Review for the Final

Question 1

Briefly describe the kind of agreement actors made with studios at the time of the big 5

Answer 1

Actors work for one studio at a time and often star in multiple films per year

Question 2

When did citizen kane come out in theatres?

Answer 2

1941

Question 3

What was the story of citizen kane based on?

Answer 3

The life of William Randolph Hearst, whose newspapers created an infamous smear campaign to try and stop the movie being made or released

Question 4

What are some technical innovations of Citizen Kane?

Answer 4

Deep focus cinematography

Including ceilings in studio sets

Using latex makeup to age actors

Question 5

Name two films part of the ‘film noir’ period and the decade they came out

Answer 5

The Maltese Falcon early 40s (41’)

Sunset boulevard 50’

Question 6

The maltese falcon kick started which film noir genre?

Answer 6

Detective

Question 7

What characterizes the film noir concept in general?

Answer 7

Morality; nothing is black and white, the world of film noir is gray, morally good characters will have changed, people die

Question 8

Briefly describe the French New Wave

Answer 8

A movement where french film critics turned filmmakers rejected “classic Hollywood cinema” and ignored film conventions

Question 9

What did the french new wave inspire?

Answer 9

The American New Wave/New Hollywood Era in the late 60s and 70s

Question 10

Name 5 iconic original 3D movies that paved the way for future 3D movies, which time span did these movies come out in?

Answer 10

1950-1954

Bwana Devil (big lion terrorizes railway workers)

House of Wax

It came from outer space

Creature from the black lagoon

Dial M for Murder

Way to remember the 3D movies; ‘The lagoon creature from space murdered the lion with wax’

Question 11

Which 3D film did paris hilton starr in the remake of in 2004?

Answer 11

House of Wax

Question 12

What did modern critics derive from the 3D film It Came from Outer Space?

Answer 12

It’s an analogy for attitudes towards communism in America at the time

Question 13

Who directed Dial M for Murder?

Answer 13

Alfred Hitchcock

Question 14

Which modern film was inspired by the 3D movie Creature from the Black Lagoon? Who was the director?

Answer 14

The shape of water

Guillermo Del Torro

Question 15

Who were the Hollywood 10?

Answer 15

A group of 10 film industry members that refused to testify to an anti-communist committee hearing

Question 16

Briefly describe what happened to Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood 10 during the period of Mccarthyism

Answer 16

Blacklisted from the industry (via The Waldorf Statement) as they failed to clear their names as communists or communist sympathizers in special hearings

Question 17

Which persons in film were responsible for bringing method acting to screen and which film did they first demonstrate this through?

Answer 17

Marlon Brando and dir. Elia Kazan

A streetcar named Desire

Question 18

What was the straw that broke the camel’s back if the camel’s back were the Hays code?

Answer 18

The film Psycho

Question 19

List 4 uncanny things the film Psycho did and it’s director

Answer 19

Alfred Hitchcock

• kills protagonist in 30 min
• killer is the boy next door
• wouldn’t allow people into the theatre if they were late (to preserve the twists)
• 100% broke the hays code

Question 20

Which decade did the Hays code fall apart and what was it replaced with?

Answer 20

60s

A Ratings system

Question 21

What award did Sidney Poitier win?

Answer 21

The first African American to win Best Actor in Lilies of the Fields (63)

Question 22

What was the significance of Sidney Poitier’s fame at that time historically?

Answer 22

Vital to shifting segregation at a critical time

Question 23

When did blaxploitation emerge and with which 2 films?

Answer 23

1971

Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song

Shaft

Question 24

Which film kickstarted the slasher genre and in which decade?

Answer 24

Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974

Question 25

Briefly describe what a cinerama is

Answer 25

Panorama curved widescreen film

Question 26

Briefly describe what a cinemascope is

Answer 26

86% wider rectangular screen

Question 27

Briefly describe the underlying tone of the “New Hollywood Cinema” phase

Which decade did it occur?

Answer 27

New Hollywood Cinema
Late 60s early 70s

Films were artistic > entertaining

Question 28

Which first blockbuster film inspired the American film industry’s shift out of the New Hollywood Cinema phase? In which year did the film come out?

Answer 28

Jaws 1975

Question 29

Which American film industry phase followed the New Hollywood Cinema phase?

When and what can this next phase be characterised by?

Answer 29

80s Blockbusters

Made to be universal and highly profitable
- sequels
- franchises

Question 30

What is the significance of the film Armageddon when we think about typical blockbusters at that time?

Answer 30

The last highest-grossing film of the year to not be part of a franchise

Question 31

Name two examples of highest-grossing films that were NOT part of a franchise when they originally released but later became a franchise

Answer 31

Avatar
Frozen

Question 32

Briefly describe the kinds of films that made the direct-to-video transition the most successfully

Answer 32

Low budget action horror
Sequels to box office films
Family films

Question 33

Which movie kicked off the Indies in the 90s and who directed it?

Answer 33

Do The Right Thing, dir. by Spike Lee

Question 34

Name 3 major directors who got their start being discovered at low-budget indie film festivals

Answer 34

Steven Soderbergh
Katheryn Bigelow
Quentin Tarantino

Question 35

Which Star wars movie was the first to incorporate digitally shot footage?

Answer 35

Episode 1 - the Phantom Menace

Question 36

Which Star wars movie was almost entirely shot digitally?

Answer 36

Episode 2 - The Clone Wars

Question 37

What was Slumdog Millionaire the first film to win?

Answer 37

First digitally shot film to win Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards