Exam 1

Question 1

Sleeper (1973)

Answer 1

Movie directed by Woody Allen. The plot involves the adventures of the owner of a health food store (played by Woody Allen) who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and defrosted 200 years later in an ineptly-led police state to find out about the Aries project since he’s the only one without a identification chip.

Question 2

The General (1927)

Answer 2

One of the most revered comedies of the silent era, this film finds hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the American Civil War. When Johnny’s fiancée, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), is accidentally taken away while on a train stolen by Northern forces, Gray pursues the soldiers, using various modes of transportation in comic action scenes that highlight Keaton’s boundless wit and dexterity.

Question 3

Vertigo (1958)

Answer 3

Movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson. Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a sensation of false, rotational movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin’s wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.

Question 4

Medium Cool (1969)

Answer 4

John Cassellis (Robert Forster) is a hardened TV news cameraman who manages to keep his distance while he captures daring footage of a nation in the throes of violent change. He maintains this professional detachment when he covers the social unrest in Chicago surrounding the 1968 Democratic National Convention. But, when he discovers that the TV network has been quietly cooperating with the FBI, the enraged Cassellis realizes that he too must join the fight against the establishment.

Question 5

Genre

Answer 5

A recognizable type of movie, characterized by certain pre-established conventions. A ready-made narrative form.

Question 6

Voice-over

Answer 6

A non synchronous spoken commentary in a movie, often used to convey a character’s thoughts or memories.

Question 7

Realistic

Answer 7

A style of filmmaking that attempts to duplicate the look of objective reality as it’s commonly perceived, with emphasis on authentic locations and details, long shots, lengthy takes, and a minimum of distorting techniques.

Question 8

Formalistic

Answer 8

A style of filmmaking in which aesthetic forms take precedence over the subject matter as content. Time and space as ordinarily perceived are often distorted. Emphasis is on the essential, symbolic characteristics of objects and people, not necessarily on their superficial appearance. Formalists are often lyrical, self-consciously heightening their style to call attention to it as a value for its own sake.

Question 9

Convention

Answer 9

An implied agreement between the viewer and artist to accept certain artificialities as real in a work of art. In movies, editing is accepted as “logical” even though a viewer’s perception of reality is continuous and unfragmented. Our sense of history.

Question 10

Flashback

Answer 10

An editing technique that suggests the interruption of the present by a shot or series of shots representing the past.

Question 11

Classical Paradigm

Answer 11

The style of mainstream fiction films produced in America, roughly from the mittens until the late 1960s. The classical paradigm is a movie strong in story, star, and production values, with a high level of technical achievement, and edited according to conventions of classical cutting. The visual style is functional and rarely distracts from the characters in action. Movies in this form are structured narratively, with a clearly defined conflict, complications that intensify to a rising climax, and a resolution that emphasizes formal closure. Basically, based on a conflict between a protagonist and an antagonist.
rising action –> climax –> resolution

Question 12

Shot

Answer 12

Those images that are recorded continuously from the time the camera starts to the time it stops. That is, an unedited strip of film.

Question 13

Take

Answer 13

A variation of a specific shot. The final shot is often selected from a number of possible takes.

Question 14

Rites of Passage

Answer 14

Narratives that focus on key phases of a person’s life, when an individual passes from one stage of development to another, such as adolescence to adulthood.

Question 15

Avant-garde

Answer 15

French for “in the front ranks.” Those minority artists whose works are characterized by an unconventional darling and by obscure, controversial, or highly personal ideas.

Question 16

Cinéma Vérité

Answer 16

A method of documentary filming using aleatory methods that don’t interfere with the way events take place in reality such movies are made with a minimum of equipment, usually a hand-held camera and portable sound apparatus.

Question 17

Suspense

Answer 17

Surprise or a state of excited or anxious uncertainty of what is going to occur.

Question 18

Silent Era

Answer 18

From the beginning of film to the late 1920s. Always had piano, organ, or orchestra accompaniment.

Question 19

Realism vs Formalism

Answer 19

Realism is defined as absence of style, whereas style is a preeminent concern among formalists. Realists reject artifice to portray the material world “transparently,” without distortion or even mediation. Formalists are concerned with fantasy materials or throwaway subject matter to emphasize the world of the imagination, of beauty.

Question 20

Gustav Freytag’s V Structure

Answer 20

Involves a narrative structure that begins with an overt conflict, which is increasingly intensified with a rising action of the following scenes. The battle between the main character and their antagonists reaches its highest pitch on the climax. In the resolution, the strands of the story are tied up and life returns to normal, closing the action.

Question 21

Syd Field’s Three-Act Structure

Answer 21

Act I: Set up
Act II: Confrontation
Act III: Resolution

Question 22

Genres vs Archetypes

Answer 22

Genres are distinguished by a characteristic set of conventions in style, subject matter, and values.
Archetypes are original models after similar things are patterned. They’re known as story patterns, universal experiences, or personality types. A genre is archetypal.

Question 23

Mise en scène

Answer 23

The arrangement of visual weights and movements within a given space. In the live theater, the space is usually defined by the proscenium arch; in movies, it’s defined by the frame that encloses the images. Cinematic mise en scène encompasses both the staging of the action and the way that it’s photographed.
The setting or surroundings of an event or action at the director’s disposal.

Question 24

Motif

Answer 24

Any unobtrusive technique, object, or thematic idea that’s systematically repeated throughout the film.

Question 25

Symbol

Answer 25

A figurative device in which an object, event, or cinematic technique has significance beyond its literal meaning. Symbolism is always determined by the dramatic context.

Question 26

Metaphor

Answer 26

An implied comparison between two otherwise unlike elements, meaningful in a figurative rather than literal sense.

Question 27

Allegory

Answer 27

A symbolic technique in which stylized characters and situations represent rather obvious ideas, such as justice, death, religion, society, and so on.

Question 28

Allusion

Answer 28

A reference to an event, person, or work of art, usually well-known.

Question 29

Homage

Answer 29

A direct or indirect reference within a movie to another movie, filmmaker, or cinematic style. A respectful and affectionate tribute.

Question 30

First Person Narrator

Answer 30

Tells his or her own story. In some cases, he or she is an objective observer who can be relied on to relate the events accurately.

Question 31

Point-of-view Shot

Answer 31

Any shot that is taken from the vantage point of a character in the film, showing what the character sees.

Question 32

Loose Adaptation

Answer 32

A movie based on another medium in which only a superficial resemblance exists between the two versions.

Question 33

Faithful Adaptation

Answer 33

A film based on a literary original that captures the essence of the original, often by using cinematic equivalents for specific literary techniques.

Question 34

Literary Adaptation

Answer 34

A movie based on a stage play, in which the dialogue and actions are preserved more or less in tact.

Question 35

Classical Hollywood Narrative

Answer 35

Prevalent in 1930s-1950s, and still today. The plot features a clear, mainline action (with subordinate subplots), marked by a main character’s pursuit of a goal, in which the story events are chained in tight causal relationships. The conclusion cleanly resolves all major story issues.

Question 36

Written Script vs Mise en scène

Answer 36

Written movie scripts rarely make for interesting reading, precisely because they are like blueprints of the finished product. Even highly detailed scripts rarely offer us a sense of a film’s mise en scène. The choice between a close-up and a long-shot may quite often transcend the plot.

Question 37

Issues in Literary Adaptations

Answer 37

The real problem of the adapter is not how to reproduce the content of a literary work, but how close he or she should remain to the raw data of the subject matter.

Question 38

Figurative Techniques

Answer 38

An artistic device that suggests abstract ideas through comparison, either implied or overt. The most common techniques are motifs, symbols, and metaphors. In actual practice, there’s a considerable amount of overlapping between these terms. All of them are “symbolic” in the sense that an object or event means something beyond its literal significance.

Question 39

Ideology

Answer 39

A body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture. A set of values that are implicit in any human enterprise - including filmmaking.

Question 40

Implicit Ideology

Answer 40

The protagonists and antagonists represent conflicting value systems, but these are not dwelled on. We must infer what the characters stand for as their tale unfolds. Nobody spells out “the moral of the story.” The materials are slanted in a particular direction, but transparently, without obvious manipulation.

Question 41

Explicit Ideology

Answer 41

Thematically oriented movies aim to teach or persuade as much as to entertain. Patriotic films, for example, fall under this category. Usually an admirable character articulate the values that are really important.

Question 42

Persona

Answer 42

From the latin, “mask.” An actor’s public image, based on his or her previous roles, and often incorporating elements from their actual personalities as well.

Question 43

Right-Wing

Answer 43

A set of ideological values, typically conservative in emphasis, stressing such traits as family values, patriarchy, heredity and caste, absolute moral and ethical standards, religion, veneration for tradition and the past, a tendency to be pessimistic about the future and human nature, the need for competition, an identification with leaders and elite classes, nationalism, open-market economic principals, and marital monogamy.

Question 44

Left-Wing

Answer 44

A set of ideological values, typically liberal in emphasis, stressing such traits as equality, the importance of environment in determining human behavior, relativism in moral matters, emphasis on the secular rather than the religion, an optimistic view of the future and human nature, a belief in technology as the main propellant of progress, cooperation rather than competition, an identification with the poor and the oppressed, internationalism, and sexual and reproductive freedom.

Question 45

Epic

Answer 45

A film genre characterized by bold and sweeping themes, usually in heroic proportions. The protagonist is an ideal representative of a culture-national, religious, or regional. The tone of most epics is dignified, the treatment larger than life. The western is the most popular epic genre in the US.

Question 46

Centrist

Answer 46

A political term signifying a moderate ideology, midway between the extremes of the left and the right wings.

Question 47

Marxist

Answer 47

An ideological term used to describe any person or film that is biased in favor of left-wing values, particularly in their more extreme form.

Question 48

Women’s Pictures

Answer 48

A film genre that focuses on the problems of women, such as career versus family conflicts. Often, such films feature a popular female star a protagonist.

Question 49

Subtext

Answer 49

A term used in drama and film to signify the dramatic implications beneath the language of a play or movie. Often, the subtext concerns ideas and emotions that are totally independent of the language of a text.

Question 50

Buddy Films

Answer 50

A male-oriented action genre, especially popular in the 1970s, dealing with the adventure of two or more men, usually excluding any significant female roles.

Question 51

Camp Sensibility

Answer 51

An artistic sensibility typified by comic mockery, especially of the straight world and conventional morality. Campy movies are often ludicrously theatrical, stylistically gaudy, and gleefully subversive.

Question 52

Italian Neorealism

Answer 52

At the end of WWII. A genre that defied studio conventions by filming on the streets, using nonprofessional od semi-professional actors to define a working class ruined by the war.

Question 53

Screwball Comedy

Answer 53

Big in the 1930s. Both members of a romantic-often married-couple carry equal weight with dialogue of wit, strength and self-possession.