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Q:
Why might a director choose to employ nonnaturalistic performances?
Q:
Why might a director choose to have actors improvise a scene?
Q:
Despite actings central importance to filmmaking, explain why directors have the least precise control over it.
Q:
Explain how editors may have more control over molding a performance than a director or even an actor.
Q:
Describe some good ways to assess an actors performance.
Q:
Why is our perception of the quality of the acting so important in our evaluation of a film?
Q:
Using the film Blue Valentine (2010), explain how its unique production schedule helped to shape performances.
Q:
In which of the following films did the directors insist the actors not stray from the script? a. Bernardo Bertoluccis Last Tango in Paris (1972) b. Robert Altmans Gosford Park (2001) c. Ethan and Joel Coens Fargo (1996) d. Mike Leighs Another Year (2010) e. John Cassavetess Gloria (1980)
Q:
Explain how the particular demands of film production make it especially challenging for actors to create convincing screen performances.
Q:
Explain the fundamental differences between acting for the stage and the screen.
Q:
How do actors breathe life into the characters they play? Provide an example from the text of how an actor prepares for a role.
Q:
Citing an example from the text, in what ways can the traditional meanings of a high-angle shot be reversed?
Q:
Explain why English film actor Michael Caine has compared the movie camera to an impossibly attentive lover. Provide an example of an actors performance from the text to support your answer.
Q:
Explain how Spike Lee in Do the Right Thing (1989) and Stanley Kubrick in The Shining (1980) use low-angle shots to convey two different meanings.
Q:
Explain the key differences between a zoom shot and a dolly shot and explain why zoom shots are used less frequently than dolly shots by professional filmmakers.
Q:
Explain the aesthetic advantages of the Steadicam and how director Stanley Kubrick used it to his thematic advantage in The Shining (1980).
Q:
What are the reasons by which a cinematographer would select opened or closed framing for a film?
Q:
Fast motion, which is achieved by filming at a lower frame rate to make action on-screen appear twice as fast as it should, can be used for comedic or dramatic effects. Describe some films use of fast motion for such effects.
Q:
How did director Barry Jenkins and director of photography James Laxton achieve an incongruous dreamlike quality in Moonlight, thus creating an aesthetic that diverged from the documentary realism typically expected of independent film dealing with social issues?
Q:
Because a screen actor delivers slightly different performances on each take, the ________ has considerable power of shaping it in postproduction.
a. actor. d. editor.
b. cinematographer. e. casting director.
c. marketing team.
Q:
What does transparency mean when used to describe an actors performance?
a. The character is so clearly recognizable that the actor becomes, in a sense, invisible.
b. The character appears to be a blank slate upon which the audience may project.
c. The actors vulnerability is so apparent that our identification with the character increases.
d. The actor is illuminated so that the character appears to be radiant.
e. The actors characterization holds together, creating an expressive coherence.
Q:
How did Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling prepare for the scenes of their marriage falling apart in Blue Valentine (2010)?
a. They spent a month living their roles together in the house used for the actual shooting.
b. They went to a marriage counselor in character.
c. They shot the scenes unrehearsed with seldom more than one take for each.
d. They allowed the director to verbally abuse them until they were in the correct emotional state for each scene.
e. Through careful script analysis they learned the motivation and proper delivery of each line.
Q:
What was unique about the production process for the low-budget, independent Blue Valentine (2010)?
a. It was shot in three stages according to the state of the characters relationships.
b. It was shot over the course of the three years.
c. The majority of the film is done in long takes.
d. The film is a combination of naturalistic and non-naturalistic acting styles.
e. The film contains a number of two-minute long close-ups.
Q:
How does Michelle Williams primarily convey the thought process and feelings of the character she plays in Blue Valentine (2010)?
a. with her choice of wardrobe
b. by varying her vocal quality
c. with makeup
d. through gesture and physical movement
e. by her handling of props
Q:
How did set and costume designers and makeup artists of the classical Hollywood studio system manipulate colors when shooting in black and white? Why was this necessary?
Q:
Although Technicolor film was available in the early 1930s, what non-aesthetic factors influenced the studios decisions to shy away from using Technicolor? Beginning in 1939, what factors contributed to the gradual shift to color production?
Q:
Identify those occasions when filmmakers changed the aspect ratio within a film.
Q:
Citing specific examples, how did most filmmakers create the illusion of depth in films prior to Citizen Kane (1941)? What were some of the techniques credited to Greg Toland that helped change those approaches?
