Critical Approaches to Film Exam Preparation Guide
Course
Introduction
This course offers an in-depth exploration of key critical theories and methodologies used to analyze film. Students will engage with a range of perspectives including formalist, ideological, psychoanalytic, feminist, postcolonial, and queer theories to interpret cinematic texts and contexts. Through close readings of classic, contemporary, and global films, the course encourages the development of analytical skills and a nuanced understanding of how films communicate meaning, reflect cultural values, and influence society. Class discussions and assignments emphasize the relationship between film form, narrative, industry, audience, and cultural identity.
Recommended Textbook
Film A Critical Introduction 3rd Edition by
Maria T. Pramaggiore
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2
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Sample Questions
Q1) Maxim Gorky referred to the world that film transported the viewer to as the "kingdom of ________."
A) dreams
B) thought
C) art
D) shadows
E) imagination
Answer: D
Q2) The film industry has emphasized exciting new technological develop?ments in part because it becomes more and more difficult with each passing year to lure customers into movie theaters.Why?
Answer: We can watch films in the comfort of our homes,with DVDs,Blu-ray discs or streaming video,or catch the latest flick on a computer or cell phone.
Q3) Discuss why Maxim Gorky called the cinema a "kingdom of shadows."
Answer: Because audiences immerse themselves in the lives of fictional characters and story worlds that are created by the artistic combination of color,light and sound.
Q4) In general,what do the study notes accompanying end of chapter essays emphasize?
Answer: Strategies for writing about film
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Chapter 2: An Approach to Film Analysis
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Q1) Which of the following would be an example of an "interpretive claim"?
A) A casual viewer discusses his or her enjoyment of a particular actor's performance.
B) A film critic discusses whether or not a film is "good" or "bad."
C) A film scholar discusses a recurring theme present throughout the film.
D) All of these are interpretive claims.
Answer: C
Q2) If viewers went to see a(n)________ film,they might not expect to see a story at all.
Answer: avant-garde
Q3) Any detail that takes on meaning through repetition is called a ________.
A) motif
B) signifier
C) element
D) pattern
Answer: A
Q4) Documentary films abandon stories in favor of capturing real world events.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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4
Chapter 3: Writing About Film
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Sample Questions
Q1) The writer of a popular review should understand who her readers are and consider their values as she evaluates films.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) The ________ relies heavily on evaluative statements.
A) scene analysis
B) research paper
C) popular review
D) film analysis
Answer: C
Q3) In <i>The Big Heat</i>,gangster moll Debbie and the wife of a corrupt police officer are "sisters under the ________________."
Answer: mink
Q4) Film journals might include evaluative claims,as well as interpretive claims.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Narrative Form
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Russian term ________,or "plot," refers to the selection and ordering of events as they unfold onscreen.
A) <i>syuzhet</i>
B) <i>fabula</i>
C) <i>plodtz</i>
D)<i>potemkin</i>
Q2) Which of the following traditions is most commonly associated with classical narration?
A) art films
B) independent cinema
C) commercial Hollywood cinema
D) non-Western films
Q3) Narrative that limits viewers to a single character's knowledge and understanding of events is known as ________.
A) restricted narration
B) second person
C) third person
D) omniscient
Q4) Identify the two central plotlines,or lines of action,in <i>Stagecoach.</i>
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Chapter 5: Mise en Scène
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Q1) ________ play supporting roles in many films but do not achieve the recognition of lead actors.
A) Extras
B) Character actors
C) Method actors
D) Cameo actors
Q2) The Piano,<i>The 400 Blows</i>,and <i>Black Girl</i> all include scenes taking place at ________.
Q3) In <i>Thelma and Louise</i>,the main characters' decision to drive over the side of the Grand Canyon represents the women's ________.
A) continuing pursuit of independence and freedom
B) inability to cope with modern technology
C) desire to destroy all their ties to material things
D) all of the above
Q4) Briefly (in 1-2 sentences)explain how the two different settings in <i>Full Metal Jacket</i> suggest the breakdown of order.
