mrts 1320 midterm Flashcards
Which definition of editing accurately describes film editing as one of the defining characteristics that distinguish movies from other art forms?
the joining together of shots to control what the viewer sees in a movie and how the viewer sees it
Today’s movies represent not the work of a single artist but a collaboration between a group of creative contributors. In this collaboration, the director’s role is basically that of _____________.
coordinating lead artist
Noninteractive movie-like scenes in video games are known as _____________.
cut scenes
Which of the following characterizes a virtual reality experience as being distinct from a movie experience?
an experience requiring a special headset
Because most movies seek to engage viewers’ emotions and transport them inside the world that is presented on-screen, the visual vocabulary of film is designed to
play on the same instincts that we use to navigate and interpret the visual and aural information of our “real life.”`
As opposed to “film” or “cinema,” the term “movies” is applied to
motion pictures that entertain the masses at the multiplex.
Almost all ubiquitous commercial, feature-length movies share the same basic and important element of
narrative
The essential quality that separates movies from all other two-dimensional pictorial art forms is
movement.
A shot is best defined as
an unbroken span of action captured by an uninterrupted run of a motion-picture camera.
One of the unique properties of movies that distinguishes it from any other visual medium is its capacity to
isolate details and juxtapose images within and between shots.
Techniques such as fade-outs/fade-ins and low-angle shots communicate meaning by
drawing on the way in which we automatically interpret visual information in our real lives.
In order to exploit cinema’s capacity for transporting audiences into the world of the story, the commercial filmmaking process stresses
a polished continuity of lighting, performance, costume, makeup, and movement.
In regard to viewers’ shared belief systems, how can movies deemed “controversial” or “provocative” be popular with audiences?
by triggering emotional responses from viewers that reinforce yearnings that lie deep within
Why is cultural invisibility not always a calculated decision on the part of filmmakers?
because they are products of the same society inhabited by their intended audience
Juno adheres to cultural invisibility by
championing a protagonist who rejects convention yet ultimately upholds the traditional institutions she seemingly scorns
Implicit meaning is best defined as ________, while explicit meaning is best defined as ________.
a deep-level association, connection, or inference; meaning available on the surface of the movie
One way of thinking about implicit meaning is understanding it as a movie’s
overall message or a “point.”
In order to possess validity, the interpretation of a movie needs to be
grounded in the explicitly presented details of the surface story.
A movie is a coordinated synthesis of performance, composition, sound, and editing that creates meaning to tell a story. When we analyze this synthesis we are analyzing a film’s _____________.
form
Three fundamental principles of film form are ___________.
light, illusion of movement, and manipulated space and time
In a process known as mediation, viewers identify with __________ as filmmakers use the camera to make meaning.
the lens
Form describes ____________, while content describes ___________.
The means of expression, the subject of a movie
Each image in long strips of celluloid film is known as a ____________.
frame
The careful manipulation of lighting by film artists and technicians to create mood, reveal character, and convey meaning takes place in what film about the dust bowl during the Great Depression of the 1930s?
The Grapes of Wrath (1940
The ability of Charlie Chaplin to create suspense by editing together individual outdoor shots and indoor studio shots for his “cabin on the edge of a cliff” scene is a process known as ___________ .
mediation
The manipulation of time and space is handled with great irony, cinematic power, and emotional impact in which film’s famous “baptism and murder” scene?
The Godfather (1972)
What cinematic technique of manipulating time does John Woo use in The Killer (1989) to choreograph his fight scenes?
repetition of action
Art historian and film theorist Erwin Panofsky emphasizes the principle of “co-expressibility” when it comes to time and space on the movie screen. He speaks of the dynamization of space and the ___________ of time.
spatialization
The three major types of movies are _____________
narrative, experimental, documentary
Documentary filmmaking, which uses actual people, places, and events as source material, is described by John Grierson as _____________.
a creative treatment of actuality
Which of the following distinguishes narrative films from other kinds of movies?
