TFM 160 EXAM #1 QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ANSWERS
What is the difference between implicit and explicit meaning? (And how do these terms
relate to onions, ogres, and a movie such as Juno?) - Answers - Onions have multiple
layers. Ogres are like onions because they have something below the surface. In Juno
the implicit meaning can be a "teenager faced with a difficult decision makes a bold leap
toward adulthood but, in doing so, discover the world of adults is no less uncertain or
overwhelming than adolescence."
Implicit meaning - Answers - below the surface of a movie's story and presentation, is
closest to our everyday sense of the word meaning
Explicit meaning - Answers - association, connection, or inference that a viewer makes
on the basis of the explicit meanings available on the surface of the movie.
What is "Formal Analysis" - Answers - a. Formal analysis dissects the complex
synthesis of cinematography, sound, compositions, design, movement, performance,
and editing orchestrated by creative directors to understand how the story, mood and
meaning was conveyed. (uses cinematic language, focuses on form)
Form - Answers - means by which the subject is expressed and experienced (the how it
is presented)
Alternate approaches to analysis - Answers - expose implicit and hidden meanings that
inform inform our understanding of cinema's function within popular culture as well as
the influence of popular culture on movies. (uses interpretation, focuses on content)
Examples of cultural analysis of Juno - Answers - could explore the movie's treatment of
class. New parents for baby = white collar. Juno's parents= repairman and manicurist
What do we mean when we describe cinematic language as "invisible" - Answers -
Cinematic language is the visual and aural vocab of a film. How it becomes invisible:
Early film-making created a film grammar (or cinematic language) that draws upon the
way we automatically interpret visual information in our real lives, thus allowing the
audiences to absorb movie meaning intuitively and instantly. Basically all the tricks that
directors use the audience's brains pick up on it without even having to think about it.
Like when the directors uses different angles like when Juno is riding the bike at the end
our brain automatically sees her as triumphant just the way the camera is positioned but
we didn't have to think about it super hard.
Reasons why cinematic language is invisible - Answers - because our brains pick up
messages and ideas automatically by just seeing things like when you see a sun you
, automatically think happy or a stormy cloud you think sad. The audience forgets they
are watching a movie by engaging them which makes it invisible. .
What do we mean by cultural invisibility? How is it different from cinematic invisibility? -
Answers - Film-makers favor stories and themes that reinforce viewers shared belief
systems so culture becomes invisible bc the film-makers gives the audience what they
want. Stories tap into reinforce viewers most fundamental desires and beliefs. The
people making movies may just be as oblivious to their own cultural attitudes as the
viewers are.
Shot - Answers - one interrupted run of the camera. A shot can be as short or as long
as the director wants, but it cannot exceed the length of the film stock in the camera.
Cut - Answers - a direct change from one shot to another as a result of cutting; that is,
the precise point at which shot A ends and shot B begins
Editing - Answers - The process by which the editor combines and coordinates
individual shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema
Close-up - Answers - A shot that often shows a part of the body filling the frame
traditionally a face, but possibly, a hand, eye, or mouth
Fade in/ Fade out - Answers - Transitional devices in which a shot fades in from a black
field on a black-and-white film or from a color field on a color film, or fades out to a black
field (or a color field).
Low angle shot - Answers - Is made with the camera made below the action and that
typically places the observer in a position of inferiority.
Cutting on action - Answers - A continuity editing technique that smooths the transition
between shots portraying a single action from different camera angles. The editor ends
the first shot in the middle of a continuing action and begins the subsequent shot at
approximately the same point in the same matching action.
Protagonist - Answers - the primary character whose pursuit of the goal provides the
structural foundation of a movies story.
Motif - Answers - a recurring visual, sound, or narrative element that imparts meaning or
significance
Theme - Answers - a shared, public idea, such as a metaphor, and adage, a myth, a
familiar conflict, or personal type.
