final Flashcards
Who was Joseph Campbell?
A cultural anthropologist, a college professor at Sarah Lawrence College, and researcher on comparative mythology. Studied different cultures and how myths are common among all cultures.
Where is the first evidence of story telling?
cave paintings, first sign of humans documenting and archiving information.
Define Archetype.
An original model or type after which similar things are patterned. Well-known story patterns, universal experiences, or personality types. Myths, fairy tales, genres, and cultural heroes are generally archetypal. Depict shared cultural experiences.
Define Formalism.
style of filmmaking in which aesthetic forms take precedence over the subject matter as content. Time and space are often distorted. Emphasis on essential, symbolic characteristics of objects and people, not their superficial appearance. Often lyrical, self-consciously heightening style to call attention to it as a value for its own sake.
Who were the three philosophers of antiquity that contributed to Western culture?
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.
Define Realism.
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. Maintain illusion that film world is an unmanipulated mirror of real life, emphasis on content over form, simplicity, spontaneity, and directness.
Explain what Joseph Campbell means by The Hero’s Journey.
A series of specific external trials that results in the psychological transformation of a character/hero. Character experiences an initial personal crisis that starts the journey with goal of solving this crisis, leading to a change in the Hero’s consciousness. Departure, fufillment, and return. External trails change internal perspective. Can be related to all humans and used as a way to guide viewers and teach morality and self-awareness.
Name the six mediums of Mass Communications.
Film, Television, Radio, Digital Technology, Print, Religion
Which side of the brain is used for processing visual data?
The right side
How many hours of TV does the average American watch per year?
1,666 hours
What country hosted the first paid public screening?
France
What are the two schools of thought in early filmmaking?
ethnographic (Lumiere- documentary) and narrative (Melies)
Define Culture.
Everything in a society.
Which film did D.W. Griffith direct that fueled racism?
Birth of a Nation
What editing technique is employed in The Great Train Robbery?
Elliptical and Parallel editing
Define Metaphor.
A figurative technique that compares two otherwise unlike things to convey an abstract symbolic message. Makes more sense figuratively rather than literally and helps audiences understand more complex ideas and themes.
Define Neo-realism.
A style of film, form of realism created by the Italians that uses standard techniques of realism such as real set location, non-professional actors, natural lighting, and an absence of extraordinary events and characters. Emphasizes documentary aspects of film art. Focuses on social injustices highlighting humanistic and democratic ideals to challenge the current repressive nature of their government.
Define Surrealism.
Style of film, type of avant-garde film produced by the French that focuses on Marxist and Freudian ideas reflecting subconscious elements, irrationalism and symbolic association of ideas. Idea is to replicate subconscious state of mind with intense provocative imagery.
Who was the famous female lead in The New York Hat?
Mary Pickford
A Narrative Film is what kind of film?
A film that tells a story. Fiction film that tells a story using standard narrative techniques such as linear cause and effect scene sequencing with clear thematic links and a clear protagonist who faces a conflict and finds resolution by the end.
Explain the “Phi Phenomena”.
A psychological process that plays on the persistence of vision by using rapid alternating succession of color frames and dark frames to give the illusion of motion.
Who shot Man With a Movie Camera?
Dizia Vertov
Is Charlie Chaplin a Formalist or Realist?
Formalist
What are the Seven Story Components of a screenplay?
Status Quo, Crisis Situation, Plot Point 1, Body, Plot Point 2, Climax, Resolution.
Define Classicism.
An intermediate style of film that avoids the extreme qualities of formalism and realism with a slightly stylized presentation that has some plausibility in reality. Films are story-oriented with images relevant to story and characters rather than beauty or authenticity.
On which end of the “Classification Chart” does documentary reside?
Realism
Who said “form should always be the embodiment of content”?
Laszlo Kovacs
Which country and who was known for their/his advances in editing?
Russia, Dizia Vertov
What film company did Chaplin form with Mary Pickford?
United Artists
Explain Genre Film.
A film that is categorized or subcategorized by familiar themes that the audience expects as predictable based on components such as plot, theme, form, and content.
Who perfected the Screwball Comedy?
Preston Sturges
Define Mise-en-Scene.
French for placing on stage. Arrangement of all visual elements and movements within a given space. Encompasses how action, objects, and figures are staged and photographed.
What genera evolved from the Gangster Film?
Film Noir
What modern TV staple did the Screw Ball comedy portend?
modern sitcom
Name five of the fifteen elements of Mise-en-Scene.
Dominant, Shot and Camera Proxemics, Form, Framing, and Composition
Which director is Preston Sturges mocking in his films?
Frank Capra
Name three attributes of the Screwball Comedy.
Domestication of the outcast oddball man and woman, courtship rights between these two, and socioeconomic class differences.
Screwball Comedy is an antidote for what other genera?
Film noir
Explain the difference between open and closed forms in film?
Open-depict reality in stylistically unobtrusive manner with informal compositions and haphazard designs, frame suggests a continuous space using temporary masking to cut off action. (spontaneity, randomness of real life) Closed- high degree of stylization, self-conscious designs, carefully balanced compositions with a frame that suggests a self-sufficient universe where all necessary info is enclosed. (artificial reality, emphasize aesthetic pleasure)
What is meant by rupturing the narrative?
When the director brings attention to aspects of the film making process and pulls the viewer out of the watching experience.
What genera followed the Hardboiled Detective genera?
Film noir/ American Expressionism
Name five ways of distorting movement.
Animation, Fast-Motion, Slow-Motion, Reverse Motion, Freeze Frame
What is a swish pan?
Variation of the pan shot and used for transitions. When the camera moves horizontally or whirls at such a rapid rate that the subject matter blurs on screen.
What film ushered in American Expressionism?
Double Indemnity
Define the term Film Noir.
The urban American genre that sprang to popularity after WWII and emphasizes existential and Freudian psychology depicting a fatalistic, despairing universe. Stylistically places importance on graphic visuals and mise-en-scene with low-key and high contrast lighting, complex compositions, and a strong atmosphere of dread and paranoia.
Film Noir is the merge of what two generas?
gangster films and hard-boiled detective films
Explain Juxtaposition.
When two or more images are placed side by side that separately have individual unique meanings, but when placed together convey a new third meaning or message.
Name the seven basic moving camera shots.
Pan, Tilts, Dolly Shots, Handheld Shots, Cran Shots, Zoom Shots, and Ariel Shots.
What is meant by “femme fatal”?
the villainous female who leads the action or crime in a dominant role. She is very manipulative, especially sexually and men are both attracted to and repelled by her and her manipulations.
In what country did Expressionism originate?
Germany
Define Neo-Realism.
Italian film movement popularized in 1945 after WWII that stresses realistic techniques utilizing documentary-like qualities such as loose episodic plots, natural lighting, real set locations, nonprofessional actors, un-extraordinary events and characters and focuses on democratic and humanistic ideals depicting the poverty and social problems of the individual.
Thematic editing is also known as what?
Thematic Montage
Which British director is known for his editing style?
Alfred Hitchcock
Which film became the hallmark for Pre Melodramas?
The Bicycle Thief
Name one quality that makes The Bicycle Thief unique.
use of non-professional actors
Describe the term Dialectical.
An analytical methodology derived from Hegel and Marx that juxtaposes pairs of opposites to arrive at a synthesis of ideas.
The Bicycle Thief is an example of realism but it is also an example of what?
Formalism, it is a hybrid of the genre
What was the New Wave?
A movement developed by a group of young French directors that rejected traditional film conventions and promoted radical experimentation with visual and editing styles as well as narrative techniques. Emphasized form over content and that subject material should dictate what techniques a director uses rather than societal or industry expectations. (Developed Auteur Theory)
In what country did Neo-Realism originate?
Italy
What year did Neo-Realism begin?
1945
In consideration of film sound “silence” symbolizes what?
death, also can represent a sense of some impending action to fill the vacuum.
Define diagetic and non-diagetic sounds.
Diagetic- sounds the characters can hear that have a source within the scene. Non-Diagetic- sounds the characters can not hear with no source in the scene, only audience can hear them.
Do formalists like sync-sound?
No, they felt it would destroy the flexibility of editing techniques and visual manipulations they grew fond of using due to limited actor and camera movements. (No stylized editing or manipulations could be used)
Explain A.D.R.
Additional Dialogue Replacement- removes badly recorded located sound and allows actors to rerecord their voices in the studio and fix sound in the editing room.
What did the Musical come from?
Vaudeville Theater
What is the first sound film?
The Jazz Singer
What happens to the central character in most musicals?
The man falls in love and accepts his role as domestic partner.
What does self-reflexive mean?
A movie that calls attention to the backstage mechanisms involved in the film’s production/movie-making process. A film about making a film.
Explain why Singing in the Rain is self-reflexive.
It is a musical about making a musical. Calls attention to several backstage elements involved in the making of musicals such as a voice-over session, the wiring of actors and studios to compliment the advent of sound, shows sets and studios, and even depicts the live filming of actors acting.
What studio produced the most musicals?
MGM
The Western Hero is always in conflict with what?
Himself, his identity/his place in the evolving world
Does The Searchers support a politically Liberal or Conservative P.O.V.?
Conservative
What kind of justice is empowered in the film? (The Searchers)
Frontier Justice
Define expressionistic acting.
