FILM FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
QUESTION: The mental and emotional responses of the viewers, our shifting questions,
and the mental activity we do to answer questions and create hypotheses are at the
heart of:
a] viewer response criticism
b] Feminist film criticism
c] Marxist film criticism - Answers - AS we have studied, the answer is A. When the text
(film) creates gaps and we do the mental activity to create hypotheses (and fill in the
gaps), then we are participating in Viewer Response Criticism.
QUESTION In the silent movie "Sunrise," the title card which reads, "For whatever the
sun rises and sets, in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is much
the same--sometimes bitter--sometimes sweet," is an example of:
a] an implicit meaning within the work
b] an explicit meaning within the work
c] a symbol within the work
d] intellectual montage within the work. - Answers - AS we have studied, the answer is
B. When a film states the exact meaning (either in a title card or through direct dialogue)
this is the film explicitly telling you what it means.
QUESTION: If a film explicitly states its meaning too often, viewers may:
a] find it annoying; they like to discover meaning out of implied meaning.
b] find it refreshing; they like to be told what to think.
c] find it confusing; meaning must be on an equal footing with plot and story. - Answers -
The answer is A. As viewers, we tend to like to take implied meanings and figure out
meanings (that related to ideas in the film) for ourselves.
Be able to discuss the history and evolution of the French New Wave. See page 430+ -
Answers - You know enough figure it out. Look at long word doc
Know the elements of the "Classical Narrative Cinema" as they relate to the needs and
goals of the main character in a film. - Answers - 1. "The story is mainly set in a present,
external world and is largely seen from outside the action, although point-of-view shots,
memories, fantasies, dreams, or other mental states are sometimes included.
, 2. "The film focuses on one character or a few distinct individuals.
3. "The main characters have a goal or a few goals.
4. "In trying to attain their goals, the main characters must confront various antagonists
or problems.
5. "The film has closure: the p lot has no "loose ends," and usually in American movies
the main characters succeed in reaching the goals (happy endings).
6. "The emphasis is on clear causes and effects of actions: what events happen and
why are clear and unambiguous.
7. "The film uses continuity editing and other unobtrusive filmmaking techniques."
What were French New Wave filmmakers rebelling against? [lecture notes Lesson 8!!
and Ch. 10] Here—lean on the lecture notes—as the text does not mention how the
French film industry had become too staid and literary oriented in the eyes of the French
new Wave filmmakers.
More in long word doc - Answers - covered some in quiz 2. Jump cuts and Eisenstein
type film
-They were especially against the French "cinema of quality", the type of high-minded,
literary period films held in esteem at French film festivals, often regarded as
"untouchable" by criticism. New Wave critics and directors studied the work of western
classics and applied new avant garde stylistic direction.
Know how French New wave filmmakers admired American genre filmmakers and great
directors. [See esp lecture notes and French New Wave in Ch. 10.] What techniques did
they copy? How does Truffaut use a whimsical cutaway shot in Shoot the Piano Player?
How do we see this process further used by Tarantino? [Here is a line from a good
article on the Shoot the Piano Player that mentions the line I used in my lecture (Lesson
8, and long word doc): ] - Answers - -New Wave critics and directors studied the work of
western classics and applied new avant garde stylistic direction.
-What techniques did they copy?: NOT SURE
-How does Truffaut use a whimsical cutaway shot in Shoot the Piano Player?: When a
gangster tries to trick a kidnapped boy in the film, he says to the kidnapped boy: "I
swear on my old lady's head—May she die if I lie. Immediately--we then cut away of an
old lady grabbing her chest and dying. We then cut back to the gangster and the young
boy. He looks up and says, "Then I believe you."
-How do we see this process further used by Tarantino?: Why did Tarantino rearrange
things so that events in time are out of order?
QUESTION: The mental and emotional responses of the viewers, our shifting questions,
and the mental activity we do to answer questions and create hypotheses are at the
heart of:
a] viewer response criticism
b] Feminist film criticism
c] Marxist film criticism - Answers - AS we have studied, the answer is A. When the text
(film) creates gaps and we do the mental activity to create hypotheses (and fill in the
gaps), then we are participating in Viewer Response Criticism.
QUESTION In the silent movie "Sunrise," the title card which reads, "For whatever the
sun rises and sets, in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is much
the same--sometimes bitter--sometimes sweet," is an example of:
a] an implicit meaning within the work
b] an explicit meaning within the work
c] a symbol within the work
d] intellectual montage within the work. - Answers - AS we have studied, the answer is
B. When a film states the exact meaning (either in a title card or through direct dialogue)
this is the film explicitly telling you what it means.
QUESTION: If a film explicitly states its meaning too often, viewers may:
a] find it annoying; they like to discover meaning out of implied meaning.
b] find it refreshing; they like to be told what to think.
c] find it confusing; meaning must be on an equal footing with plot and story. - Answers -
The answer is A. As viewers, we tend to like to take implied meanings and figure out
meanings (that related to ideas in the film) for ourselves.
Be able to discuss the history and evolution of the French New Wave. See page 430+ -
Answers - You know enough figure it out. Look at long word doc
Know the elements of the "Classical Narrative Cinema" as they relate to the needs and
goals of the main character in a film. - Answers - 1. "The story is mainly set in a present,
external world and is largely seen from outside the action, although point-of-view shots,
memories, fantasies, dreams, or other mental states are sometimes included.
, 2. "The film focuses on one character or a few distinct individuals.
3. "The main characters have a goal or a few goals.
4. "In trying to attain their goals, the main characters must confront various antagonists
or problems.
5. "The film has closure: the p lot has no "loose ends," and usually in American movies
the main characters succeed in reaching the goals (happy endings).
6. "The emphasis is on clear causes and effects of actions: what events happen and
why are clear and unambiguous.
7. "The film uses continuity editing and other unobtrusive filmmaking techniques."
What were French New Wave filmmakers rebelling against? [lecture notes Lesson 8!!
and Ch. 10] Here—lean on the lecture notes—as the text does not mention how the
French film industry had become too staid and literary oriented in the eyes of the French
new Wave filmmakers.
More in long word doc - Answers - covered some in quiz 2. Jump cuts and Eisenstein
type film
-They were especially against the French "cinema of quality", the type of high-minded,
literary period films held in esteem at French film festivals, often regarded as
"untouchable" by criticism. New Wave critics and directors studied the work of western
classics and applied new avant garde stylistic direction.
Know how French New wave filmmakers admired American genre filmmakers and great
directors. [See esp lecture notes and French New Wave in Ch. 10.] What techniques did
they copy? How does Truffaut use a whimsical cutaway shot in Shoot the Piano Player?
How do we see this process further used by Tarantino? [Here is a line from a good
article on the Shoot the Piano Player that mentions the line I used in my lecture (Lesson
8, and long word doc): ] - Answers - -New Wave critics and directors studied the work of
western classics and applied new avant garde stylistic direction.
-What techniques did they copy?: NOT SURE
-How does Truffaut use a whimsical cutaway shot in Shoot the Piano Player?: When a
gangster tries to trick a kidnapped boy in the film, he says to the kidnapped boy: "I
swear on my old lady's head—May she die if I lie. Immediately--we then cut away of an
old lady grabbing her chest and dying. We then cut back to the gangster and the young
boy. He looks up and says, "Then I believe you."
-How do we see this process further used by Tarantino?: Why did Tarantino rearrange
things so that events in time are out of order?