Narrative films are directed toward fiction
Nanook of the North (1922), which presents people and places in a straightforward manner, is an example of _____________.
a factual documentary
The founding purpose of the persuasive documentary was to _____________.
address social injustice
An observational documentary generally does which of the following?
limits the use of voice-over narration; eliminates as many signs of mediation as possible
Which of the following persuasive documentaries chronicles the history of the U.S. prison and justice system as a systemized form of slavery?
13th (2016
Documentaries that explore - and sometimes critique - the documentary form itself are known as _____________ documentaries.
reflexive
True or False: A true documentary will always include interviews from actual subjects
False
As the writers of the textbook explain, “Footage that documents subjects (the people the documentary is about) in action and events as they unfold is called ______________ .
b-roll
Experimental films frequently reflect the creative vision of a single artist. These films _____________.
invite individual interpretation
What are the three basic types of animation
hand-drawn, stop-motion, and computer animation
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) was the work of which director, considered to be the first major American experimental filmmaker?
Maya Deren
“Storytelling is storytelling no matter what your medium is. And the language of film is also the same. You’re still using close ups and medium shots and long shots. You’re still trying to introduce the audience to a character and get them to care.” What is director Brad Bird referring to in this quote?
animation
Identify the genre: the American Dream, 1929 stock market crash, and immigrant communities
Gangster
What is NOT one of the genre conventions identified in the textbook?
Budget
Identify the genre: antiheroes, femme fatales, and non-chronological plots
Film noir
Which genre did NOT originate from literature?
Musical
Identify the genre: Manifest Destiny, civilization and the wilderness, and rugged individualism
Western
What is a genre that is uniquely cinematic? (It doesn’t really have much of a precedent in theater and literature.)
Gangster
Identify the genre: normality is threatened by the other, death, and insanity
Horror
Paul Schrader argues that __________ is not really a genre at all; it’s more accurately understood as a film “style.”
Film noir
A lot of noir films had been adapted from pulp fiction published during the 1930s, books that reflected a fatalistic, cynical attitude toward America during the Great Depression. Why did it take so long (mid-1940s) for noir films to appear, then?
During WWII, Hollywood was focused on producing positive, escapist fare to attract audiences
With its formatting standards, a screenplay that is 90 pages will generally result in a film that has a running time of _________ minutes.
90
Omniscient narration offers __________ access to the narrative of a film.
unrestricted
Which of the following statements about round characters is NOT true?
Round characters generally exhibit predictable behavior
A character who interrupts the narrative to speak to the audience watching the film, thus breaking the “fourth wall” that separates the viewer from the two-dimensional fiction on-screen, is delivering _____________.
direct address narration
In the textbook, “seemingly unsympathetic protagonists chasing less than noble goals are sometimes called________________.”
antiheroes
The writers of the textbook assert that “virtually every film narrative depends on two essential elements”: a character and ___________.
the pursuit of a goal
Complete the sentence in the most sensible (and textbook) way: “the _____________ delivers the _____________ that conveys the ______________.”
narrator, narration, narrative
What is it called when we hear a character’s voice over the picture without actually seeing the character speak the words?
voice-over narration
True or False: The camera is the primary narrator (storyteller) in every film.
True
Which of the following statements about mise-en-scène is NOT true?
Mise-en-scène has two visual components: lighting and movement.
The organization, distribution, balance, movement, and general relationship of objects and figures within the space of a shot is called _____________.
composition
Which of the following statements about the production designer is NOT true?
The production designer is hired relatively late in the production process.
What are the major elements of cinematic design?
setting, decor, properties, costuming, makeup, hairstyle
The predetermined movement of actors that is planned according to the needs of the story is called _____________.
blocking
What is the rule of thirds?
a framing convention that divides the frame into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections
True or False: Some of the departments the production designer supervises include carpentry, properties, and transportation.
True
According to the textbook, “breaking the rule of thirds can create _______________. This intentional imbalance can communicate many levels of meaning.”
compositional stress
According to the textbook, “_______________ emphasizes depth by placing significant visual and narrative information on two or more of the three planes of depth–foreground, middle ground, and background …”
deep-space composition
True or False: The production designer is only responsible for what moves in front of the camera. The production designer doesn’t need to consider how the camera itself will move.
False
