FILM 200 Midterm
Identify an accurate statement about low-key lighting.
It is suitable for horror films.
Identify an accurate statement about high-key lighting.
It is suitable for musicals.
Identify a true statement about film analysis.
It presupposes the existence of a unified and rationally structured artistic whole.
Which of the following is true of John Huston's experimental golden hue in the film Reflections in a Golden Eye?
It was released without the golden effect as studio heads feared it would turn off the audience.
The use of black bands at the top and bottom of a screen to adapt wide-screen formats to the standard television screen is known as
Letterboxing
The exact, calculated synchronization of music and physical action or movement in films is called
Mickey Mousing.
Which of the following could be considered an example of a leitmotif?
The repeated use of the same phrase by a single character
A benefit of learning how to analyze film involves
the sharpening of a viewer's critical judgments
"Compilation" works are musical scores that
use nostalgic music that is heard coming from some on-screen source but is usually used as part of the off-screen musical score as well.
The degree of a director's involvement with costume design
varies depending on the director.
According to the standard principles of visual composition, strength, authority, and dignity are suggested by
vertical lines.
In the development of "three-dimensionality" in theatrical sound for movies, a four-track system
was first used in the 1953 Cinemascope production of The Robe.
When experiencing a director's interpretive point of view,
we are consciously aware that the director wants us to view the action in some unusual way.
Movies that are limited thematically to a specific time or place
were considered powerful or relevant at the time of their original release but appear dated today.
A ________ exaggerates a perspective, so that the distance between an object in the foreground and one in the background seems much greater than it actually is.
wide-angle lens
The text makes the argument that the use of the color red in Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers
. is so appealing to the eye that it distracts attention away from the subtle drama that the faces and dialogues are struggling to convey.
Most current films (and many TV projects) use a wide-screen ratio of
1:1.78 or larger.
The rate at which film runs through a movie camera or projector is
24 frames per second.
The film Toy Story 3pioneered the use of
7.1 surround sound.
Which of the following is an example of forced perspective?
A designer physically distorts certain aspects of the set and diminishes the size of objects to create the illusion of greater foreground-to-background distance.
In the context of film analysis, which of the following types of movies is most likely to be open to subjective interpretations?
A movie that provides the viewer with an escape from the drabness of everyday life
Which of the following would be considered a form cut?
A piece of bone flung into the air that dissolves into a similarly shaped orbiting object in the following sequence in the film 2001
Which of the following describes an allegory?
A story in which every object, event, and person has an abstract meaning
Which of the following is a similarity in the strategies of the three films Nashville, Cabaret, and Chicago?
All songs are somehow restricted to being performed on a "stage."
What is achieved by soft focus in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?
An indication of the subject's love for another character
________ results from the use of colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel, such as red, red-orange, and orange.
Analogous harmony
How did critic Richard Corliss describe the animated film The Prince of Egypt?
As a crusade to expand the frustratingly narrow boundaries of feature animation
How does Aldous Huxley's classic novel Brave New World depict the film experience of the future?
As an experience enhanced by devices that produce a tactile experience
Why do most modern filmmakers not make use of the traditional transition devices such as wipes, dissolves, and fades?
Audiences' visual conditioning by TV commercials to follow quick cuts without confusion
How does a jump cut speed up action?
By not showing a portion of the action
A film's mood and treatment
Can range from lyric to the epic.
The struggles of boxers are often the focus of films with what kind of theme category?
Central idea about the struggle for human dignity
How did director Franco Zeffirelli use color to capture the mood of Hamlet and the coldness and starkness of medieval Denmark?
Color desaturation
Which of the following is the goal of crosscutting?
Creating the impression that actions in different locations are happening simultaneously
Which of the following is an accurate description of the effect of dailies on an editor's work?
Dailies give the director and cinematographer the chance to throw out bad shots before the mass of filmed scenes goes to the editor.
________ is defined as the use of special lenses that allow a camera to focus simultaneously and usually with equal clarity on objects anywhere from 2 feet to several hundred feet away.
Deep focus
________ employs an encoding process that achieves a 360-degree sound field and creates the effect of a greater number of separate speakers than are actually required.
Dolby-Surround Sound
Which of the following takes place in a high-angle shot?
Dwarfing a subject and diminishing its importance
To what effect is the low-angle shot of the British naval officer used at the end of the 1953 film Lord of the Flies?
Exaggerating his size and dominance
________ is a dramatic or cinematic technique that attempts to present the inner reality of a character.
Expressionism
. A theme can best be captured by a concise summary of the events of the story in a movie that focuses on the complexity of human relationships.
False
A "motion picture" can easily be frozen in time and space for analysis.
False
A flip frame occurs when a picture is momentarily turned upside down to reflect a sense of hysteria or extreme emotion.
False
Controlling the lighting of a film is much easier on location than in a studio.
False
Deep-focus cinematography tends to require a fast and rhythmic editing pace.
False
Directors and composers adapt familiar music for their scores for the most part because it is more efficient and economical than writing original music.
False
Film analysis reduces film art to rationally and manageable proportions.
False
Films that lack a unifying theme often use motifs to convey important ideas or patterns to the viewer.
False
Films with a focus on style or texture form the largest number of movies produced in the last decade apart from action films.
False
Generally, films that seem to demand color treatment are those with a serious, dramatic tone that requires a more realistic look.
False
In a film depicting a "coming of age/loss of innocence/growing awareness" scenario, the conflicts are almost always treated comically.
False
In contrast to black-and-white films, color films produce their strongest impact by emphasizing highlights and shadows.
False
In evaluating the theme, one standard commonly applied in identifying a good film is how closely the film conforms to the well-known "formula of classics."
False
In film, actors must incorporate brief pauses in the question/response pattern to be understood.
False
In his film Moulin Rouge, John Huston attempted to use color to cultivate an extremely realistic look.
False
It is not possible for moviegoers to become totally immersed in the experience of a film and also maintain a high degree of objectivity and critical detachment.
False
Montage is a technique that can stretch time and tends to lengthen the running time of a film.
False
Parallel cutting has the effect of lowering the tension and relaxing the viewer.
False
Shots using rough-grain film stock often have a more powerful visual impact than does reality.
False
Slow-motion effects are achieved when the film is run through the camera at a slower-than-normal rate and then projected at normal speed.
False
Sound always functions in a purely objective way, conveying only things we could actually hear in any given scene.
False
Stills are used when a director wants to eliminate camera motion for a short period.
False
Stock characters and stereotypes add little to a film and are usually written out of the script whenever possible.
False
Television advertisers now almost completely avoid using black-and-white commercials for fear of losing viewers' attention.
False
The decision of whether or not to shoot on location is usually dictated by the director's preference.
False
The objective point of view provides one with the visual viewpoint and emotional intensity felt by a character participating in an action.
False
The overall effect of black and white is to be less realistic than color, showing the story as less true to life.
False
The primary function of Mickey Mousing is to capture the overall emotional atmosphere and mood of a sequence.
False
The subjective point of view involves an emotional and physical detachment of the observer from the film.
False
The synthesizer and electronic scoring first appeared in the late 1970s and has since grown in popularity; roughly a third or more of major studio releases today are scored electronically.
False
The traditional view of musical soundtracks is that a good score should be as good as possible, even though the audience may be aware of it as a presence in the film.
False
Throughout most of early film history, silent films were rarely accompanied by live music.
False
We are as consciously aware of what we hear as of what we see.
False
When shooting a feature film, cinematographers are discouraged from mixing different types of film stock in order to maintain consistency of tone and atmosphere.
False
When there is a sudden reversal of events so that the character's actions result in the exact opposite of his or her intentions or expectations, the film is said to contain dramatic irony.
False
Which of the following might best be used by an editor to suggest the entire eight-hour shift of a factory worker in just a minute or two?
Flash cuts
________ are short machine-gun bursts of images sandwiched together that an editor uses to compress an hour's action into a few seconds.
Flash cuts
Which of the following are used in movies to fill in necessary expository information?
Flashbacks
Which of the following is true of character types?
