Quiz 4

Question 1

narration

Answer 1

The act of telling the story of the film. The primary source of a movie’s narration is the camera, which narrates the story by showing us the events of the narrative on-screen. When the word ‘narration’ is used to refer more narrowly to spoken narration, the reference is to commentary spoken by either an offscreen or on-screen voice. When that commentary is not spoken by one of the characters in the movie, it is omniscient. When spoken by a character within the movie, the commentary is first-person narration.

Question 2

Narrator

Answer 2

Who or what tells the story of a film. The primary narrator in cinema is the camera, which narrates the film by showing us events in the movie’s narrative. When referring to the more specific action of voice-narration, the narrator may be either a character in the movie (a first-person narrator) or a person who is not a character (an omniscient narrator).

Question 3

First-person-narration

Answer 3

Narration by an actual character in the movie.

Question 4

Voice-over narration

Answer 4

Narration heard concurrently and over a scene but not synchronized to any character who may be talking on the screen. It can come from many sources, including a third person (who is not a character) bringing us up-to-date, a first-person narrator commenting on the action, or, in a nonfiction film, a commentator.

Question 5

Direct address

Answer 5

A form of narration in which an on-screen character looks and speaks directly to the audience.

Question 6

Third-person narration

Answer 6

Narration delivered from outside of the diegesis by a narrator who is not a character in the movie.

Question 7

Omniscient

Answer 7

Providing a third-person view of all aspects of a movie’s action or characters.

Question 8

Restricted

Answer 8

Providing a view from the perspective of a single character. For example, restricted narration reveals information to the audience only as a specific character learns of it.

Question 9

Narrative film

Answer 9

Also known as fiction film. A movie that tells a story – with characters, places, and events – that is conceived in the mind of the film’s creator. Stories in narrative films may be wholly imaginary or based on true occurrences, and they may be realistic, unrealistic, or both.

Question 10

Character

Answer 10

An essential element of film narrative; any of the beings who play functional roles within the plot, either acting or being acted on. Characters can be flat or round; major, minor, or marginal; protagonists or antagonists.

Question 11

Goal

Answer 11

a narratively significant objective pursued by the protagonist

Question 12

Round character

Answer 12

A complex character possessing numerous, subtle, repressed, or contradictory traits. Round characters often develop over the course of a story.

Question 13

Flat character

Answer 13

A relatively uncomplicated character exhibiting few distinct traits. Flat characters do not change significantly as the story progresses.

Question 14

Anti-hero

Answer 14

An outwardly unsympathetic protagonist pursuing a morally objectionable or otherwise undesirable goal.

Question 15

Obstacles

Answer 15

Events, circumstances, and actions that impede a protagonist’s pursuit of the goal. Obstacles often originate from an antagonist and are central to a narrative conflict.

Question 16

Setting

Answer 16

A time and space in which a story takes place

Question 17

Familiar image

Answer 17

Any image that a director periodically repeats in a movie (with or without variations) to help stabilize the narrative.

Question 18

Repetition

Answer 18

The number of times that a story element recurs in a plot. Repetition signals that a particular event has noteworthy meaning or significance.

Question 19

Suspense

Answer 19

The anxiety brought on by partial uncertainty: the end is certain, but the means are not.

Question 20

Surprise

Answer 20

A taking unawares that is potentially shocking.

Question 21

Cinematic time

Answer 21

The passage of time within a movie, as conveyed and manipulated by editing.

Question 22

Stretch relationship

Answer 22

A time relationship in which screen duration is longer than plot duration.

Question 23

Real time

Answer 23

The actual time during which something takes place. In real time, screen duration and plot duration are exactly the same. Many directors use real time within films to create uninterrupted ‘reality’ on the screen, but they rarely use it for entire films.

Question 24

Summary relationship

Answer 24

A time relationship in which screen duration is shorter than plot duration.

Question 25

Screen duration

Answer 25

The amount of time that it has taken to present the movie’s plot on-screen, i.e., the movie’s running time.

Question 26

Plot duration

Answer 26

The elapsed time of the events within a story that a film chooses to tell.

Question 27

Story duration

Answer 27

The amount of time that the entire narrative arc of a movie’s story -
whether explicitly presented on-screen or not – is implied to have taken to occur.

Question 28

Backstory

Answer 28

A fictional history behind the cinematic narrative that is presented onscreen. Elements of the backstory can be hinted at in a movie, presented through narration, or not revealed at all.

Question 29

Nondiegetic element

Answer 29

Something that we see and hear on the screen that comes from outside the world of the story (including background music, titles and credits, and voice-over narration).

Question 30

Plot

Answer 30

The specific actions and events that the filmmakers select and the order in which they arrange those events and actions to effectively convey on-screen the movie’s narrative to a viewer.

Question 31

Diegetic element

Answer 31

An element – event, character, object, setting, sound – that helps form the world in which the story occurs

Question 32

Diegesis

Answer 32

The total world of a story – the events, characters, objects, settings, and sounds that form the world in which the story occurs.

Question 33

Story

Answer 33

In a movie, all the events we see or hear on the screen, and all the events that are implicit or that we infer to have happened but that are not explicitly presented.

Question 34

Resolution

Answer 34

The concluding narrative events that follow the climax and celebrate or otherwise reflect upon story outcomes.

Question 35

Climax

Answer 35

The highest point of conflict in a conventional narrative; the protagonist’s ultimate attempt to attain the goal.

Question 36

Crisis

Answer 36

A critical turning point in a story in which the protagonist must engage a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Question 37

Rising action

Answer 37

The development of the action of the narrative toward a climax.

Question 38

Stakes

Answer 38

In a conventional narrative, that which is at risk as a consequence of the protagonist’s pursuit of the goal.

Question 39

Antagonist

Answer 39

The character, creature, or force that obstructs or resists the protagonist’s pursuit of their goal.

Question 40

Catalyst

Answer 40

The event or situation during the exposition stage of the narrative that sets the rest of the narrative in motion. Also known as the inciting incident.

Question 41

Normal world

Answer 41

In a narrative screenplay, the state of the character and setting before the inciting incident.