Intro to Cinema

Historians who chart the history of cinema technology examine might pose all of the following questions, EXCEPT:

Who saw the films, how, and why?

What is the rule of thirds?

a framing convention that divides the frame into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections

Which of the following statements about Middle Eastern and North African cinema is TRUE?

a large number of the serious movies created in these countries today are directed by women

What is a blimp?

a soundproof enclosure that prevents the sound of the camera from reaching the microphone

How would you characterize the Hollywood studio system during the classical period?

a top-down organization in which management controlled everything

Generally, which element of film generally draws the audience to the movies?

actors

Which approach to film history is concerned with the artistic significance and influence of individual films or directors?

aesthetic approach

What are the four traditional approaches to film history?

aesthetic, technological, economic, social

The tendency for movie viewers to interpret shots in relation to surrounding shots is the most fundamental assumption behind all film editing. How does editing take advantage of this psychological tendency?

all of these are correct

The short film The Big Charade frequently includes a sound design that combines images with unexpected sounds. This clip, for example, gives loud dynamic sound to each gesture the charade player makes:

asynchronous sound.

The first assistant electrician on the camera crew is called the

best boy

A box or room where light enters on one side and projects an image from the outside onto the opposite side or wall is called a

camera obscura

The member of the camera crew who does the actual shooting is called the

camera operator

The process of capturing moving images on film or a digital storage device is called

cinematagrophy

Which Latin American country, adhering to Lenin's familiar remark, "cinema, for us, is the most important of the arts," established this country's Institute for Cinematographic Art and Industry to encourage, improve, and support filmmaking at all levels?

cuba

The editing technique of joining together two shots is called

cutting.

A process shot is made of action in front of a rear projection screen that has on it still or moving images for the background. Which clip is an example of a process shot using rear projection?

death to the tinman

Montage is an editing technique that condenses a series of events into a sequence of shots. Which clip illustrates montage?

death to the tinman

Which of the following clips is an example of nonnaturalistic performance?

death to the tinman

What are the four phases of sound production?

design, recording, editing, mixing

These sounds come from a source within a film's world. They are the sounds heard by both the movie's audience and characters.

diegetic sounds

What editing transition does this clip from Snapshot illustrate?

dissolve

The types of sound that filmmakers can include in their sound tracks include all of the following general categories EXCEPT

dolby sounds

The alienation effect or distancing effect seeks to ___________ the artificiality of performance and ____________ the audience's identification with the characters.

draw attention to; limit

An editor's control of _____________ can determine the pace or rhythm of a movie.

duration

Which approach to film history would address the formation of the studio system, the distribution and exhibition of movies, and the rise of an independent system of film production?

economic approach

What is the process of selecting, arranging, and assembling the essential components of a movie (visual, sound, and special effects) to tell a story in a unique way?

editing

Early screen-acting is characterized by _____________ gestures and ____________.

exaggerated; mouthed words

German expressionist films are characterized by _____________ settings, ____________ camera angles, and themes such as _____________.

exaggerated; oblique; alienation

Which type of cut joins a point-of-view shot of a person looking offscreen with a shot of the object of their gaze, as found in this clip from Spam-ku?

eyeline match cut

A _________ film stock is extremely sensitive to light and is therefore useful in low-light situations.

fast

This member of the camera crew is the chief electrician for the production.

gaffer

This member of the camera crew is the all-around handyperson who works with both the camerapersons and the electricians to get the camera and lighting ready for shooting.

grip

Orson Welles was considered one of cinema's greatest directors because

he had the vision to do something differently and the talent to inspire collaborators to experiment and help him realize that vision.

Depth of field refers to the space in front of the camera and what portion of that space is in focus. A lens with a short focal length has a complete depth of field. Which image represents a complete depth of field?

hurt locker

Delivering lines based loosely on the written script or without rehearsal is called

improvisation

A shot that is in between a long shot and a medium shot is known as an American shot, a two-shot, or a medium long shot. Which still represents this kind of shot?

kings speech

Which clip represents a zoom?

kliengield

A low-angle shot is often used to

make the subject seem powerful.