Flat characters may function better than round characters in some types of stories.
Film that concentrate on the total personality of a unique individual tend to exhibit which of the following?
Focus on character
Which of the following would apply to a film that centers on universal or representative characters that take on significance beyond themselves?
Focus on the idea of human nature
Which of the following would apply to a film that centers on the problems, frustrations, pleasures, and joys of love, friendship, marriage, divorce, family interactions, sexuality, and so on?
Focus on the ideas of the complexity of human relationships
In the film Batman, production designer Anton Furst used angled sets and lighting for a "film noir" effect that were further distorted by high and low camera angles and harsh side lighting from unseen sources to construct _____, the single most powerful character in the film.
Gotham
In the context of films, internal conflict
In the context of films, internal conflict
At the conclusion of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, shots of nuclear bombs exploding all over the world are accompanied by the sentimental ballad "We'll Meet Again Some Sunny Day." Which of the following best describes this kind of scoring?
Ironic
Which of the following statements is true of film dialogue?
It can be delivered at a much more rapid pace than stage dialogue.
Which of the following is not among the clear benefits of film analysis?
It creates a love of film
In the context of film music, identify a true statement about generalized score.
It emphasizes capturing the overall emotional atmosphere or mood of a sequence.
In the context of special effects of music, which of the following is a potential function of music that accompanies the main titles of a film?
It establishes the general mood or tone of the film.
Which of the following statements is true about intercutting?
It involves quickly alternating back and forth between two actions taking place at separate locations.
Which of the following is true of composed music for film scores?
It is generally agreed that the role of music in a film should be a subordinate one.
Identify an accurate statement about the standard screen.
It is more suitable for an intimate love story set in a small apartment than the wide screen.
The text offers the two films The Man Who Wasn't There, by the Coen brothers, and George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luckas examples of what?
Modern anomalies, because they are filmed in black and white
Which of the following statements is true?
More and more directors and cinematographers are beginning to think of filming as being similar to painting.
Why is strong side lighting so important in most of Ingmar Bergman's films?
Most of his films are set in Sweden, where the sun never rises high in the sky.
Film shares the ability to exploit the subtle interplay of light and shadow with which art form(s)?
Painting and Photography
Scoring in which certain musical instruments and types of music represent and signal the presence of certain characters is called
Peter-and-the-Wolfing.
Film shares with which art form(s) the ability to verbally communicate through imagery, mataphor, and symbol?
Poetry
Which of the following is the most challenging aspect of film analysis?
Remaining totally immersed in the experience of a film while maintaining a high degree of objectivity and critical detachment
Dead screen refers to which of the following?
Screen area with no dramatically or aesthetically interesting visual information
Television viewing of films has tradtitionally compromised which aspect of theater viewing?
Sound
Which of the following statements is true of the role of music in foreshadowing events?
Such music introduces a feeling of tension, while the images on the screen retain their calm.
Which of the following best describes the use of color during the prolonged slaughter sequence at the end of Taxi Driver?
Surrealism
________ is a dramatic or cinematic technique that uses fantastic imagery in an attempt to portray the workings of the subconscious.
Surrealism
The text suggests that Cinemascope and Panavision can contribute considerably to the effectiveness of which of the following genres of films?
Suspense films
What does Martin Scorsese seem to convey with his use of black-and-white image behind the opening titles of his film Raging Bull?
That it will be a realistic film and the subject will not be glorified
________ is a portable, one-person camera with a built-in gyroscopic device that prevents any sudden jerkiness and provides a smooth, rock-steady image even when the person carrying it is running up a flight of steps or down a rocky mountain path.
The Steadicam
Which of the following statements is true about adventure and detective films?
The aim of such movies is to provide viewers an escape from the boredom of everyday life.
Which of the following might be considered an example of name typing?
The choice of a hard, unpleasant-sounding name for a character of similar personality
According to the text, which of the following characteristics may provide the most common bond between film and music?
The division of time into clearly defined rhythmic patterns
Which of the following describes a sequence?
The linking of a series of scenes together to form much of a film's dramatic structure
Identify an accurate statement about the different editing patterns used in films.