Q:
The slow-motion power walk was popularized in which of the following films?
a. Amlie d. The Birds
b. Reservoir Dogs e. Lucy
c. Rumble Fish
Q:
The sequence shot is a particular kind of which of the following aesthetics?
a. long take d. closed frame
b. fast motion e. point of view
c. slow motion
Q:
To reveal the inner thoughts of Nicole Kidmans character, Anna, in Birth (2004), the director combined what two cinematographic tools?
a. deep focus and fast motion
b. the close-up and the long take
c. the close-up and the high angle
d. the Steadicam and slow motion
e. a single characters POV and a zoom-in
Q:
________ is a specific visual effect in which a live-action subject wears a bodysuit fitted with reflective markers that enables a computer to record each movement as digital images.
a. In-camera d. Motion capture
b. Mechanical e. SPFX
c. Optical
Q:
To achieve an incongruous dreamlike quality that placed viewers in the protagonists solitary perspective, the filmmakers of Moonlight (2016) shot virtually every scene using only a
a. single fill light. d. single three-point lighting system.
b. single key light. e. single spotlight.
c. single backlight.
Q:
In Moonlight, director Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton chose to shoot in a ________ to help the actors immerse themselves in a dramatic situation without the distraction of cutting and slating new takes.
a. codec d. Dutch angle
b. studio e. 8mm
c. color
Q:
Some of the more striking cinematic moments in Moonlight are accomplished with alternating ________ shots involving the direct gaze of each character into the camera. a. extreme close-up d. point-of-view b. Dutch angle e. extreme long c. aerial
Q:
What is the primary goal of a cinematographer? In what ways is a cinematographers method in achieving that goal similar to that of a painter or writer?
Q:
What are the differences between a shot, a take, and a setup? How are they related?
Q:
Using an example from the text, explain the following: While cinematographers must have firm control over the framing, lighting, and composition of a shot, occasionally the unexpected may play a role in creating a great shot.
Q:
Virtually all feature films today are shot in color. Identify two examples in which the use of black and white may have been a better choice from a critical standpoint. Explain your answer.
Q:
A director chooses the ________ frame when the characters in the story are restricted in their movements, often due to outside forces, such as social or economic.
a. balanced d. asymmetrical
b. composed e. closed
c. open
Q:
Darren Aronofskys stylized and allegorical horror film Mother! (2017) is, by design, ________ film.
a. a closed d. a factual
b. a documentary e. both an open and closed
c. an open
Q:
________ POV shows us what the camera/narrator sees, remaining fairly neutral with the camera more or less objectively recording the action of the story.
a. An objective d. A group
b. A subjective e. An omniscient
c. A single characters
Q:
Of the various elements of composition, which one directly implies a point of view?
a. color d. framing
b. kinesis e. balance
c. organization of figures
Q:
The standardized number of frames shot and projected per second is 24 frames per second (fps), but what frame rate did Peter Jackson experiment with in The Hobbit trilogy in an effort to produce sharper images and a more precise reproduction of movement?
a. 8 fps d. 32 fps
b. 16 fps e. 48 fps
c. 25 fps
Q:
To imply that the on-screen world is somehow out of balance, filmmakers may photograph a subject with a ________, which tilts the camera from its normal horizontal and vertical position.
a. high-angle shot
b. Dutch-angle shot
c. extreme low-angle shot
d. zoom shot
e. subjective point-of-view (POV) shot
Q:
Within one shot of The Birth of a Nation (1915), D. W. Griffith establishes a view of a Civil War battle, turns the camera toward a woman and small children on a wagon, and then turns back to the battle in order to
a. create a longer take.
b. save production costs by reducing camera setups.
c. exploit the relationship between the lens and the camera.
d. enhance the perceived camera angle.
e. show the relationship between the horror of the battle and the misery it creates for civilians.
Q:
Which European director referred to the moving camera as the unchained camera and is known for pioneering its use?
a. F. W. Murnau d. Pedro Almodvar
b. Otto Preminger e. Lars von Trier
c. Alfred Hitchcock
Q:
In the 1960s, a popular way of moving the camera in the cinma vrit style of filmmaking was done by a
a. Steadicam. d. moving crane.
b. zoom lens. e. handheld camera.
c. dolly.
Q:
The vertical movement of a camera mounted to the head of a stationary tripod is a
a. tilt shot. d. zoom shot.
b. dolly shot. e. handheld shot.
c. pan shot.
Q:
In a ________ shot, the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform to move smoothly along with the action.
a. pan d. dolly
b. zoom e. rack
c. crane
Q:
The opening of Orson Welless Touch of Evil (1958) features a lengthy, continuous ________ shot.
a. digital video d. crane
b. stationary camera e. pan
c. trackless dolly
Q:
The Steadicam is a patented harness device worn by the camera operator that combines the mobility of a ________ with the smoothness of a ________.
a. dolly shot; tracking shot d. tracking shot; pan shot
b. handheld camera; tracking shot e. pan shot; tracking shot
c. handheld camera; dolly shot
Q:
A director chooses the ________ frame when the characters in the story are restricted in their movements, often due to outside forces, such as social or economic background or a repressive government.
a. balanced d. asymmetrical
b. composed e. closed
c. open
Q:
The open frame is generally used in ________ films.
a. horror d. antirealistic
b. documentary e. foreign
c. realistic
Q:
If you are a cinematographer and the director asks you to photograph just the lips of an actor, what type of shot is she asking for?
a. personal d. close-up
b. point-of-view e. medium
c. extreme close-up
Q:
One of the most difficult challenges cinematographers face when filming traditional two-dimensional imagery is
a. creating the illusion of depth.
b. creating realistic lighting.
c. disguising changes in camera movement.
d. framing great distances.
e. maintaining focus.
