Study Guide for Midterm Exam
Introduction to Film
Covers chapters 1, 4 thru 9 & notes from lectures
The purpose of this guide is to give the student direction in terms of studying for the midterm exam. The study guide does not take the place of being in class, reading the assigned materials, and taking notes. The study guide is meant as a help for students as they review the material they have read and heard previously. Feel free to email me with any questions you have about the study guide.
Make sure to have read all assigned chapters in the text.
Go over all notes from class. Most of the questions are based on material presented in class and on Canvas.
Review material from videos shown in class - films, directors, documentaries.
Look over chapter objectives and key terms listed in each chapter.
Chapters 1 and 6 plus notes from class:
a. What are the three phases of production and what generally happens during those phases?
b. What are the differences between the director, the producer, and the director of photography?
c. What is a canted angle and what is if used for?
d. What are some of the functions of moving camera shots?
e. What does the concept of invisibility mean in films?
f. How do movies differ from plays and other art forms?
g. What is explicit and implicit meaning in films?
h. What are visual effects? What are some of the common methods used?
Notes from class on film history:
a. Who were the key figures in the beginning of filmmaking?
b. How were films shown to audiences in the early days?
c. What studios were responsible for the development of sound in pictures?
d. What are some of the foreign film movements and how do they differ?
Chapter 4 and class notes:
a. What are the basic elements of narrative?
b. What is the difference between round characters vs flat characters?
c. What is point of view and how does it operate in films?
d. What are diegetic and non-diegetic elements?
e. What is the difference between story and plot?
Chapter 5 and class notes:
a. What does a production designer do?
b. What are the tools of production design?
c. What are mattes and how are they used in production design?
d. What does mise - en -scene mean?
e. What are the different types of lighting in cinematography?
Chapter 7 and class notes:
a. What was Stanislavsky's contribution to modern acting?
b. What are the some of the problems film actors have to deal with that stage actors don't?
c. How does casting occur - different methods of casting?
d. What are the different categories of actors?
Chapter 8 and class notes:
a. What are the functions of editing?
b. What are the basic methods of joining shots together - transitions, etc.
c. What does it mean to create parallel action in a film?
d. What are the conventions of continuity editing?
e. What is the content curve and how does it affect editing?
Chapter 9 and class notes:
a. What were some of the contributions Dolby made to film sound?
b. What are the types/sources of sounds in a film?
c. What are the functions of movie music and film sound in general - how do they differ from each other?
d. What is a leitmotif?
e. What are the codes of sound design? How do they differ?
Films featured in the book, class, or online assignments that should be noted: (the films mentioned in class should be in your notes)
The Birds & Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock
Birth of a Nation - D. W. Griffith
The Searchers - John Ford
Casablanca - Michael Curtiz
City Lights - Charlie Chaplin
The Godfather pt 1 & 2 - Francis Ford Coppola
Saving Private Ryan - Stephen Spielberg
It Happened One Night - Frank Capra
Birth of a Nation - D. W. Griffith
The Great Train Robbery - Edwin S. Porter
A Trip to the Moon - Georges Melies
Greed - Eric Von Stroheim
Train Coming into the Station - Lumiere Bros.
The Jazz Singer - Alan Crosland
Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein
2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick
Terminator 2 - James Cameron
Citizen Kane - Orson Welles
The Maltese Falcon - John Huston
(Tip: You can go online to IMDB.com and review these movies. Make sure to look at film frames/photos to more easily recognize these films on the test. Don't forget the directors.)