Chapter 10: Motion Pictures: The Start of Mass Entertainment

The bulk of the audience at motion picture theaters tends to be:

Ages 16-29

Which of the following is the most appropriate for explaining why we see motion in "motion pictures?"

Apparent motion

The development of the motion picture industry was virtually halted by World War I and World War II.

False

Which of the following did Vaudeville NOT do to aid the development of films in the late 1800s?

Vaudeville agents became movie distributors.

In what year was the first camera to take motion pictures on a moving strip of film created?

1889

In 1894, Thomas Edison's research team produced the Kinetoscope. What was the Kinetoscope?

A device for viewing films.

Who attempted to develop his own monopoly of the motion picture industry following the demise of the Trust?

Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount Studios

Which of the following was one of the do's or don'ts established in the Motion Picture Production Code?

Any lawbreaker had to be punished

The fact that the motion picture industry is a commercial venture, operating for maximum profits, means increased influence for:

Audience members

Why did Russian filmmaker and theorist Sergei Eisenstein believe was the primary relationship between an audience and a film?

Audiences create meaning from the juxtaposition of shots, not from the elements within each shot.

Why did French film theorist Andre Bazin believe was the primary relationship between and audience and a film?

Audiences create meanings from the relationships of elements within each shot, not from the juxtaposition of shots.

How did the addition of soundtracks affect the film industry?

Bankers gained more control of the industry.

Who was one of the greatest early filmmakers who started out as one of the greatest and highest paid Hollywood "stars"?

Charlie Chaplin

Movie industry censorship in the early part of the twentieth century was largely:

Done on the industry itself.

A decrease in the value of property is one factor that has made drive-in theaters practically obsolete.

False

Despite its success, the sale and rental of motion pictures on videocassettes never generated as much revenue as box office sales.

False

In addition to sources of entertainment, early films also served as a medium for socialization for high-class, American-born socialites.

False

Many of the major figures who built the film industry in Hollywood were American-born descendants of millionaires from the industrial revolution.

False

Motion pictures are interesting because their aesthetic principles are completely unique to the medium and are not derived from other art forms.

False

Motion pictures focusing on sports events did not become popular until the late 1930s.

False

Persistence of vision has nothing to do with the phenomenon in film projection called "flicker."

False

The Legion of Decency and the MPPC failed within the first 5 years of their creation because they took censorship to the extreme, and audiences refused to see films that were heavily censored.

False

The most recent trend in the film industry is the prioritization of money over artistic value when deciding whether or not a film should be made. The trend emerged with the incredible success of the Marvel franchise.

False

What was the name of the French magician who created the science fiction film, including the very popular A Trip to the Moon, which was released in 1902?

Georges Méliès

Within the first 2 years after creating its monopoly, the Trust was:

Highly successful

What major contribution to the film industry was NOT made by the independent producers and distributors when they were competing with the Trust (in the period from 1910-1915)?

Improved motion picture equipment so that the independents could make better films than the Trust.

The stop and start movement of the film in a motion picture camera or projector is called

Intermittent motion

Which of the following is the primary reason the Trust did not succeed as a monopoly?

Its members failed to recognize that they could not keep making movies the same way and stay successful.

What was the name of the female documentarian who created propaganda pieces, such as Olympia and Triumph of the Will, that were intendant to glorify Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany?

Leni Riefenstahl

Who developed Cinematographe?

Louis and Auguste Lumière

What was the advantage of the Cinematographe over the Kinetoscope?

More than one person at a time could view a film.

Which of the following is NOT considered part of the "mating function" of going to a movie?

Movies are a primary means of socialization in American culture.

What was the name for the early storefront theaters designed exclusively for motion pictures?

Nickelodeons

Which of the following is not one of the ways that the Trust used to suppress competition?

Only members of the Trust were allowed to film on the East Coast, where the Trust members were located.

Kinetoscopes appeared in arcades throughout America where people could see very short films for one cent each. What were these arcades called?

Peepshow Parlors

When our eyes retain an image for a fraction of a second after the object disappears, this is called

Persistence of vision

What did the practice of block booking involve?

Requiring an exhibitor who wanted to rent a popular film to take an entire block of films, some of which were not very popular

Which of the following is NOT one of the ways that the film industry attempted to compete with television?

Routinely playing television shows in theaters

Some of the most popular early motion pictures were "actualities." Which were:

Scenes shot in the town where the film program was presented.

A good example of vertical integration is:

Sony's purchase of Columbia Pictures.

What was the name of the first feature length film produced by Warner Bothers that used the General Electric sound system (then called the vita phone)?

The Jazz Singer

Which of the following is NOT one of the ways World War I impacted the film industry?

The cost to produce films increased dramatically so filmmaking virtually stopped across the globe for several years.

Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons why the Japanese electronics giants Sony and Matsushita entered the entertainment industry?

The decline of the anime industry in Japan.

Which of the following is NOT considered by your textbook to be one of the 3 aspects in the development of the motion picture industry?

The political aspect

Which technique did Edwin Porter NOT introduce to narrative filmmaking?

The use of high-contrast lighting to dramatize a scene.

Sound for the early movies was produced by:

Theater pianists

Why was the Legion of Decency formed by the Catholic Church?

They were dissatisfied with the amount of immorality that remained in films even after approval from the MPPC and sought more censorship.

After 1962, the number of motion pictures released to television increased and the length of time between their original showing in theaters and their showing on television decreased because studios realized television viewership was a significant source of revenue.

True

Fears that the content of films and the immoral lives of film stars, were corrupting audiences have existed since the creation of motion picture; Chicago was the first of many cities in the United States to enact a censorship law covering motion picture in 1907.

True

Generally speaking, when we have difficulty immediately creating meaning from a film, we are more likely to blame ourselves and to work harder at constructing some meaning for it.

True

In 1968, the Hays' Seal of Approval was replaced by a rating system developed by the Classification and Rating Administration Board (CARA).

True

In Freedman v. Maryland, the Supreme Court ruled that the burden of proof was the censor to show that a film was unprotected expression.

True

Some filmmakers would restate war scenes inside of studios as opposed to shooting at the actual location of conflicts.

True

What did Thomas Edison develop in response to the success of the Cinematographe that performed a similar function?

Vitascope Projector

The most popular movie actors during the earliest days of the motion picture industry:

Were not acknowledged or publicized by the studios.

Who was hired by the Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) to create the Motion Pictures Production Code in an act of self-censorship?

Will Hays