Film Analysis Exam Review
Course Introduction
Film Analysis explores the critical methods and theoretical frameworks used to interpret and evaluate films as complex cultural texts. Students will learn to analyze cinematic techniques such as mise-en-scène, cinematography, editing, sound, and narrative structure, gaining insight into how these elements create meaning and emotional impact. Through the examination of diverse genres, directors, and historical contexts, this course fosters deeper appreciation and understanding of the art and craft of filmmaking, while encouraging students to engage thoughtfully with film as both an artistic and social practice.
Recommended Textbook
Film A Critical Introduction 3rd Edition by
Maria T. Pramaggiore
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711 Verified Questions
711 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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.
Q2) Alternative modes of filmmaking and spectatorship,including independent art cinema,experimental films and documentaries,have only come into existence in the last 10-20 years of film history.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) During the late nineteenth century,technological advances in photography established the basis for recording moving images on film.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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) Expectations influence filmmakers' choices and viewers' experiences of films.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Open-ended conclusions or circular narratives often leave audiences with a feeling of closure.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Viewer expectations of a film directed by Woody Allen might include ________.
A) European settings
B) neurotic characters
C) elaborate costuming
D) sparse dialogue
Answer: B
Q4) Ofelia is associated with circles in <i>Pan's Labyrinth</i>
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 3: Writing About Film
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Q1) Many of the gags in <i>Steamboat Bill,Jr.</i>.center on the father's fear that his son is too ________.
A) effeminate
B) snobby
C) masculine
D) obese
Answer: A
Q2) The following might serve as a good thesis because it is a good example of an interpretive claim: "<i>Inception</i> is utterly compelling thanks largely to its unconventional narrative structure,and its dynamic editing."
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) In <i>The Big Heat</i>,gangster's moll Debbie redeems herself by saving Bannion's life.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Narrative Form
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Q1) <i>Slumdog Millionaire</i> relies on ______________ to tell the story of two impoverished boys in India.
A) episodic narration
B) open ending
C) a frame story
D) unconventional characterization
Q2) Details that are part of the story world the characters inhabit are _________________.
A) expository
B) diegetic
C) non-diegetic
D) omniscient
Q3) A narrative is an account of a string of events connected by the logic of cause and effect.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The "exposition" of a film is synonymous with a film's "first act."
A)True
B)False
Q5) 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) Which is NOT an attribute that light exhibits?
A) quality
B) glow
C) placement
D) contrast
Q2) Using a strong ________ appears to separate the subject from the background and produces a silhouette effect.
A) available light
B) rear projection
C) back light
D) natural-key light
Q3) ________ describes an image in which figures have a great deal of open space around them,often suggesting either freedom or isolation.
A) Loose framing
B) Tight framing
C) Spacial framing
D) Fit framing
Q4) Three dimensional makeup attached to faces and bodies is called ________.
Q5) Identify two advantages of repeatedly casting an actor in similar roles.
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Chapter 6: Cinematography
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Q1) Robert Altman's <i>The Player</i> uses a continuous,eight minute shot,called a ________,to pay homage to Orson Welles's <i>Touch of Evil.</i>
Q2) The 1.85:1 is known as the "Academy Ratio" after becoming the industry standard because it gives audiences a fuller image than TV's aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Eastmancolor films made before 1983 are considered to be the most superior in terms of color stability.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Identify one technique for producing "color" in films before the development of Technicolor's two-strip additive process in 1922.
Q5) Intentionally underdeveloping,or "pulling," a film will reduce the contrast of the image.
A)True
B)False
Q6) In<i>Ratcatcher</i> ,what is James unable to retrieve from the canal for Anne Marie?
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Editing
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Sample Questions
Q1) The development of digital video and computer technology has only recently made the concept of a feature-length,one-shot film possible.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Editing in <i>The Godfather</i> draws from the tradition of ________.
A) Soviet montage
B) continuity
C) German Expressionism
D) A and B
Q3) Narrative sequencing allows filmmakers to shape the audience's perception of time by ________.
A) condensing or expanding time
B) suggesting that events in different places are happening at the same time
C) rearranging the order in which audiences see events
D) all of these
Q4) ________ is a style of editing built around the theory that editing should exploit the differences between shots to produce meaning.
Q5) Briefly (in 1-2 sentences)define <i>eyeline match.</i>
Q6) The arrangement of images to depict a unified story time is called ________.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Sound
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Q1) Analyze an example of how the timing in this scene emphasizes Michael's hypocrisy.
Q2) The score of <i>Taxi Driver </i>emphasizes that Travis Bickle's romantic longing for Betsy,hatred for the city and desire to rescue Iris are all contradictory aspects of a fractured personality that are unable to coalesce.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Music specifically composed or arranged to accompany a film is called a ________.
Q4) A sound bridge can be ________.
A) the aural equivalent of a dissolve
B) a dominant sound at the end of one scene that carries over into the next scene
C) the gradual emergence of the next scene's dominant sound
D) all of these
Q5) A musical phrase can function as a motif in film,just as any visual or narrative detail can.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Identify three common ways sound may differ from the imagery onscreen.
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Chapter 9: Alternatives to Narrative Fiction
Film:Documentary and Avant-garde Films
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Q1) ___________ films engage viewers by showing them some aspect of the real world.