The outside/in editing pattern follows a logical sequence and concentrates on orienting viewers to a new setting.
In the context of film music, identify a true statement about Mickey Mousing.
The primary emphasis is on the kinetic and rhythmic elements of the sequences in which the music is used.
Value refers to which of the following?
The proportion of light or dark in a color
________ is a series of lenses that keeps an image in constant focus and allows the camera to appear to glide toward or away from a subject without any camera movement.
The zoom lens
Identify a true statement about period pieces.
They are films that take place in the past.
In the context of films, identify a true statement about round characters.
They are inherently superior to flat characters.
Which of the following statements is most likely true of musical codes?
They can create unusual reactions when they are used ironically.
In the context of films, identify a true statement about symbolic patterns.
They involve the use of several symbols to express the same idea instead of relying on just one.
Which of the following is a property of advancing colors?
They make objects appear larger and closer to the camera than they are.
Which of the following is true of internal action stories?
They require more concentration from the viewer.
Which of the following did composer Jerry Goldsmith find necessary when scoring the filmPatton?
To create multiple themes to show the main character's complexity
To what effect does Woody Allen use the freeze frame in his film Match Point?
To create plot suspense based on linkage between two freeze frames
Which of the following are the two most basic functions of a musical score?
To create structural rhythms and stimulate emotional responses
How are the massed voices of choirs used in films like Beloved orThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers?
To express an inner mystical or spiritual transformation
For what purpose are changes between the use of black-and-white and color used in the film The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey?
Transitioning between two separate worlds
A film that offers no definite answers and requires a subjective interpretation falls into the thematic category of a focus on ideas, specifically the moral or philosophical riddle.
True
A wide screen can actually distort an image and detract from the film's visual effectiveness if the physical set is too narrow for its field of view.
True
An editor's job is made more difficult when the best shots in terms of lighting and composition may be the weakest in terms of acting and dramatic impact.
True
An establishing shot is usually offered at the beginning of a sequence to provide a broad picture of the setting so that the audience can get a feel for the environment in which the action of the scene occurs.
True
An object is charged symbolically when a particular character places value and importance on it.
True
An objective shot that shows a character looking at something off screen is called a "look of outward regard."
True
Analysis helps us to lock the experience of a film into our minds so that it can be savored in memory
True
Black-and-white film can free the cinematographer from the "reality of color" and carry the viewer immediately into the realm of abstraction.
True
Color can contribute greatly to the effect of three-dimensionality through careful placement of advancing and receding colors.
True
Composers can utilize certain pieces of music or even musical styles that are associated with specific time periods and locations to provide the emotional atmosphere that a given setting normally connotes.
True
Expressionistic use of color in film is difficult because all viewers do not interpret expressionistic effects in the same way.
True
Film analysis can help in reaching a high level of understanding about films, a level where we are reflecting on the most significant aspects of the film art as opposed to teh merely mundane, the practical, and the technical.
True
Film surpasses drama in its unique capacity for varied points of view, action, manipulation of time, and a boundless sense of space.
True
If a person wishes to develop proper habits of analytically viewing a film, he or she should see a movie at least twice whenever possible.
True
If our complete analysis does not support our original conception of a film's theme or focus, we should reconsider the theme in light of what we have discovered in our complete analysis.
True
In Citizen Kane, the thawed frame is used as a transitional device.
True
In Woody Allen's Annie Hall, color patterns are used ironically.
True
In a film that thematically focuses on the struggle for human dignity, opposing sides of the human nature are often depicted, best shown when the main characters are placed in the position of underdogs struggling to overcome their disadvantages.
True
In cinematography, a sense of naturalness is more praiseworthy than clever camerawork.
True
In collaboration on many modern films, art directors are asked to suggest camera angles and lighting in their design.
True
In his film 3 Women,Robert Altman uses the colors in which the principal characters dress as a powerful color leitmotif.
True
In most cases, music that calls too much attention to itself at the expense of the film as a whole is not effective.
