Q&A Hero

Q: What technique does Meryl Streep use to get into character? a. She views meticulous storyboards to help her work with the camera. b. She tries to find the similarities between herself and the character. c. She analyzes her previous roles thoroughly. d. She shares life stories with the director to feel more comfortable being vulnerable. e. She improvises every scene to keep a feeling of spontaneity.

Q: In the very first movies, people on the screen were a. vaudevillian performers. d. ordinary people playing themselves. b. stage actor dropouts. e. magicians. c. fresh-faced amateurs.

Q: Why did the first screen actors use exaggerated gestures, emphatic expressions, and the mouthing of words to bring their characters to life? a. This was the standard visual language of cinematic expression. b. Film directors told them to act this way. c. This was the accepted comic style of the time. d. They were adapting the acting style of nineteenth-century theater. e. They were following the Italian national film style.

Q: Which director is correctly paired with his preferred style? a. Stanley Kubrick emphasized intellectual analysis and counseled actors to think, not act. b. Terrence Malick encourages actors to identify with characters in a Method acting style. c. Brian De Palma favors spontaneity and encourages improvisation. d. Robert Altman meticulously storyboarded and pushed actors to see their performance cinematographically. e. Elia Kazan moved characters around the set like pawns on a chessboard.

Q: How did the first on-screen appearance of the great theatrical actor Sarah Bernhardt affect the film industrys development? a. She was a natural on camera and invented the art of screen acting. b. Her sterling reputation as a theater actor carried over to make cinema respectable. c. Her impatience with film production and general disdain for film slowed the industrys development. d. Her melodramatic style worked beautifully with the intimacy of the camera. e. Her technique invoked a range of emotions never before seen.

Q: Who was responsible for inventing the art of screen acting? a. Mary Pickford b. Sarah Bernhardt and Clment Maurice c. Lillian Gish, under D. W. Griffiths guidance d. the Art Film Society e. F. W. Murnau

Q: Why is Lillian Gishs portrayal of Lucy Burrows in Broken Blossoms (1919) generally acknowledged to be the first great film performance by an actor? a. Her voice training allowed her to fully inhabit the role. b. Her restraint of emotion was unprecedented. c. She perfectly illustrated expressive incoherence. d. She displayed a range of emotions not previously seen on screen. e. Her intellectualization of the role created a distance between her and the audience.

Q: Which of the following is not a characteristic of great screen acting? a. expressive coherence b. wholeness c. inherent thoughtfulness and emotionality d. disunity e. appropriateness

Q: How did Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly satirize the film industry in Singin in the Rain (1952)? a. It critiqued the growing production design budgets. b. It made fun of the dueling studios. c. It mocked how self-centered movie stars can be. d. It poked fun at the difficult transition from silent to sound production. e. It made fun of our reverence for auteurs.

Q: Which of the following posed no challenge for the transition from silent to sound production in films? a. stationary microphones d. actors voices and accents b. lighting equipment e. camera noise c. poor-quality recording

Q: Director/screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson enjoys an unusually close collaboration with his actors and is able to elicit exceptional performances because a. he improvises with actors during a long rehearsal period. b. he writes parts specifically for the actors he hopes to cast. c. he does not storyboard since he believes it interferes with the blocking of actors. d. he relies on the Stanislavsky system to elicit sense memories from his actors. e. his extensive experience directing theater helps him.

Q: Experienced screen actors know their most essential relationship is with the a. audience. d. director. b. camera. e. production designer. c. editor.

Q: Explain why great acting is said to look effortless.

Q: Explain how the advent of sound in the film industry affected actors.

Q: How has the casting process changed since the golden years of Hollywood?

Q: Explain why Laurence Olivier, one of the greatest stage and screen actors of the twentieth century, defined acting as convincing lying.

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: Which of the following is most likely to draw an audience to a movie? a. an established director d. special effects b. a blockbuster screenwriter e. a cinematographer c. a famous actor

Q: American screen actor Joan Crawfords statement, A movie star paints with the tiniest brush, suggests that a. painters and screen actors approach their art similarly. b. a close-up will never provide the intimacy of an actors performance on stage. c. the primary artist of a film is an actor. d. the camera captures an actors most subtle facial expressions. e. screen actors have complete control of details.

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: 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: 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: 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: ________ 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: 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: 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.