Content - Answers - the subject of an artwork
form - Answers - the means by which the subject is expressed (aka cinematic language)
ANSWERS
What is the difference between implicit and explicit meaning? (And how do these terms
relate to onions, ogres, and a movie such as Juno?) - Answers - Onions have multiple
layers. Ogres are like onions because they have something below the surface. In Juno
the implicit meaning can be a "teenager faced with a difficult decision makes a bold leap
toward adulthood but, in doing so, discover the world of adults is no less uncertain or
overwhelming than adolescence."
Implicit meaning - Answers - below the surface of a movie's story and presentation, is
closest to our everyday sense of the word meaning
Explicit meaning - Answers - association, connection, or inference that a viewer makes
on the basis of the explicit meanings available on the surface of the movie.
What is "Formal Analysis" - Answers - a. Formal analysis dissects the complex
synthesis of cinematography, sound, compositions, design, movement, performance,
and editing orchestrated by creative directors to understand how the story, mood and
meaning was conveyed. (uses cinematic language, focuses on form)
Form - Answers - means by which the subject is expressed and experienced (the how it
is presented)
Alternate approaches to analysis - Answers - expose implicit and hidden meanings that
inform inform our understanding of cinema's function within popular culture as well as
the influence of popular culture on movies. (uses interpretation, focuses on content)
Examples of cultural analysis of Juno - Answers - could explore the movie's treatment of
class. New parents for baby = white collar. Juno's parents= repairman and manicurist
What do we mean when we describe cinematic language as "invisible" - Answers -
Cinematic language is the visual and aural vocab of a film. How it becomes invisible:
Early film-making created a film grammar (or cinematic language) that draws upon the
way we automatically interpret visual information in our real lives, thus allowing the
audiences to absorb movie meaning intuitively and instantly. Basically all the tricks that
directors use the audience's brains pick up on it without even having to think about it.
Like when the directors uses different angles like when Juno is riding the bike at the end
our brain automatically sees her as triumphant just the way the camera is positioned but
we didn't have to think about it super hard.
Reasons why cinematic language is invisible - Answers - because our brains pick up
messages and ideas automatically by just seeing things like when you see a sun you
, automatically think happy or a stormy cloud you think sad. The audience forgets they
are watching a movie by engaging them which makes it invisible. .
What do we mean by cultural invisibility? How is it different from cinematic invisibility? -
Answers - Film-makers favor stories and themes that reinforce viewers shared belief
systems so culture becomes invisible bc the film-makers gives the audience what they
want. Stories tap into reinforce viewers most fundamental desires and beliefs. The
people making movies may just be as oblivious to their own cultural attitudes as the
viewers are.
Shot - Answers - one interrupted run of the camera. A shot can be as short or as long
as the director wants, but it cannot exceed the length of the film stock in the camera.
Cut - Answers - a direct change from one shot to another as a result of cutting; that is,
the precise point at which shot A ends and shot B begins
Editing - Answers - The process by which the editor combines and coordinates
individual shots into a cinematic whole; the basic creative force of cinema
Close-up - Answers - A shot that often shows a part of the body filling the frame
traditionally a face, but possibly, a hand, eye, or mouth
Fade in/ Fade out - Answers - Transitional devices in which a shot fades in from a black
field on a black-and-white film or from a color field on a color film, or fades out to a black
field (or a color field).
Low angle shot - Answers - Is made with the camera made below the action and that
typically places the observer in a position of inferiority.
Cutting on action - Answers - A continuity editing technique that smooths the transition
between shots portraying a single action from different camera angles. The editor ends
the first shot in the middle of a continuing action and begins the subsequent shot at
approximately the same point in the same matching action.
Protagonist - Answers - the primary character whose pursuit of the goal provides the
structural foundation of a movies story.
Motif - Answers - a recurring visual, sound, or narrative element that imparts meaning or
significance
Theme - Answers - a shared, public idea, such as a metaphor, and adage, a myth, a
familiar conflict, or personal type.
Content - Answers - the subject of an artwork
form - Answers - the means by which the subject is expressed (aka cinematic language)