True
In the convention of glancing rhythms, slow cutting simulates the impressions of a tranquil observer, and quick cutting gives the impression of an excited observer.
True
Many directors prefer to use music specially created and designed for the film—music composed either after the film and its accompanying sound-effects track are completed or while the film is being made.
True
Music can often be very effective in covering weak acting or banal dialogue.
True
Perhaps the most important consideration in creating a three-dimensional image is how to arrange the people and objects to be filmed.
True
Robert Altman's films are noted for their rich, thick, and detailed use of ambient sounds to create an aural environment.
True
Since the late 1970s, more than 95 percent of all American feature films have been made in color.
True
Slow-motion photography combined with blurred sound makes a relatively simple act seem tremendously difficult, awkward, and tiring.
True
Sound often functions separately from the visual image, conveying things that are not seen.
True
Sound-effects editors can influence an audience's perception of temperature.
True
The central character in a "coming of age" film is usually different in some way at the end of the film from what he or she was at the beginning.
True
The dénouement is a brief period of calm following a story's climax during which a state of equilibrium returns.
True
The overwhelming sense of reality that films can convey is of even greater importance than its unlimited range in subject matter and treatment
True
The primary originating force within cinematic art is the screenwriter.
True
The production designer can help the director with characterization by creating personalized environments.
True
The technological history of film can be constructively viewed as a continual evolution toward greater realism.
True
The term "background music," which generally refers to the musical score, is a misnomer because it has a direct and very significant effect on our reaction to film.
True
The use of a dead track can be effective in creating an immediate sense of physical tension and suspense.
True
The way a scene is lit is an important factor in determining the scene's dramatic effectiveness.
True
To be believable, a film story must, as Aristotle said, "have the capability of occurring in accordance with the laws of probability or necessity."
True
Traveling music is used to characterize rapid movement and is often employed almost as a formula or a shorthand code to give the impression of various means of transportation.
True
Universal symbols are precharged—ready-made symbols infused with values and associations understood by most of the people in a given culture.
True
Which of the following was one of the ways in which Skip Lievsay used sound to raise the temperature of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing?
Using a sound that was much like sizzling steam for a shower scene
________ is used as an expository device to convey necessary background information or fill in gaps for continuity that cannot be presented dramatically in a film.
Voice-over narration
When the shape of an object is matched to a similarly shaped object in the next shot, this type of editing device is known as
When the shape of an object is matched to a similarly shaped object in the next shot, this type of editing device is known as
The handheld camera is most often used for creating
a heightened sense of reality provided by the subjective viewpoint.
Saturated color is
a hue so unadulterated and strong that it is as pure as it can ever be.
Communication primarily through symbols or images occurs in a movie that focuses on
a moral or philosophical riddle.
The text offers Steven Spielberg's choice of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" for the romantic dance in the firefighters' Quonset hut in Always as an example of
a perfect match of song with dramatic situation.
In terms of lighting on film sets, today's filmmakers generally strive for
a very natural effect.
Watching a movie on a DVD or streaming
although not ideal, is rapidly gaining desirability.
The first step in identifying the central idea of a film is accurately identifying the
abstract subject in a single word.
The job of a Foley artist is to
add sound effects during postproduction.
When designing interior sets that have windows, the production designer will
also create a world outside, often using scenic backings that have been photographed.
When a scene begins with a close-up detail shot and then, in a series of related shots, backs off from the detail to show its relation to a larger visual setting, the editor is using
an inside/out editing pattern.
Tilting
approximates the vertical movement of one's head and eyes.
Dramatic foils
are contrasting characters with opposite behavior, attitudes, opinions, lifestyles, physical appearances, and so on.
In the context of films, dynamic characters
are deeply affected by the action of the story and are significantly changed as a result.
In Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert, the garish colors of factory vats, pipelines, slag heaps, poisonous yellow smoke, and other parts of the setting
are used expressionistically to reflect the inner reality of the main character.
The description of the Usher house in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is an example of setting
as reflection of character.
To use music as interior monologue in a film, the composer
associates music with the private thoughts, emotions, or moods of a central character.