Associated with German cinema, dictated more by director than actor. Strips actor of their individuality and stresses symbolic concepts around characters rather than believable 3-dimensional personalities. Presentational in style, emphasizes extremes and a stylized thematic essence.
What human conditions are in conflict in the Western?
civilization vs savagery
Westerns usually chronicle the years after what?
after the Civil War
Explain Cinema Verite.
A documentary-style of filmmaking that uses aleatory techniques that do not interfere with the way events take place in reality. Minimum of equipment- handheld camera and portable sound apparatus.
The Western Hero is modeled after what religious personality?
Jesus Christ
Name the four classifications of film acting.
Extras, Non-Professional Performers, Trained Professionals, and Stars
What is the difference between film and stage acting?
Time and space. Stage Actors- over-exaggerated physical features, facial expressions, gestures and actions to communicate to a large-scale audience. Live, no room for error or retakes, intense rehearsals. Film Actors- more nuanced, restrained facial expressions and gestures to express emotions clearly at a closer range with emphasis on emotional complexity and clarity rather than visibility. Not live, editing allows mistakes and even line-delivery.
Who directed Twelve Angry Men and is he a Hollywood director or a New York director?
Sydney Lumet, New York Director
Indicate the scenes in which status quo, crisis situation…….
dont need to know
Why did the director of Twelve Angry Men choose black and white film?
metaphorically represents the stubbornness of the jurors and their black and white perspective of a situation that requires a more inclusive, objective perspective. The justice system is not meant to be so black and white.
Explain the Auteur Theory.
Form of film analysis/critique developed by French New Wave filmmakers that gives full creative authorship to the director and deconstructs films from a more psychological perspective.
Does Twelve Angry Men support a politically Liberal or Conservative P.O.V.?
Liberal
Twelve Angry Men began what movement in film production?
Independant Film Movement
What is the job of the Art Director?
They are responsible for designing and overseeing the construction of film sets and sometimes their interior decoration and overall visual style.
Twelve Angry Men is what type of Drama?
Courtroom Drama
Film is a medium for whom?
the people, created by the director to educate and inform the public
Which famous actor leads the cast in Twelve Angry Men?
Henry Fonda
What genre was invented and what “age” ends with the release of Psycho?
psychological thriller, end of Victorian Age
Name the music composer of Psycho and his style of composition.
Bernard Herman, style was over-score: mood treatment based, aimed at depicting internal emotions of characters
In terms of story explain some of the components of a Realistic Narrative.
Author is invisible, events speak for themselves and unfold naturally in a chronological sequence. Expose execution, objective unbiased perspective, anti-sentimental, focus on understatement and de-dramatization.
In terms of story explain some of the components of a Formalistic Narrative.
Overtly manipulative author, chronology is scrambled and events heightened to maximize main concern which is usually a thematic idea. Subjective, artificial, focus on design and aesthetics
In terms of story explain some of the components of a Classical Narrative.
Discrete author, has hand in shaping material but not obviously present. Main concern is conflict between protagonist and antagonist, follows 3 Act formula with conflict rising in intensity into climax than deescalating into resolution. Dramatic unity, plausible motivations, linear cause and effect scenes.
Explain Narratology.
Study of how stories work and how we make sense of their raw materials. Studies narrative structures, storytelling strategies, genres, aesthetic conventions and their symbolic implications.
Name the three classifications of motion pictures.
fiction, documentary, avant-garde
Explain Avant-Garde film.
A style of film that does not utilize a plot and instead is structured around a filmmaker’s own personal and subjective ideas. Obscure, controversial, unconventional, and highly personal with filmmaker’s own language and symbology.
Aristotle would say that a film story must contain what “Two Components”?
Mimesis- showing
Diegesis- telling
What is the overriding motif in Psycho?
Sex and Death
Explain the difference between Allegory and Allusion.
Allegory- uses stylized characters to represent obvious broad concepts (Death, Justice)
Allusion- references to well-known people, places, events, or works of art
(Allegory is a symbolic representation and allusion is a reference to real life)
Name the three Figurative Comparisons.
Motif, Symbol, Metaphor
Cite an example of a metaphor in In the Heat of the Night.
marble cake- represents racial integration, Sam’s denial of it represents his racist viewpoint
Name the three types of literary adaptations.
Loose, Literal, Faithful
Name several reasons why In the Heat of the Night is a unique film for its time.
Does not blame racism on one party- all characters including Virgil show a level of prejudice.
Comments on social change without being a call to arms-social change depicted more as an audit.
One of the first times black actor plays an assimilated character using logic and intellect to right racism rather than violence.
Are novelists successful in adapting their works to film?
No, because novelists don’t understand the difference in mediums. Film communicates visually, literature communicates via words.
Regarding African Americans in Cinema what as Sidney Poitier?