Q:
What technique keeps all three planes of the film frame in sharp focus?
a. wide-angle composition d. Russian formalism
b. deep-focus cinematography e. spatial balance
c. deep-space composition
Q:
The planning of the placement and movement of figures and camera is a process known as
a. shaping. d. staging.
b. storyboarding. e. blocking.
c. kinesis.
Q:
The ________ is the level and height of the camera in relation to the subject being photographed.
a. composition d. camera angle
b. placement principle e. image depth
c. balance of the frame
Q:
To visually imply a characters power and superiority, the camera is traditionally placed at ________ in relation to that character.
a. a high angle d. a subjective angle
b. eye level e. a neutral angle
c. a low angle
Q:
The selective use of a ________ lens during the filming of a scene from Sunset Boulevard (1950) captured images that relate to our day-to-day experience of depth and perception.
a. zoom d. fisheye
b. normal e. short-focal-length
c. variable-focal-length
Q:
Wide-angle, normal, and telephoto lenses with fixed focal lengths are known as ________ lenses.
a. realistic d. stationary
b. documentary e. prime
c. zoom
Q:
The middle-focal-length lens (from 35mm to 50mm) is also known as a
a. fisheye lens. d. wide-angle lens.
b. telephoto lens. e. normal lens.
c. zoom lens.
Q:
Depth of field refers to the distances in front of the camera (and its lens) in which the subjects are
a. distorted. d. dwarfed by the environment.
b. out of focus. e. in apparent sharp focus.
c. in the frame.
Q:
The change of the point of focus from one subject to another during a shot is known as a
a. focal-length shift. d. wandering.
b. change in perspective. e. depth change.
c. rack focus.
Q:
When framing a shot, cinematographers are limited by the aspect ratio, which is the
a. perceived depth of field of an image.
b. relationship between the focal length and the film gauge.
c. size of the projected image.
d. ratio of the width of the image to its height.
e. ratio between the key light and fill light.
Q:
Up until the 1950s, the standard aspect ratio of most 35mm Hollywood films was ________, which is known as the Academy ratio.
a. 1.66:1 d. 1.85:1
b. 1.375:1 e. 2.75:1
c. 2.35:1
Q:
The terms long shot and medium shot refer to
a. the implied distance between the camera lens and the subject being filmed.
b. the duration of a take.
c. the focal length of the lens.
d. the distance between a subject being filmed and the background.
e. the amount of light needed to capture an image on film.
Q:
When an extreme long shot is used to provide spatial context at the beginning of a scene, it is also known as
a. a setup shot. d. a complex shot.
b. a mask shot. e. an establishing shot.
c. a functional shot.
Q:
When mixed together in varying degrees, the three primary additive colors, consisting of ________, can produce all the other colors in the spectrum.
a. red, green, and blue d. brown, black, and green
b. red, green, and cyan e. magenta, red, and yellow
c. black, white, and blue
Q:
Which color film system recorded images on three separate strips of film simultaneously?
a. Kodak d. Monopack
b. Cinecolor e. Fujichrome
c. Technicolor
Q:
A colored filter placed before the lens is often used to correct
a. focus. d. performance.
b. color temperature. e. aspect ratio.
c. framing.
Q:
Hollywood became the center of American film production in part because of
a. its proximity to Mexico.
b. the color temperature of West Coast sunshine.
c. its exotic appeal to audiences.
d. the abundance of sunshine.
e. local access to film equipment manufacturers.
Q:
The use of ________ during filming can manipulate natural light by redirecting it.
a. key light d. silks
b. flags e. bounce boards
c. backlight
Q:
Adjusting the aperture of a camera lens changes the
a. focal length of the lens.
b. implied proximity of the camera to the subject.
c. contrast of the filmed image.
d. amount of light that passes through the lens.
e. color temperature of the light source.
Q:
By 2012, what percentage of the top-grossing feature films were shot digitally?
a. 10 percent d. 60 percent
b. 25 percent e. 75 percent
c. 50 percent
Q:
The ________ lens tends to exaggerate the perceived spatial relationship between the subject and the camera.
a. wide-angle d. normal
b. telephoto e. macro
c. prime
Q:
A film stocks speed refers to its
a. ease of use. d. cost.
b. motion through the camera. e. size.
c. sensitivity to light.
Q:
Since 1968, virtually all Hollywood feature films used ________ film stock.
a. grainy d. black and white
b. stereoscopic e. color
c. fast
Q:
What do you call the fragments of image information that a digital camera captures with its electronic sensor?
a. silver halide crystals d. grips
b. pixels e. gaffers
c. gauges