The process of combining different sound tracks onto one composite sound track synchronous with the picture is called

mixing

French film theorist André Bazin defines this term as "the creation of a sense or meaning not proper to the images themselves but derived exclusively from their juxtaposition." Since 1930s Hollywood, this term designates a sequence of shots, often with superimpositions and optical effects, that shows a condensed series of events

montage

These sounds come from a source outside the world of the movie and are heard only by the audience.

non digetic sounds

What is a setup?

one camera position and everything associated with it

What are the four basic perceptual characteristics of sound?

pitch, loudness, quality, fidelity

Films of the Italian neorealist movement are characterized by _____________ locations, ____________ actors, and a ____________ visual style.

real; nonprofessional; documentary

Which three devices are examples of series photography

revolver phatographique, magic lantern, fusil photographique

Which clip includes the editing strategy known as shot/reverse shot?

snapshot

As light and dark create the image, so ____________ create the sound track.

sound and silence

What is ambient sound?

sounds that emanate from the setting or environment being filmed

The effect of perceiving spatial continuity between two shots, even with two shots filmed at different times in different places, is called

the Kuleshov effect.

This naturalistic style of acting encourages actors to speak, move, and gesture not in a traditional stage manner but just as they would in their own lives.

the Method

What does it mean if actors are typecast?

Actors tend to get cast in certain types of roles based on their looks.

What is the difference between an iris-in and an iris-out?

An iris-in begins with a small circle that expands, while an iris-out gradually closes an image.

Which figure is associated with nonnaturalistic performance?

Bertolt Brecht

What actress is credited with inventing the art of screen acting, whose performance in Broken Blossoms (1919) is considered the first great film performance by an actor?

Lillian Gish

These are real-life people who take roles in feature films (not documentaries) to play characters whose lives are very much like their own.

Nonprofessional actors

Which image represents a high-angle shot?

North by Northwest

Why do the movie stars of today earn more money than stars in classical Hollywood?

Stars can now negotiate their earnings with studios.

Lighting ratio is the balance between light and shadow—or the balance between the key and fill lights. Which of the following images represents high-key lighting?

THX 1138

The most common manipulation of time through editing is an ellipsis, which is an omission of time that separates one shot from another. Which clip represents an ellipsis?

The Barthlomev

The Dogme 95 movement in Denmark drafted a manifesto that includes which of the following rules?

The director must not be credited.

The width of the image related to its height is known as the aspect ratio. What is the aspect ratio of this image?

1.33.1

What is the difference between diegetic sound and nondiegetic sound

Diegetic sound originates from a source within the world of the film, while nondiegetic sound comes from a source outside that world.

A lens with a short focal length (also known as a wide-angle lens) makes subjects on screen appear farther apart than they actually are. Which image uses a lens with a short focal length?

Dr stranglevov

Which Soviet filmmaker considered film editing to be a creative process that functioned according to the dialectics of Karl Marx?

Einstein

This early innovator of film was a Frenchman considered cinema's first narrative artist, famous for innovating many technical and narrative devices. A magician by trade, he took naturally to the illusion of motion pictures, where he could make things vanish and reappear on screen, and is known for his use of special effects in landmark films such as A Trip to the Moon (1902).

Georges Méliès

Besides being one of the first Westerns, what is significant about Edwin S. Porter's 1903 film The Great Train Robbery?

It was one of the first films that pioneered the idea of continuity editing

The master shot orients the viewer in preparation for the shots that follow. Which clip illustrates a series of shots that includes a master shot?

Snapshot

The two major approaches to editing are continuity editing and discontinuity editing. Which clip represents discontinuity editing?

Snapshot

Why is the axis of action also called the 180-degree system?

There are 180 degrees of space on the chosen side of the axis of action in which the camera may be placed to preserve screen direction.

Listen carefully to this clip from Snapshot. Based on the sound track, which of the following statements is TRUE?

There are a lot of people at this party, and someone is playing the piano

The two types of vocal sounds in a film are dialogue, which develops out of situations and conflicts that characters find themselves in, and narration, which is commentary spoken by on-screen or offscreen voices. Which clip illustrates both dialogue and narration?

the big charade

What is the three-point system with respect to lighting?

the combination of key light, fill light, and back light

Which individual is capable of molding a performance with the greatest degree of control?

the editor

What is a take?

the number of times a particular shot is captured

What is looping?

the rerecording of sound first recorded on set

Listen carefully to this clip: Spam-ku

the sound of the pancake batter

A match cut helps create a sense of continuity between shots by matching shot A and shot B in terms of action, graphic content, or eyelines. Which clip provides an example of a match cut?

two cars one night

In what situation must actors focus on the communicative power of slight facial gestures while ignoring the expressive potential of their bodies?

when being filmed in a close-up