The humor contained in films with cosmic irony can almost always be described as
being infused with a bitter sense of the dark absurdity of human existence.
When color filming was developed, some directors preferred photographing their films in black and white rather than in color because
black and white required more subtle lighting and thus was more artistic and less distracting than color.
Analyzing a film generally means
breaking up the whole film to discover the nature, proportion, function and interrelationship of each of its important parts
Invisible sounds
can be just as significant as visual images because the audience has to imagine rather than see whatever is being suggested through sound effects.
In point of view, a film
can range from the purely objective to the intensely subjective.
The device used by actors to exaggerate or distort one or more dominant features or personality traits to etch a character quickly and deeply in one's minds and memories is called a(n)
caricature
When applied to film, the term "theme" means the
central concern or focus that unifies the film.
When filmmakers visually or aurally take us into the minds of their characters to reveal their emotions, thoughts, memories, fears, and fantasies, this is called
characterization through internal action.
Many experimental, underground, or unstructured films
communitcate effectively on a purely intuitive, subjective, or sensual plane
A telephoto lens
compresses depth so that the distance between foreground and background objects seems less than it actually is.
Attendance at movie theaters
continues to grow, but more and more of us most frequently view films in our own homes.
The introduction of dissonance into a musical score that up to a certain point was more conventionally melodic
creates a sense of nervousness and anxiety.
Taking advantage of the advancing and receding characteristics of color
creates an illusion of three-dimensionality.
The difference between a character theme and a human nature theme is that the character theme
deals with a unique individual instead of universal types.
When Terry hurries down the hill to meet Edie in On the Waterfront, the rhythmic hammering of a pile driver serves to
demonstrate Terry's internal fear at confessing the truth to Edie.
In the context of transitions, the ________ is a traditional transitional device where the end of one shot gradually merges into the beginning of the next shot.
dissolve
In a film with a linear structure, the first part of the story is called
exposition.
A period piece refers to a
film set in some earlier time in history.
The text offers the films Blade Runner, The Thing, and Bram Stoker's Dracula as examples of
films in which the special effects visuals overwhelm the story and characters.
The text uses the films Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Clerks; My Big Fat Greek Wedding;and Napoleon Dynamiteas examples of
films that have been executed with great success despite the absence of a distinct visual style.
An effective technique of characterization to contrast characters whose behavior, attitudes, opinions, lifestyle, physical appearance, and so on are the opposite of those of the main characters is the use of
foils.
If a film is effective, a view should
have an intuitive grasp of its overall meaning
When the time frame of a story is within most viewers' memories, recent American films
have loaded the soundtrack with popular songs from the era.
The use of concrete images and sounds in films
helps movies communicate directly to their audiences.
When a filmmaker makes a movie that primarily deals with an abstract subject such as jealousy, the main focus for the filmmaker is the
idea.
Dramatic irony derives its effect primarily from a contrast between
ignorance and knowledge.
Panning
involves moving a camera's "line of sight" in a horizontal plane, left or right.
The climax of The Godfather, juxtaposing shots of the church ceremony in which Al Pacino's character is taking part as the godfather at his infant nephew's baptism with shots of brutal violence taking place at the same time ordered by him to consolidate his power as a godfather in the Mafia, is a powerful modern example of
ironic montage.
In the context of films, contrasting emotional attitudes communicated simultaneously by the soundtrack and the visual image may be effectively provided through
irony of tone.
The musical accompaniment of dialogue in Neil Jordan's Butcher Boy:
is often so loud that the listener can barely hear the dialogue.
The voice-over narration in Days of Heaven
is postmodern in the sense that it comments on the structure of the filmmaking process itself.
Citizen Kane is generally considered to be the first modern sound film because
it conveyed a sense of three-dimensionality without the benefit of the multiple soundtracks and speakers required for true stereo.
Film is considered unique as an art form because
it possesses qualities of free and constant motion that convey overwhelming sense of reality.
A ________ refers to a disconcerting joining of two shots that do not match in action and continuity.
jump cut
The fight-scene sound effects in Raging Bull were devised by
layering as many as fifty different sounds, including abstract sounds like those of a jet airplane taking off.
