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SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE

The study guide consists of three parts:

  1. Take-Home Essays
  2. List of Terms
  3. Sample Exam with Answers

I . Take-Home Essays (2 @ 25 pts. each)

Write short essays of about 400-500 words each in response to (1) and (2) below. Single-spaced in 12-point font with one-inch margins, each essay must fit on one side of an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper. Put only your TECH ID (not your name) in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet, along with other information identifying the essay.

Emphasize your knowledge of specific dramatic and cinematic concepts by CAPITALIZING or boldfacing terms introduced in Boggs. Your task is to demonstrate your powers of observation and interpretation as well as your understanding of film techniques. Since you have only limited space in which to do so, do not use lazy, imprecise, or inefficient language; instead, use an economical structure, concise sentences, and precise naming. Choose carefully, so that the resulting essays adequately demonstrate the depth and breadth of your cinematic knowledge.

1.  Cinematic Techniques and Effects:  Much of this class has focused on the use of specific cinematic techniques and their effects on viewers.  Analyze the use of any specific cinematic or editing (note: not "sound") technique from Boggs’ glossary (e.g., montage, indirect-subjective perspective, parallel editing etc.), and its effects, in at least three films viewed in class.  Describe the particular uses of that technique in authoritative detail, paying attention to relevant historical contexts and technological developments.  Note: all course films are available for study at Media Services in Phelps Hall.

2. Sound and Score:  We've now seen 10 full-length feature films in H140, from 1924's Sherlock Jr. to 1999's Boys Don't Cry.  Answer either [a] or [b] below, referring frequently to specific course films, and their uses of sound or score, to support your claims.

  1. What function(s) does the generalized score accomplish in the feature film?  How have these functions changed over the years with the development, and later commercialization, of direct sound technology?

  2. To what effect(s) can a filmmaker use different kinds of sound other than the score (e.g., effects, ambient sounds, dialogue), and how have these uses changed over the years with developments in direct sound technology?

II. Terms for Study

Here's a list of terms you should know; expect to be able to name and recognize examples from the films and scenes shown in class. (The fact that a term appears on this list does not mean it will appear on the exam; conversely, the exam may well include questions on concepts or statements from Boggs not contained on this list.)  

Color

  Sound and Music

Acting & casting

III. Sample Exam with Answers

Part II, Multiple Choice (50 items @ 1 pt. each

This part of the exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions drawn from lecture and discussion material from weeks 6-9; chs. 7-11 & 15 (pp. 446-54) of Boggs; supplemental reading, including the required reserve articles on M and Do the Right Thing; the Playboy article on Brandon Teena ("Death of a Deceiver," by Erik Konigsberg); the fable "Beauty and the Beast"; and the films Do the Right Thing, M, Boys Don’t Cry, and Cinema Paradiso. Most questions will ask that you apply cinematic concepts from the Boggs text to the films we have screened in class. Expect some particular attention to the specific scenes provided on each film's web page.  You can take the 10-item sample exam below.

1. According to Boggs, INVISIBLE SOUNDS

  1. can include dialogue and the score, but not sound effects.
  2. emanate from offscreen sources.
  3. allow viewers to hear the words of a character speaking onscreen.
  4. are used only in highly experimental films.

2.  Boggs notes that great care must be taken in CASTING actors who can portray the younger versions of characters who are shown to grow up during a story, such as in

  1. Do the Right Thing.
  2. M.
  3. Cinema Paradiso.
  4. Boys Don't Cry.

3. After his role in M, Peter Lorre played a series of despicable cowards, tortured lackeys, and weak-willed traitors, making him the victim of what Boggs calls

  1. BROADCASTING.
  2. TYPECASTING.
  3. MICKEY MOUSING.
  4. PANNING.

4. Given Boggs’ description of DOLBY SURROUND-SOUND, which films were most likely to have been mixed using this particular technique?

  1. Sherlock, Jr. and M.
  2. On the Waterfront and The Seventh Seal.
  3. Boys Don't Cry and Do the Right Thing.
  4. none of the above films would likely have been mixed using Dolby Surround-Sound.

5. According to Boggs, how did Do the Right Thing sound editor Skip Lievsay mix the film’s soundtrack to convey an impression of temperature?

  1. by MANIPULATING the VOLUME of AMBIENT SOUNDS and ADDING EFFECTS.
  2. by ELIMINATING all AMBIENT SOUNDS.
  3. by choosing NOT to use a GENERALIZED SCORE.
  4. by having actors OVERDUB their lines.

6. While Chaplin's 1936 film Modern Times can be seen as "the last stand against the talkie," Lang's 1931 M is best seen as

  1. the first film to use direct sound.
  2. one of the first films to make intensive use of the musical score throughout the narrative.
  3. a successful early integration of sound technologies and techniques.
  4. a prototypical silent film.

7. According to Boggs, FILM ACTING
  1. is identical to stage acting.
  2. requires greater projection than stage acting.
  3. is much more difficult than stage acting.
  4. differs from stage acting in several ways.

8. According to Boggs, these two directors are generally considered the ultimate AUTEURS:
  1. Fritz Lang and Max Ophuls.
  2. Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
  3. Orson Welles and Ingmar Bergman.
  4. Spike Lee and Jane Campion.

9. In M, Fritz Lang uses MONTAGE (shots of an empty table setting, a balloon caught in utility wires, a ball rolling to a stop in a field) to convey the death of Elsie Beckmann. The following SOUND TECHNIQUE emphasizes the shock of the sequence of images:

  1. GENERALIZED SCORE.
  2. DEAD TRACK.
  3. LEITMOTIF.
  4. AMBIENT SOUNDS.

10.    In the concluding scene of Cinema Paradiso — as the contents of Alfredo’s package are revealed to Salvatore — what SOUND TECHNIQUE is used to heighten our emotional response?

  1. a GENERALIZED SCORE, which swells to a crescendo.
  2. PETER-AND-THE-WOLFING. 
  3. DEAD SCREEN, with the absence of onscreen action calling attention to the sounds. 
  4. DEAD TRACK, with silence emphasizing the shock of the onscreen image.

 

Check the answer key.

Exam answers and grades will be posted on the "exams and grades" page of the course web.