is that sound must always correspond with what's happening on screen.

Question 36

In Days of Heaven,sound effects help establish for the audience the pleasure the main character takes escaping the bustling world of Chicago for the tranquility of the Southwest.

Question 37

The title for No Country for Old Men is an intertextual reference to ___________________.

A) The Birth of a Nation
B) Taxi Driver
C) a poem by W.B. Yeats
D) a famous speech by President Ronald Reagan

Question 38

Soviet filmmakers,like Eisenstein,Pudovkin and Alexandrov,were some of the earliest supporters of sound technology.

Question 39

The most commonly manufactured sound effect in films is walking.

Question 40

The distinction between early silent cinema and later sound cinema rests on the difference between live sound and recorded sound affixed to the image track.

Question 41

Identify one example from your textbook or in-class screenings of how music can shape space.

Question 42

Whereas a sound bridge allows a sound to extend beyond a scene,a ________ emphasizes sonic parallels in adjacent scenes. For example,in Citizen Kane,the sound of Charle Kane applauding Susan's musical performance gives way to a crowd applauding at a political rally.

Question 43

A sound's ________ refers to its frequency,or its position on a musical scale.

Question 44

________ are any noises that form part of a film's soundtrack,apart from dialogue and music.

Question 45

Describe two characteristics of sound effects at the foundry.

Question 46

What sound in this sequence becomes a motif that reveals how these characters will be unable to escape their working class status? Be sure to explain how the motif establishes this point.

Question 47

Briefly (in 1-2 sentences)explain why film scholar Claudia Gorbman calls soundtrack music "unheard melodies."

Question 48

Briefly (in 1-2 sentences)describe the two themes associated with Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver.

Question 49

Describe one characteristic of the music that plays as the three main characters leave Chicago. Analyze (in 2-4 sentences)how this detail suggests the characters' emotions or state of mind at this point.

Question 50

The ________ of a sound can convey perspective and details about the environment surrounding a character. An echoing voice might suggest an empty space.

Question 51

In No Country for Old Men,a historical reference in the dialogue links the carnage caused by the bloody drug war to the shootout at the O.K.Corral.

Question 52

________ is the way an actor says a line,including pauses,intonation and emotion.

Question 53

Music specifically composed or arranged to accompany a film is called a ________.

Question 54

Identify two common functions of sound effects.

Question 55

Identify two common functions of film music.

Question 56

Identify three common ways sound may differ from the imagery onscreen.

Question 57

The voice-over in No Country for Old Men is unusual because it is non-diegetic,delivered by a character looking back in time at events onscreen instead of narrating from the present tense.

Question 58

The soundtrack in No Country for Old Men suggests that the violent drug wars of the 1980s are simply part of a long tradition of violence in the American West.

Question 59

The process of having actors re-record lines for a scene with sound that needs to be reworked is called ________.