Like painting and photography, film exploits the subtle interplay of
light and shadow.
The fixed camera frame approximates the effect of
looking through a window.
When most of the film's sets are cast in shadows and just a few highlights define the subject, this is called
low-key lighting.
Film analysis should help the viewer
make definite conclusions about the film's meaning and value
A generalized score
makes no attempt to precisely match music and movement.
The use of slow-motion sound at the end of the film The Long Riders has the effect of
making us feel the pain of the bank robbers more viscerally as they are shot.
The most common use of the freeze frame is to
mark the end of a powerful dramatic sequence.
Images, patterns, or ideas that are repeated throughout a film and are variations or aspects of the major theme are referred to as
motifs
In the context of films, irony of character
occurs when characters embody strong opposites or contradictions.
The role of an editor in constructing the finished film is
of near-equal importance to the role of the director.
Wide-screen formats were initially adapted to the standard television shape by a special editing process called
panning and scanning
Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive is an example of a film that
provides a balanced combination of two emotions in which it is difficult to tell which is dominant.
The first and most essential property of a cinematic film is its
quality of continuous motion.
When the camera lens shifts focus in one continuous shot to objects in different planes of depth one after another, this is called
rack focus.
According to researchers, the color that seems to attract attention better than any other is
red.
In the context of films, a static character
remains essentially unchanged throughout a film story.
According to production designer Paul Sylbert, the choices of the costume designer begin with
the script.
To create the look and feel of documentary footage, a filmmaker uses
rough-grain film stock.
The two ingredients most likely to cause "over-response" reactions to a film are:
sex and violence.
The symbolic setting known as "microcosm" is used to
show human activity in a small area as representative of the human condition in the world as a whole.
Brian De Palma's Blow Out and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation are similar in that
sound itself is an important plot device.
A buzzing alarm clock at the end of one sequence becomes a buzzing telephone switchboard at the start of the next. This is an example of
sound links.
Ambient sounds refer to
sounds natural to a scene's environment.
A unique look, feel, rhythm, atmosphere, or organization in a film suggests a filmmaker focuses on
style or texture.
Music used to foreshadow events in a film
tends to precede what happens on the screen.
When filmmakers or critics say that editing is "invisible," they are claiming that
the audience shouldn't be able to notice its role or pay special attention to it if the editors do their job properly.
The number of specific colors used or emphasized throughout a film is called
the color palette.
Dead track refers to
the complete absence of sound in a film scene.
A film is said to have a nonlinear structure when
the events of the story are presented in a non-chronological order.
Film analysis presupposes
the existence of a unified and rationally structured artistic whole.
The most dominant tempo or compelling rhythm of a film results from
the frequency of editorial cuts and the varying duration of shots between cuts.
In a film that focuses on a single unique character,
the major appeal lies in the qualities that set the protagonist apart from ordinary people.
In a movie soundtrack, visible sounds in a movie sound track refers to
the narrator continually comments on not only the events of the story but also the elements of filmmaking used to dramatize them.
Voice-over narration is considered postmodern when
the narrator continually comments on not only the events of the story but also the elements of filmmaking used to dramatize them.
When a character serves as the focus or theme of a film,
the plot is significant primarily because it helps us understand the character being developed.
In adventure stories and detective stories, a filmmaker primarily focuses on
the plot.
Complementary harmony results from
the use of colors directly opposite one another on the color wheel, such as red and green.
In a film that thematically focuses on social problems,
the vices and follies of specific traditions, systems, and institutions are dramatized—sometimes satirically, sometimes seriously.
In the context of films, irony of situation generally results when
there is a sudden plot reversal or backfiring of events.
Colors can be said to be used expressionistically when
they are manipulated to make us experience the inner reality of a character.
In the context of using color in films, a technique that involved coloring a film stock before the image was printed on it, creating a two-color effect, is known as
tinting.
In commenting on the role of the film composer, Quincy Jones suggested that believability is closely associated with
understatement.
The fish-eye lens is often used to create
unusual subjective states such as dreams, fantasies, or intoxication.