Q5) Brief appearances in films by well-known actors playing themselves are called ________.
Q6) Name the three attributes that light exhibits.
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Cinematography
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Sample Questions
Q1) ________ refers to the amount of light striking the light-sensitive emulsion layer of film stock.
Q2) A process of recording a very small number of images over a long period of time--such as one frame per minute or per day--is called ________.
Q3) Color film processing became the industry standard ________.
A) because of the stability of Eastmancolor's image quality
B) after WW II
C) because the studios needed to compete with television
D) B and C
Q4) Study this image (to be decided by the instructor). What type of lens is used in this shot? Describe one characteristic of the image that supports your assertion.
Q5) A telephoto lens approximates the vision and perspective of the human eye.
A)True
B)False
Q6) A major difference between Technicolor and Eastmancolor was ________.
A) Eastmancolor combined three filmstocks as opposed to Technicolor's use of two
B) Eastmancolor produced less saturated colors
C) Eastmancolor was more stable
D) all of the above
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Editing
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Sample Questions
Q1) <i>The Seventh Seal</i> superimposes an image of ________ over an image of chessboard to suggest the tenuous quality of life.
Q2) The use of point of view shots in the racetrack scene from Notorious encourages the audience to identify with both Alicia and Devlin,making it clear that both characters are at fault for their failing relationship.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The arrangement of images to depict a unified story time is called ________.
Q4) <i>The Godfather</i> uses montage editing to show that the Mafia justifies its dishonorable activities,such as murder,by linking them to honorable values,such as the importance of family and values.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In <i>Battleship Potemkin</i>,editing emphasizes the brutality of the Tsar's troops by juxtaposing extreme close-ups of the soldiers' grimacing faces with long shots of their anonymous victims.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 8: Sound
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Sample Questions
Q1) Whereas a sound bridge allows a sound to extend beyond a scene,a ________ emphasizes sonic parallels in adjacent scenes. For example,in <i>itizen Kane</i>C,the sound of Charle Kane applauding Susan's musical performance gives way to a crowd applauding at a political rally.
Q2) Sound recorded on location is called ________.
A) dub
B) diegetic
C) non-diegetic
D) direct sound
Q3) The new sound technology of "talking pictures" sacrificed visual inventiveness,placing a higher value on the novelty of hearing actors speak.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A cardinal rule of using sound in film is that sound must always correspond with what's happening on screen.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Identify one example from your textbook or in-class screenings of how music can shape space.
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Chapter 9: Alternatives to Narrative Fiction
Film:Documentary and Avant-garde Films
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Q1) Most films shot before 1907 were short documentaries called ________.
A) <i>actualités</i>
B) realities
C) newsreels
D) narratives
Q2) John Grierson described the documentary mode of filmmaking as ________.
A) "an unflinching glimpse at reality"
B) "the creative treatment of actuality"
C) "the truth behind the apparent"
D) "the objective view on the world"
Q3) Man <i>with a Movie Camera</i> reflects fears about the dangers of the mechanical age.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Films like Michael Snow's <i>Wavelength</i>,which is primarily interested in the material properties of the medium,are called ________ films.
A) compilation
B) structuralist
C) surrealist
D) abstract
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Chapter 10: Film and Ideology
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Q1) A self-reflexive film ________.
A) constantly reminds viewers that they are watching a film
B) allow viewers to be caught up in the world of the narrative
C) enforce only the ideologies that dominate society at large
D) all of these
Q2) Which of the following describes the U.S.Congress's House Committee on Un-American Activities (also known as "HUAC")?
A) It was established in the 1930s to investigate Nazi propaganda.
B) It was concerned with charges that Communist propaganda had infiltrated Hollywood films.
C) It called on many people in the film industry to testify before congress and provide names of acquaintances who may have been involved with the American Communist Party.