Q2) <i>Man With a Movie Camera</i> uses editing to equate the fluttering motion of blinking eyes with the aperture of a camera.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is the difference between an abstract film and a surreal film? Use examples drawn from class screenings and/or the textbook to illustrate your answer.
Q4) Which of the following is a visual technique associated with <i>direct cinema</i>?
A) interviews with experts
B) intentionally bringing the subject of the frame in and out of focus
C) The filmmaker appears onscreen and forcefully approaches those he wants to interview.
D) none of the above
Q5) All documentaries present an argument of some kind.
A)True
B)False
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Q6) The _____________ film reuses existing film footage in an entirely new context to generate innovative ideas.
Chapter 10: Film and Ideology
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Q1) ________ directed the first African-American feature film.
A) Oscar Micheaux
B) D. W. Griffith
C) Sidney Poitier
D) Charles Burnett
Q2) The 1915 release of <i>The Birth of a Nation</i> has been linked to a revival of the Ku Klux Klan organization,whose numbers had been dwindling for more than a decade.
A)True
B)False
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
Q4) What is a stereotype and what is the relationship between stereotyping and ideology in cinema?
Q5) How did <i>The Birth of a Nation</i> depict the black politicians who ran the South Carolina legislature?
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Social Context and Film Style:National,
International, andTransnational Cinema
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Q1) What film movement was the primary influence on <i>The Battle of Algiers</i>?
A) Italian Neorealism
B) French New Wave
C) German Expressionism
D) British Free Cinema
Q2) Using a film that has been screened in class,discuss whether or not you believe it fits into the "classical Hollywood" style. What elements of the film signal this? If it does not fit into the "classical Hollywood" style, how might it be seen as a reaction against it?
Q3) Italian Neorealism was highly influenced by the popularity of the international art cinema movement.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Italian Neorealism is associated with ________.
A) elaborate camera movement
B) its use of non-professional actors
C) its suggestive editing inspired by Soviet Montage
D) all of the above
Q5) Explain the concept of "compartmentalization," and discuss how this manufacturing concept shaped Hollywood.
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Chapter 12: Film Stardom As a Cultural Phenomenon
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Q1) Using Al Pacino's performance in <i>Scarface</i> or Judy Garland as examples,explain how some stars might appeal to a subculture,which responds to the star differently than the way mainstream audiences do.
Q2) Stars represent a significant portion of a film's overhead costs.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Until the 1950s,stars were most often tied to lengthy contracts with a single studio.
A)True
B)False
Q4) By the 1920s,slenderness became the key physical standard of beauty,thus filmmakers began casting slim actors and actresses in lead roles.Actresses in particular were bound by clauses in their studio contracts,which required them to maintain a particular weight and size.What was the cultural impetus for this change of attitude and appearance?
Q5) Gay audiences identify with Judy Garland because ________.
A) there is a discrepancy between her onscreen image and her personal life
B) she was not allowed to marry the person she loved
C) she had a larger-than-life "campy" persona
D) her star persona was not especially feminine
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Chapter 13: Genre
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Q1) Using a film that has been screened in class,discuss the difference between Rick Altman's concept of semantics and syntax.
Q2) Using the horror film as an example,explain how a genre might be studied as a culturally responsive artifact.
Q3) The "final girl" is a familiar character type,which appears in many ___________.
A) Westerns
B) science fiction films
C) horror films
D) screwball comedies
Q4) Describe how the "monsters" of the horror genre changed during the 1960s .
Q5) The ________ genre deals chiefly with the tensions between the freedom the wilderness represents and the security promised by civilization.
A) Action
B) Western
C) Sci-fi
D) Disaster
Q6) Identify and explain two approaches a film scholar might adopt when studying a genre.
Q7) Explain the difference between the backstage musical and the integrated musical.
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Film Authorship
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Q1) Describe (in 1-2 sentences)ONE of the commonly used arguments against the auteur theory.
Q2) <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
Q3) What American film critic is chiefly responsible for popularizing <i>auteur</i> theory in the United States?
A) Pauline Kael
B) John Simon
C) Wes Anderson
D) Andrew Sarris
Q4) The early auteur critics did NOT ________.
A) extol the work of French writer-directors
B) argue for the artistry of Hollywood directors
C) disparage Hollywood films as assembly-line mass entertainment
D) argue that directors should be viewed as authors of their own films
Q5) Fantastic <i>Mr.Fox</i> marked a dramatic departure for director Wes Anderson.How?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Cinema As Industry: Economics and Technology
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Q1) <i>The Blair Witch Project</i> is notable for the way its internet marketing campaign blurred the distinction between fact and fiction.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following was NOT an effect of the studios' decline in the 1960s?
A) Studios began investing in smaller, independently produced films.
B) Studios limited their investments to a handful of big-budget releases.
C) American filmmaking began to address challenging social and political issues.
D) American filmmaking began to experiment with style.
Q3) In 1948,the Supreme Court's Paramount Decree ________.
A) determined that movies were constitutionally protected from censorship
B) determined that movies were not constitutionally protected from censorship
C) upheld Paramount's right to maintain a monopoly on film production and distribution
D) forced the major studios to divest themselves of their theater holdings
Q4) In a sentence or two,explain how the rise of the multiplex contributed to the rise of the blockbuster.
Q5) Describe (in 1-2 sentences)one reason why the blockbuster mentality made Hollywood movies more infantile by the 1980s.
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