film studies

Question 1

Narrative

Answer 1

Narrative refers to the over all structure of a film; how the story is told.

Question 2

Story

Answer 2

Story is the journey the characters go on; there may be many stories within a narrative. Spectators also understand the characters’ stories exist outside the narrative.

Question 3

Plot

Answer 3

Plot refers to the events which happen along the way.

Question 4

Propp’s Theory of Character

Answer 4

Propp suggested every narrative has eight different character types: hero, villain, dispatcher, donor, helper, princess, father and false hero.

Question 5

Todorov’s Narrative Theory

Answer 5

Todorov’s theory suggests all narratives follow a three part structure beginning with equilibrium, followed by disruption and therefore disequilibrium; finally equilibrium is restored.

Question 6

Name 5 narrative devices

Answer 6

Voice over.
Flashback/forward.
Parallel.
Linear.
Freeze frame.

Question 7

Levi-Strauss Binary Oppositions

Answer 7

Conflict is what drives narrative. Levi-Strauss proposed a theory of binary opposites; if we have a hero we must have a villain; old v young; dark v light and so on.

Question 8

Diegetic sound

Answer 8

Sound that has its source in the narrative world of the film, whose characters are presumed to be able to hear it

Question 9

Non-diegetic sound

Answer 9

Sound that can be heard by the audience only, not the characters.

Question 10

Rule of Three

Answer 10

Imaginary lines on a screen, sectioning it into three so everything stays in proportion.

Question 11

Foley Artist

Answer 11

The sound editor who creates or adapts and dubs onto the sound track various ambient or special sound effects.

Question 12

Auteur

Answer 12

A filmmaker whose personal influence and artistic control over a movie are so great that the filmmaker is regarded as the author of the movie.

Question 13

Intertextuality

Answer 13

When a film explicitly or implicitly refers to another, such as props//music//sets which are deliberately similar to another film

Question 14

3 core study areas of film studies.

Answer 14

Area 1- Key elements of film form: sound, editing, mise-en-scene, cinematography, performance.

Area 2- Meaning and response: Representation, aesthetic.

Area 3- Context: Social, cultural, political, historical, institutional.

Question 15

What are the films you study for Hollywood film (1930-1990)?

Answer 15

Vertigo and Alien.

Question 16

What are the 2 specialist study areas for Hollywood film (1930-1990)?

Answer 16

Context and Auteur.

Question 17

What are the films you study for American film since 2005?

Answer 17

La La Land and Captain Fantastic.

Question 18

What are the 2 specialist study areas for American film since 2005?

Answer 18

Spectatorship and Ideology.

Question 19

What are the films you study for British film since 1995?

Answer 19

Shaun of the Dead and This is England.

Question 20

What are the 2 specialist study areas for British film since 1995?

Answer 20

Narrative and Ideology.

Question 21

What are the films you study for Global cinema?

Answer 21

Pan’s Labyrinth and City of God.

Question 22

Are there any specialist study areas for Global cinema?

Answer 22

No.

Question 23

What film do you study for Documentary film ?

Answer 23

AMY.

Question 24

What are the 2 specialist study areas for Documentary film?

Answer 24

Critical Debates and Filmmaker’s Theories.

Question 25

Whose films do you study for Film movement: Silent cinema?

Answer 25

Buster Keaton.

Question 26

What is the specialist study area for Silent cinema?

Answer 26

Critical Debates.

Question 27

What film do you study for Film movement: Experimental film?

Answer 27

Memento.

Question 28

What are the 2 specialist study areas for Experimental film?

Answer 28

Narrative and an Alternative Narrative, and Auteur.