NOTE: DO NOT PRINT OR MAKE ANY COPIES OF THIS EXAM.
REFER ONLY TO TEXTS (FILM OR PRINT) THAT APPEAR ON OUR SYLLABUS UNLESS A QUESTION TELLS YOU TO DO OTHERWISE.
PRINT AND SIGN THE HONOR STATEMENT THAT IS INCLUDED BELOW THIS EXAM (IN THE WORD ATTACHMENT AT THE END OF THE EXAM). DO NOT PRINT ANY OTHER PART OF THIS EXAM.
SHORT ANSWER SECTION (5 PTS. EACH):
(1) Briefly explain Kuleshov’s famous experiment (including its significance).
(2) Briefly explain how CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) relates to discussions of realism and formalism.
(3) According to Bazin (writing in the 1950s), “The film maker is no longer the competitor of the painter and the playwright, he is, at last, the equal of the novelist.” Briefly explain what this run-on sentence implies about film with regard to painting, drama, and the novel. (That is, what does it imply about each or all of these art forms?)
(4) Briefly explain the strengths and weaknesses (or advantages and disadvantages) of auteur theory.
(5) Briefly explain how one film from our syllabus and one film from outside our course negotiate the tension between realism and formalism (how they make use of both).
(6) Theorist Smackdown: Briefly explain the difference between Eisenstein’s theory of montage and Bazin’s theory of montage. Give a contemporary example of each (from our syllabus or from outside our syllabus).
(7) Briefly explain how the Hollywood studio system differed from today’s American film industry.
(8) Briefly explain how one might apply Laura Mulvey’s ideas about “scopophilia” to films from our course other than Vertigo.
(9) Briefly explain the importance of elements other than the human voice (other than voice-overs and/or people speaking on camera) in Dirty Wars and The Invisible War.
(10) Explain how two films from our course involve conflicting narratives or indeterminacy and how they undermine narrative certainty (the ability to determine what’s right or what’s true) in some sense.
ESSAY SECTION--ANSWER TWO OF THE QUESTIONS BELOW (25 PTS. EACH):
(1) In a 1960 essay, film theorist Maya Deren says that film must “develop the vocabulary of filmic images and evolve the syntax of filmic techniques.” That suggests film should make full use of the things that only film can do (things other arts can’t do at all or can’t do as well) and should try to combine those things in new, interesting, and potentially productive ways. Explain how Deren’s claim arguably relates to films and/or readings from our course, and be as specific as possible. Then identify counter-examples from our course or outside our course. That is, explain how some films (or directors, or other aspects of the filmmaking process) either disregard or go beyond Deren’s ideas in meaningful ways.
(2) Write a brief pro/con essay about Sarris and Wollen’s versions of auteur theory (arguing for it and against it). Use specific individuals and films as well as any other factors you think are relevant to the issue (such as other ways to interpret films). In the pro section, include Sarris’ three-part or three-level auteur theory/model and identify a director you would associate with each part or level of the theory/model. Justify each choice with a brief explanation of at least one film for each director. Feel free to consider directors whose works do not appear on our syllabus. (If you can’t think of non-syllabus directors by name, feel free to use the titles of movies to make your points here.)
(3) La Bella Confusione (The Beautiful Confusion): Federico Fellini actually began as a neorealist, but by 8 ½ he had moved on to a very different kind of filmmaking. Compare and contrast 8 ½, Raging Bull, and The Act of Killing and explain how we can relate elements of those films to the terms realism and formalism (broadly construed, if you like).
(4) Explain how literary critic Frank Lentricchia’s well-known phrase “deliberate strangeness of structure and discourse” arguably applies to three films from our syllabus other than 8 ½.
REMEMBER TO PRINT AND SIGN YOUR HONOR STATEMENT (ATTACHED BELOW).
NOTE: DO NOT PRINT OR MAKE ANY COPIES OF ANY OTHER PART OF THIS EXAM.