Film class final review

Materials to Review for the Final Exam         Spring 2013

I.  Essay question: Sound

ü  Be able to talk about dialogue, music, and sound effects.  

Diegetic: Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film.

Non-diegetic: Sound that does not have its source in the world of the character.  

Synchronous: Sound that is recorded during a scene or that is synchronized with the filmed images.

Asynchronous: A term that describes sound that does not have a visible onscreen source.

ü  Be sure you can talk about how sound interactions with an aspect of editing, mise-en-scène, and cinematography

For example, in an action film, the music might be really fast, and complemented by quick cuts (editing), close ups of the heroes face to see his/her expression of focus (cinematography), and the setting (mise) would a city, where the special effects might be car horns to express the hustle/ bustle of the city.

*** Dialogue – how they express their feelings. How do they create mood or meaning, connect it with Mise en Scence.

***Music: Music that comes from an onscreen source, It allows audiences to experience the film in an immediate and enveloping way, it can reinforce story information through recognizable conventions, and it can make specific events feel timeless.

*** Sound effect:  Can contribute to mood or atmosphere, can create an impression of three-dimensional space, and can help audiences keep track of the action aurally

Ex.) Horror films have creepy music, low key lightening, which is eventually creating suspense.

II.  Questions you should be familiar with: (T/F or Matching)

1.      What year was the term “documentary” coined?  Who coined it?  What is the title of  his film?
1926 coined by, John Grierson, because of this: Nanook of the North, directed by Robert Flaherty. 

2.      What year marks the start of the French New Wave?
1959

3.      What was the first French New Wave film in 1959?
Four hundred blows

4.      Which Italian Neorealist filmmaker was most popular with American audiences?
Vittorio De Sica

5.      From which national cinema does the dialectical montage come?
Soviet or Russian Montage

6.      What are some characteristics of German Expressionism?
Low-key lighting, used for horror film.

7.      What decade did the Third Cinema span?  What are it’s characteristics?

60s-70s. It rejected technical perfection, commercial cinema (Hollywood), and the auteur cinema. It directly address the people. They created the Manifesto – Fernando Solanas / Octavio Getino

8.      What term describes the rise and fall of genre popularity?

Cycles.

9.      In The American Nightmare, what trends were happening when the zombie film began?

Disco movement & capital consumerism

10.  What is Carol Clover’s concept of the Final Girl?

Strong female standing.

11.  What term refers to a documentary that is often staged and humorous, yet generally realistic?

Mock-u-mentary

12.  What is the name of the organization that started the censorship guidelines in the 1930s?

Hayes Office

13.  Name an example of a Non-diegetic element?

Background music, credits, inner-titles,

14.  How would you describe the Classical Hollywood narrative? What is the purpose of the deadline structure in a film?

·         2 protagonists.

·         Tension, excitement.

·         3-part structure: Beginning, Middle, and End.

·         Linear platform,

·         Omnificent and restricted narration, that lends some realism to the film. It adds excitements, is the purpose.

15.  What are the “problems” with the auteur theory?  In what country did it originate?

·         It forgets that the film is a collaborative meeting. Also, creates a hierarchy. it was originated in France.

16.  What journal do we associate with the French New Wave?  Who founded it?

·         Cahrer du cinema, by Andre Bazin

17.  What term describes the alternative narrative forms that emerged in the 1950s?
New wave.

18.  What is a hybrid genre?

It is composed of 2 different genres. Example: Horror and Musical.

19.  What is cinema verite?

Confrontation (in your face) documentary style, from France.

20.  What term describes the images that we associate with particular genres?  These images are specific to certain genres.

Iconography.

21.  What does the term “canon” mean in relationship to film studies?

List of popular, essential films.

22.  Which female director is associated with the Left Bank division of the French New Wave?

Agnes Varda

23.  What was the purpose of the Motion Picture Production Code?

·         Regulate movie contents, depiction of sex, crime, etc…

·         Year was 1930-1960

24.  What are the characteristics of the Italian Neorealist film style?
Realistic dialogue
Non-professional actors
On location.

25.   Define German expressionism.
Dark psychology of the people
Low-key lighting

III. Short answer

1. Be sure that you've seen Run, Lola, Run, know it’s narrative structure, and can think of some themes of the film.

·         3-part structure.

·         Themes: Strong female lead character, Many selling drugs, concluding high unemployment in Germany, fragmentation of the family, parents who are having affairs.

2. Be familiar with what the HUAC and the Hollywood Ten are.
HUAC (House an-American Activities Committee) was a committee set up to uncover communists activity in Hollywood.
Hollywood Ten: Screenwriters, who went to prison.

Be able to talk about Sergei Eisenstein, the dialectical montage, and it’s purpose, which makes it different from the Hollywood montage.

·         Eisenstein is a Russian filmmaker.

·         A (image)  + B (image)  = C (idea)

·         Hollywood was about entertainment.

3. Be familiar with the Paramount decision of 1948.

It ended the monopolization of the studio, by making them sell their theater to private owners.

4. Explain how films change when the Production Code was dissolved in 1968.

            A lot more sex, violence, gang-violence, nudity, and drug-use.