early debates in film theory

Question 1

film has often been treated as…

Answer 1

inferior to established art forms

Question 2

photography & film could be dismissed because they…

Answer 2

merely reproduce reality

Question 3

who are the 4 major writers of film as art before the 1960s?

Answer 3

1. Sergi M. Eisenstein
2. Rudolf Arnheim
3. Siegfried Kracauer
4. Andre Bazin

Question 4

Eisenstein was a [1] who wrote about [2]

Answer 4

1. soviet director
2. montage in the late 1920s

Question 5

Arnheim was a [1] who wrote [2]

Answer 5

1. german psych prof
2. Film As Art, 1933

Question 6

Kracauer was a [1] who wrote [2]

Answer 6

1. german sociology prof
2. From Caligari to Hitler, 1947

Question 7

Bazin was a [1] who wrote [2]

Answer 7

1. french film magazine editor
2. What Is Cinema, 1950s

Question 8

Eisenstien and Arnheim are both:

Answer 8

formalists

Question 9

formalists defended cinema by…

Answer 9

celebrating the differences between film and reality

Question 10

Eisenstien believed that cinema was… (2)

Answer 10

1. doing things no other art forms could
2. a distinct art form in its own right

Question 11

Eisenstein focused primarily on what to describe the differences between film and reality?

Answer 11

editing

Question 12

Arnheim contested the idea that [1] by [2]

Answer 12

1. film merely reproduces reality
2. explain the choices filmmakers make

Question 13

Arnheim’s writng made readers see…

Answer 13

the artistic complexity of things that had been taken for granted

Question 14

for formalists, the best cinema…

Answer 14

draws attention to the filmmaker’s art

Question 15

expressionism and soviet montage are both examples of…

Answer 15

formalism

Question 16

what are two examples of formalism?

Answer 16

1. Rashomon
2. Citizen Kane

Question 17

realists defend cinema by…

Answer 17

celebrating its basis in the reproduction of reality

Question 18

Kracauer believed that…

Answer 18

cinema should embrace its ability to reproduce reality because that’s what makes it special

Question 19

Kracauer wrote about…

Answer 19

the relationship between film and politics during the rise of the nazis

Question 20

Kracauer saw expressionism as..

Answer 20

a cowardly retreat from confronting reality head on

Question 21

Bazin believed cinema should be free from…

Answer 21

distortion

Question 22

Bazin believed the selling point of film was its…

Answer 22

objective nature

Question 23

bazin believed editing [1] because [2]

Answer 23

1. results in falsehood
2. it breaks shots of reality into fragments

Question 24

define deep focus.

Answer 24

a shot in which everything was in sharp focus, no matter how far from the camera

Question 25

deep focus makes what possible?

Answer 25

Bazin's ideal films, made of long takes with few cuts

Question 26

all four writers disdained...

Answer 26

conventional Hollywood films

Question 27

Kracauer and Bazin are both...

Answer 27

realists