ENGL 209 Midterm Exam

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ENGL 209—Intro to Film___________ MIDTERM EXAM_______ Heuston

(5 PTS. EACH):

(1) Which of the following elements is NOT part of a film’s mise en scene?

(a) Sound

(b) Staging of action

(c) Physical setting and décor

(d) Framing of materials

(e) Style or manner of photographing materials

(2) What do Tell No One, the Taken movies starring Liam Neeson, and the Transporter movies

starring Jason Statham have in common?

(a) They are examples of condensed filmmaking.

(b) They are examples of French films.

(c) They are examples of extreme formalism.

(d) They are examples of auteur theory.

(e) All of the above

(3) Significance of camera angles: High angle shots (camera looking down on a person) tend to make a person look __________________, whereas low angle shots (camera looking up at a person) tend to make a person look ______________________.

(a) heavy or massive; light or slender

(b) small or powerless; powerful or menacing

(c) powerful or menacing; small or powerless

(d) evil; good

(e) None of the above

(4) During roughly what time period was the Motion Picture Production Code (a.k.a. the Hays Code) in effect?

(a) 1893-1943

(b) 1929-1942

(d) 1969-1989

(e) None of the above

(5) Why do some people disagree with auteur theory?

(a) It’s French, and thus doesn’t apply to American films

(b) It’s American, and thus doesn’t apply to French films

(c) It gives a film’s director all the credit and ignores other contributors

(d) It gives a film’s director too little credit and overemphasizes other contributors

(e) None of the above

(6) The early Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov took shots of an actor whose face showed a neutral expression,

then juxtaposed them with one of three other shots: (1) a bowl of soup, (2) a dead woman in a coffin, or (3) a

little girl playing. Audience members interpreted the actor’s neutral expression very differently depending on

whether they saw it juxtaposed with (1), (2), or (3). What did this demonstrate?

(a) Soup kills

(b) The power of acting to influence audience

(c) The power of editing to influence audience reaction

(d) The power of propaganda in Soviet cinema

(e) The power of sound in film

(7) According to Giannetti’s definition, which of the following would likely or generally be categorized as a

personality star as opposed to an actor star?

(a) Tom Cruise

(b) Arnold Schwarzenegger

(c) Will Smith

(d) Vin Diesel

(e) All of the above

(8) During the so-called Golden Age of the star system (a.k.a. the height of the Hollywood studio system)

(a) The Hays Code was in effect

(b) Five major studios dominated the film industry worldwide

(c) Exclusive contracts meant that studios essentially owned their stars

(d) Four hundred or more reporters and columnists covered the Hollywood beat

(e) All of the above

(9) Which of the following films is a product of the Hollywood studio system?

(a) Battleship Potemkin

(b) Tell No One

(c) Casablanca

(d) Winter's Bone

(e) None of the above

(10) Panning shots are

(a) camera movements that scan a scene horizontally

(b) camera movements that scan a scene vertically

(c) camera movements that bring the camera closer to a scene

(d) camera shots from a crane

(e) None of the above

(11) A movement of the camera away from the central attraction (usually a speaker) to show an onlooker or

listener is called

(a) a tracking shot

(b) a reaction shot

(c) a crane shot

(d) a smash cut

(e) a dissolve

(12) The brief introductory shots of this character

and this character in Tell No One relate to the concept of ___________,

(a) cutting to continuity

(b) Foley effects

(c) CGI

(d) foreshadowing

(e) None of the above

(13) _______________ is an example of a film in which the director frequently attempts to impress the audience

with unusual or imaginative shots, whereas _______________ is a film that’s less flashy or visually creative and

uses such shots rarely (or arguably never).

(a) Battleship Potemkin; Citizen Kane

(b) North by Northwest; Citizen Kane

(c) Casablanca; Citizen Kane

(d) Citizen Kane; Casablanca

(e) None of the above

(14) Which of the following is true of Winter's Bone?

(a) Ree Dolly (the main character) shoots a man.

(b) Teardrop (Ree's uncle) shoots a cop.

(c) Jessup Dolly (Ree's father) turns out to be dead.

(d) Ree joins the military.

(e) None of the above

(15) When can the balance between realism and formalism shift?

(a) From soundtrack to soundtrack

(b) From actor to actor

(c) From shot to shot

(d) Never

(16) What do the music videos for Journey’s “Separate Ways” (1983) and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (1968) demonstrate?

(a) Music videos are generally too short

(b) Visual elements that were once regarded as cutting-edge and interesting can

eventually start to seem ridiculous and/or unintentionally funny

(c) Music videos generally display realistic acting and situations

(d) Film terms and concepts generally do not apply to music videos

(17) ____________ is an intermediate style between extremes of realism and formalism

(a) Documentary

(b) Chronology

(c) Cinéma vérité

(d) Classicism

(18) Condensing the action of a film by shortening or not showing certain actions (such as characters commuting

to/from work or running errands) if showing those actions in their entirety would be unnecessary and/or boring

is called

(a) panning

(b) the Kobayashi Maru scenario

(c) realism

(d) juxtaposition

(e) cutting to continuity

(19) Which film contains important flashbacks?

(a) Casablanca

(b) Tell No One

(c) Citizen Kane

(d) None of the above

(e) All of the above

(20) CGI can

(a) force us to rethink the realism-formalism debate (or think differently about what counts as realism)

(b) have a powerful influence on what types of films get made

(c) blur the lines between acting, directing, and editing (in a movie such as Avatar or one of the Lord of

the Rings movies, for example)

(d) All of the above

(e) None of the above

INSTRUCTIONS: SUBMIT THIS EXAM VIA OUR CLASS CANVAS SITE SO THE ALL-SEEING EYE

OF THE ADMINISTRATION CAN SEE THAT YOU'VE DONE SO. SIMPLY OPEN A WORD PROCESSING

DOCUMENT, TYPE THE QUESTION NUMBER AND THE LETTER OF YOUR ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION,

THEN UPLOAD YOUR ANSWERS IN THE ASSIGNMENTS SECTION OF OUR CANVAS SITE.

INCLUDE THE HONOR STATEMENT BELOW ALONG WITH YOUR ANSWERS WHEN YOU UPLOAD THEM.

(COPY AND PASTE THE STATEMENT IN BELOW YOUR ANSWERS.)

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