He was attributed with bringing black cinema to the mainstream and freeing cultural stigma around race by being one of the first to move from transitional roles to assimilated roles, promoting a new self-sufficient, independent image of the black man.
Explain the difference between First Person and Omniscient Point of View.
First Person- story told from only one character’s perspective, info can be limited and biased.
Omniscient- story told from all-knowing, detached narrator who can enter the minds of all characters, info is more objective, unbiased and all inclusive.
What did Classic Black Cinema evolve into during the late 1960’s?
Blaxploitation
What is the Train in The Heat of the Night symbolic of?
Justice- Mr. Tibbs refuses to leave till murder is accurately solved and when Sherif is forced to confront his wrongs we hear the train whistle in the background.
or
Forward progression- evolving from racism and learning to take on more appropriate cultural values
Who was a pioneer in creating experimental cinema?
Hans Richter, the Germans
Explain some of the components of the “Camp Sensibility”.
style in film, comic mockery utilizing anything bizarre and outrageous. Artistic excess promoting anything artificial, kitschy, and florid. Uses theatrical metaphors, gaudy sets and costumes, and anything overdone or in “bad” taste. Associated with male homosexuality.
What does the film title “Koyannisqatsi” mean?
“Life out of balance” or “A call to a new order of things”
Cite at least two visual metaphors in Koyannisqatsi.
Rows of hot dogs going through processing machines followed by image of rows of humans speeding up escalators- we are all products of the world of consumerism
Inside of computer/data chip juxtaposed with zoomed out image of city layouts- we are so attached to tech that we have come to embody/mirror it.
Name the 4 central collaborators who created Koyannisqatsi and who was the most important in creating the emotional content?
Godfrey Reggio, Francis Ford Coppola, Ron Fricke, and Philip Glass
Philip Glass was most important to creating emotional content with his music score.
What kind of film is considered “Vertical” and what is considered “Horizontal”?
Vertical- Avant-Garde/Abstract/Experimental: investigates the layers and depth of emotion in a situation, focus on “why” rather than action
Horizontal- Narrative/Fiction: linear cause and effect scene sequencing built around action, focus on “what” with no time to explore “why”, forward moving
Explain the difference between neutral, implicit, and explicit.
Neutral- little or no ideological slant, emphasis on action, entertainment, and pleasure with little attention to right and wrong.
Implicit- ideological perspective present but not obviously depicted, characters, action, and dialogue are more representational, morality is not spelled out directly, viewer must infer what the perspective is.
Explicit- obvious depiction and promotion of particular ideology, admirable characters used to overtly articulate beliefs and values to appeal to viewers’ sympathies and rally their support. Propagandistic in nature
Explain tone in film. What do we mean by the “tone of a film”?
Refers to a film’s emotional content. Manner of presentation and the general atmosphere (emotion and perspective) of a film, created by filmmaker based on their attitudes towards the dramatic material. Shapes our response and understanding of certain values.
Abstract Cinema can be qualified as _______ and or _______?
Experimental, avant-garde, vertical
In the film Koyannisqatsi, what purpose does the filmmaker have for allowing shots to run long?
Allow more time for contemplation and thinking about what the image is trying to communicate and why. Promotes deeper, more critical, speculative thought about images.
What is meant by documentary posing as a narrative?
A documentary film that also follows the conventions of a narrative by taking on expository elements such as story, plot, and emotional appeals. Resembles a narrative in story structure, pace, set-up, and inclusion of a script.
What interview technique did the director use in The Thin Blue Line?
Used a two-way mirror with himself and the camera shooting from behind so the interviewee was forced to look directly at themselves while facing the camera/audience, creating a greater sense of intimacy with the viewer.
Explain Semiology.
Form of film analysis/critique that studies how films signify and the symbolic language of cinema by interpreting sings and codes and their hierarchy of counter-imposed meanings.
In reference to early studios what is meant by “Vertically Integrated”?
System in which all three phases of the film industry-production distribution, and exhibition-where controlled by the same corporation, usually a major studio.
Explain Historiography.
Form of film analysis/critique that focuses on the history of cinema and how this impacts the development, structure, and success of a film.
Name the 4 types of Film History.
Aesthetic, Technological, Economic/Industry, and Social
Who were the first documentarians?
The English, Robert Flattery (Inuit Ethnographic study)
Define Ethnographic Cinema.
Form of documentary film that emphasizes an anthropological perspective, using camera to document aspects of a specific culture for academic or research purposes while providing a sense of discovery and exploration of the exotic.
According the the author, what is Eclecticism?
Form of film analysis/critique that takes a pluralistic approach to understanding films, utilizing a combination of multiple forms of analysis based on the discernment of the critic with the intention of providing as much information to the public as possible. Highly subjective as a result.
Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?
Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia
