Exam 1 Study Guide Flashcards
How have movies moved into our lives beyond the tradition movie theater exhibition?
Streaming, cable, satellite, buy online, redbox, record them, watch on TV, phone, or computer
How long were motion pictures popular before they were considered worthy of serious study?
50+ years
Why are movies worthy of serious study, as opposed to being merely entertainment?
They shape the way we view the world around us and our place in that world. Can tell us about the artist, society, or industry that created it.
How does the book differentiate between the terms “film,” “cinema,” and “movies?”
film - a motion picture that critics and scholars consider to be more serious or challenging than the movies
movies - entertain the masses at the multiplex.
cinema - seems reserved for groups of films that are considered works of art
What essential quality separates movies from all other two-dimensional pictorial art forms?
Movement
How is a shot defined?
an unbroken span of action captured by an uninterrupted run of a motion-picture camera
What is the joining together of discrete shots called?
Editing
What is the “invisibility” of meaning in movies?
Cinematic language - how meaning is implied from the way the movie is shot (i.e. a fade-out/fade-in implies the passage of time)
What does a fade-out/fade-in usually convey when used in a narrative film?
the passage of time
What does a low-angle shot usually convey when used in a narrative film?
that the character is important or powerful (we are looking up to them)
When “cutting on action” what does the cut conceal?
The shift from one camera viewpoint to another
What kinds of stories does the film industry usually favor?
stories and themes that reinforce viewers’ shared belief systems
Why is cultural invisibility not always a calculated decision on the part of filmmakers?
Directors, screenwriters, and producers are products of the same
society inhabited by their intended audience that chooses movies based on an unconscious, emotional level. That may make them blind to the implied political, cultural, and ideological messages that help make the movie so appealing.
What is implicit meaning? What is explicit meaning?
implicit meaning - lies below the surface of a movie’s story and presentation, is closest to our every day sense of the word meaning. It is an association, connection, or inference that a viewer makes on the basis of the explicit meanings available on the surface of the movie.
Why do film scholars pay special attention to blockbuster and other popular entertainment?
This satisfying combination of the comfortably predictable and the thrillingly unexpected is the same formula that keeps viewers returning to similarly convention-driven film genres such as horror and science fiction. The stories at the heart of Star Wars are more deeply rooted in our culture than those of any single film genre. The quests led by the series’ chosen ones—first Luke Skywalker, and now Rey—have their narrative origins
in a basic pattern found in the folktales, myths, and religions of multiple cultures.
What elements are included in mise-en-scene?
- lighting
- setting
- props
- costumes
- makeup
How is content defined? How is form defined?
Content - subject of an artwork (what the work is about)
Form - the means by which that subject is expressed and experienced.
When watching a film, narrative expectations make viewers ask questions about ________.
the story’s outcome, questions we will be asking ourselves repeatedly and waiting to have answered over the course of the film.
How do screenwriters organize narrative structure for viewers?
around the viewer’s desire to learn the answers to central questions such as, “Will Dorothy get back to Kansas?” or “Will Frodo destroy the ring?”
What does Hitchcock’s term “MacGuffin” refer to?
an object, document, or secret within a story that is vitally important to the characters, and thus motivates their actions and the conflict, but that turns out to be less significant to the overall narrative than we might at first expect.
How are movie images (technically) made?
Movie images are made when a camera lens focuses light onto either film stock or a digital video sensor.
What is the difference between light and lighting in movies?
- Light is responsible for the image we see on the screen, whether photographed (shot) on film or video or created with a computer.
- Lighting is responsible for significant effects in each shot or scene. It enhances the texture, depth, emotions, and mood of a shot.
How do movies appear to move?
watching a quick succession of still photographs called frames
What is persistence of vision?
When viewing successive images depicting only slight differences from frame to frame at a high enough speed, the brain’s visual systems respond using the same motion detectors used to perceive and translate real motion in our everyday lives
What is the main difference between the camera eye and the human eye?
The camera captures space differently than do the eyes, which have peripheral vision and can only move through space (and time) along with the rest of the body. The camera’s viewpoint is limited only by the edges of the frame. It fragments space into multiple edited images that can jump instantaneously between different angles and positions, looking through variable lenses that present depth and perspective in a number of way
What is a freeze-frame?
a still image is shown on‑screen for a period of time
How is antirealism defined?
speculative and fantastic, uses the viewer’s perceptions of reality as a starting point to expand upon or even purposely subvert
Why can realism be considered a form of illusion?
What is the definition of “verisimilitude?”
the appearance of being true or real p. 54
What is meant by cinematic language?
the accepted systems, methods, or conventions by which the movies
communicate with the viewer
