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Chapter 4: Elements of Narrative
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Narratives are fiction films, as opposed to
a. other movie genres, like horror and the musical.
b. other movie techniques, like chiaroscuro lighting.
c. other movie modes, like documentary or experimental.
d. other movie terms, like mise-en-scène.
e. other movie eras, like the silent era.
2. What is narration?
a. the story
b. who or what tells the story
c. fiction films
d. the act of telling the story
e. a cinematic structure in which the filmmakers have selected and arranged events in a cause-and-
effect sequence occurring over time
3. What is the primary narrator in every movie?
a. the camera
b. the protagonist
c. the director
d. the screenwriter
e. the omniscient, third-person storyteller
4. Which of the following represents an example of a first-person narrator?
a. a voice-over in a horror movie from a source we never see, and who knows the thoughts and
feelings of all the characters
b. a voice-over from a private investigator, who talks about the past events of his life as the movie
images show what he is speaking of
c. a voice-over from an instructional authority, who explains important information concerning the
subject of a controversial documentary
d. a voice-over from an undefined source and unconnected to any possible character in an
experimental film
e. a voice from a character talking amid the action of a romantic comedy
5. How many narrations take place at the same time when a character from a film becomes a first-person
narrator?
a. one d. four
b. two e. five
c. three
6. What is direct address narration?
a. first-person voice-over narration delivered to another character
b. third-person voice-over narration delivered in the middle of a film
c. second-person voice-over narration commanding the audience to participate in the film events
d. multiple third-person voice-over narrations
e. first-person narration delivered directly to the audience, breaking the “fourth wall”
7. Which of the following demonstrates the effective use of third-person narration?
a. We enter the thoughts of the protagonist as she relates to the audience in voice-over what she is
truly feeling.
b. We are addressed by the protagonist when he makes an aside to the camera after a particularly
embarrassing moment.
c. We are addressed by an omniscient yet unseen voice who explains to the audience the various
motivations of multiple characters.
d. We are addressed by the filmmaker herself as she provides a warning to sensitive viewers before
the movie story proper begins.
e. We are addressed by several characters over the course of a highly unusual narrative.
8. A film that contains unrestricted access to all aspects of the narrative, providing any character’s
experiences and perceptions as well as information that no character knows, is an example of
a. restricted narration. d. first-person narration.
b. third-person narration. e. Hitchcockian narration.
c. omniscient narration.
9. What is the source of the pleasure involved in watching a film that provides unrestricted access to all
aspects of the narrative?
a. It allows the viewer to directly interact with the film and change its outcome.
b. It allows the viewer to know more than the characters and anticipate what will happen when they
learn the whole truth.
c. It allows the viewer to intensely identify with just a single character.
d. It allows the viewer to engage in a formal experiment conducted by the filmmaker, in which he
tries to make a film using strict limitations and constraints.
e. It allows the viewer to escape into a fantasy world untethered to the logic of reality.
10. Which of the following constitutes restricted narration?
a. a film in which multiple storylines featuring several major characters, none of whom know much
about the others, but of whom the viewer knows all, converge
b. a film in which an omniscient third-person narrator provides information concerning the thoughts
and feelings of several members of a boating expedition
c. a film in which the camera allows the viewer to follow the disparate events leading up to the
assassination of a controversial political leader
d. a film in which the viewer is privy to the machinations of supernatural forces working
unbeknownst to a group of scared campers
e. a film in which a man trapped in a tunnel provides the only point of view by which the audience
sees and understands the action
11. How is the restricted narration of The Black Swan unreliable?
a. The film’s story is told entirely from the point of view of a protagonist who is losing touch with
reality.
b. The film’s story is narrated by a sarcastic third-person narrator.
c. The film’s story is continually shown from dual perspectives: the protagonist’s and that of the
people who think she is insane.
d. The film’s story is told in a highly stylized and heavily frenetic fashion.
e. The film’s story is told in nonchronological order.
12. Which of the following can be said about different types of narration?
a. Restricted and omniscient narration cannot be used within the same film.
b. Restricted and omniscient narration can be used within the same film depending on the needs of
the story.
c. Restricted and omniscient narration can be used within the same film, but only along with a third-
person voice-over narrator.
d. Restricted and omniscient narration can be used within the same film, but only along with a first-
person voice-over narrator.
e. Restricted and omniscient narration can be used within the same film, but only if there is no voice-
over narrator.
13. What is a round character?
a. an important character that is featured in every scene of a movie
b. a special character that comes full circle and ends up the way he or she was in the beginning of a
movie
c. a complex, multidimensional character that changes over the course of a movie
d. an uncomplicated, one-dimensional character that does not change over the course of a movie
e. a stupid, un-“sharp” character that lacks edge
14. Which of the following is NOT true of flat characters?
a. They are always supporting characters.
b. They exhibit few distinct traits.
c. They do not change significantly as the story progresses.
d. They are relatively uncomplicated.
e. They are less dimensional than round characters.