D) all of these
Q3) When someone analyzes a film in light of its ideological content,the criteria used may be biased by the critic's own political values.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 11: Social Context and Film Style:National,
International, andTransnational Cinema
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Q1) The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA)was a government-controlled organization which regulated the content of films being produced and distributed by Hollywood.
A)True
B)False
Q2) If "First Cinema" refers to the Hollywood industry and "Second Cinema" refers to the international,author-driven cinema,to what does "Third Cinema" refer?
Q3) In <i>Breathless</i>Breathless,director Jean-Luc Godard uses ________ to visibly interrupt time,even though the song the character is singing remains intact and unaffected on the soundtrack.
A) jump cuts
B) slow-motion
C) fast-motion
D) dissolves
Q4) The term "Third Cinema" loosely refers to cinema movements emerging from Europe's former colonies in Africa,Asia,and Latin America.
A)True
B)False
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Film Stardom As a Cultural Phenomenon
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Q1) Materials intentionally released by a studio in order to market a particular film are called ________.
A) promotion
B) packages
C) word-of-mouth
D) propaganda
Q2) Hollywood generates and maintains interest in stars by ___________________.
A) marketing an actor's biography
B) focusing publicity solely on an actor's performance
C) casting actors in different types of roles to highlight their dramatic range
D) ensuring that the public never links a star to a controversy
Q3) Stars represent a significant portion of a film's overhead costs.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How do recent studies question the economic logic of spending so much money to secure performances from big stars?
Q5) The abolition of lengthy studio contracts helped facilitate a growth in independent pictures.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Genre
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Q1) Using the horror film as an example,explain how a genre might be studied as a culturally responsive artifact.
Q2) Describe how the "monsters" of the horror genre changed during the 1960s .
Q3) How did Alfred Hitchcock upset audience expectations in North By Northwest?
Q4) In a sentence,explain Robert Warshow's argument about the Western's relationship to the status quo.
Q5) When a film radically modifies a genre's conventions,critics refer to it as ________.
A) hybrid
B) nostalgic
C) revisionist
D) complementary
Q6) What is the relationship between rationality and emotions in most science fiction films?
Q7) What role do the conventions of a genre play in its relationship with its audience? Why might a filmmaker choose to stick to those conventions? Why might that filmmaker choose to go against those conventions? How might this effect audience response?
Q8) Genre films share narrative,stylistic,and thematic characteristics called ________.
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Chapter 14: Film Authorship
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Q1) <i>Auteur</i> theory emerged from the culture of ________.
A) post-WWII France
B) wartime Italy
C) pre-WWII Germany
D) post-WWII Great Britain
Q2) ________ would be considered an <i>auteur.</i>
A) John Wayne
B) John Ford
C) Andre Sarris
D) Pauline Kael
Q3) While the notion of the <i>auteur</i> is popular among film critics,industry insiders generally do not acknowledge its importance because it creates no additional commercial appeal for a film.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Peter Wollen argues that the meaning of any text may exceed the intentions of the person or people who created it.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Cinema As Industry: Economics and Technology
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Q1) In a sentence or two,explain how the rise of the multiplex contributed to the rise of the blockbuster.
Q2) Time-Warner earned massive amounts of money from the release of <i>Batman</i> in 1989,not just from box-office revenue,but also from merchandise sold at Time-Warner outlet stores,from the soundtrack album distributed by Time-Warner music,and by selling TV exhibition rights to Time-Warner cable. This demonstrates the advantages of
A) horizontal integration
B) vertical integration
C) outsourcing
D) runaway productions
Q3) What was The Paramount Decree? What effect did it have on the film industry? Is that effect still visible today?
Q4) By the late-1920s,the peak season for film attendance was summer because
A) kids were out of school
B) the advent of daylight savings time
C) theaters were air-conditioned
D) that's when studios released their best work
Page 17
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