15. What is an antihero?
a. a rival to the protagonist
b. an unsympathetic character in pursuit of a less-than-noble goal
c. a round hero possessing potentially fatal flaws
d. a hero who resorts to violence in pursuit of his or her goal
e. a flat hero who does not possess the nuances audiences expect in a richly compelling main
character
16. What is character motivation?
a. the goal the character pursues
b. the development the character undergoes
c. the obstacles the character must overcome in pursuit of a goal
d. the realistic or plausible reasons behind the character’s actions and desires
e. the ability or inability of the audience to understand a character’s actions and desires
17. The first few minutes of a narrative film lay out the rules of the universe that audiences will inhabit (or
at least witness) for the next couple of hours by establishing the ________ of a narrative film.
a. abnormal situation d. main milieu
b. normal world e. first turn
c. obstacles
18. What is the primary function of secondary characters?
a. to provide comic relief
b. to question the morality of the protagonist
c. to move the story forward or flesh out the motivations of the protagonist
d. to narrate the story
e. to frustrate the protagonist’s quest
19. In The Big Lebowski (1988), the moment when The Dude gets ambushed by two thugs looking for a
different Jeffrey Lebowski is the ________ of the film.
a. normal world d. revelation
b. rising action e. central question
c. inciting incident
20. The nature of the pursuit in a typical narrative movie depends on
a. the filmmaker’s vision. d. the individual character.
b. the protagonist’s rival. e. the actor’s performance.
c. the narrative structure.
21. Which of the following is NOT one of the traits that determines the nature of a character’s pursuit of a
goal?
a. position d. costume
b. background e. attitudes
c. beliefs
22. What is an antagonist?
a. the person, people, creature, or force responsible for obstructing the protagonist
b. an extreme antihero
c. a moment in the narrative structure that spins the story in a new direction
d. a catastrophic nature disaster that provides the climax to many films
e. a badly written second act
23. Narrative cannot exist without the protagonist possessing
a. “round” traits. d. a message.
b. “flat” traits. e. a goal.
c. a sidekick.
24. What does it mean when the stakes rise in a movie?
a. that the movie becomes more profound and complex
b. that the movie provokes its audience to accept controversial political doctrines
c. that as the movie progresses the protagonist confronts greater risks
d. that as the movie progresses the protagonist becomes more significant
e. that as the movie progresses the antagonist gains in strength over the protagonist
25. Which of the following is an example of rising action?
a. in a comedy in which a rich twin and poor twin swap places, the first turning point where the pair
exchanges identities
b. in a documentary, the opening voice-over narration explaining the movie’s topic
c. in a horror film, the build toward the moment when the last survivor of a terrifying monster
believes the possibility to escape is completely lost
d. in a musical, a rousing, “show-stopping” number that involves the entire cast
e. in a film noir, the introduction of the femme fatale who will come to dominate the protagonist’s
life
26. What is a crisis in a movie?
a. when a film contains no conflict
b. when a protagonist must face a seemingly insurmountable obstacle
c. when a production goes over budget
d. when a narrative remains unresolved
e. when a story concerns a social or political issue
27. Which of the following is NOT an example of a climax?
a. the final battle of an epic fantasy film, when the hero agrees to sacrifice his life for the sake of the
kingdom
b. the last bank robbery among a group of thieves, who must put aside their personal conflicts to
achieve success
c. the basketball college championship game, in which an unheralded bench player is called upon to
save his team’s season
d. the discovery of a husband’s adultery by a domestic housewife, an event that forces her to
reevaluate her life and start it over again
e. the moment in a romantic comedy when the man somehow humorously prevents a plane from
taking off so that he can pronounce his love to the woman he almost let get away
28. Each script page, right down to page margins and font style and size, should represent how many
minutes of screen time?
a. 30 seconds d. 3 minutes
b. 1 minute e. 5 minutes
c. 2 minutes
29. What is the name for the professional screenwriters who are hired to review a screenplay and
improve it?
a. rewriters d. script doctors
b. contract screenwriters e. revision artists
c. spec script writers
30. Which of the following is an example of a nondiegetic element?
a. on-screen text that provides chapter “titles” to distinct sections of a film
b. voice-over that evokes the present thoughts of a character
c. a song emanating from the radio of a character’s apartment
d. a dress worn by the main character
e. the background pedestrians of an outdoor crowd scene
31. What is the difference between story and plot?
a. Story contains only the present events of the film; plot contains past and future events.
b. Story contains only explicitly presented information; plot contains explicit and implicit
information.
c. Story contains no diegetic elements; plot contains only diegetic elements.
d. Story contains the explicit and implicit events of the film; plot contains the explicit events in a
specifically selected arrangement.
e. There is no difference.
32. Which of the following elements would be considered part of the story but not the plot?
a. the opening credit sequence
b. the film’s musical score
c. implied action that happens between two scenes
d. third-person voice-over narration
e. a climactic final showdown between the protagonist and the antagonist
33. How do viewers understand the relationship between story and plot?
a. They piece together the plot through the presented story elements.
b. They piece together the story through the presented plot elements.
c. They disregard the story in order to focus exclusively on the plot.
d. They disregard the plot in order to focus exclusively on the story.
e. They care for neither the story nor the plot but instead the narrative.
34. Which of the following constitutes a significant reason why filmmakers tell stories out of
chronological order?
a. to conceal the fact that the story makes no sense
b. to prevent the audience from enjoying the movie
c. to attract attention to an otherwise uninteresting story
d. to emphasize importance or meaning
e. to experiment with narrative for the sake of it
35. What is a backstory?
a. the exposition of a movie
b. the first draft of a movie
c. a fictional history behind the situation existing at the start of the main story
d. the presentation of events in reverse chronological order
e. the experiences or events that spin the action in a new direction in a movie
36. Why was the structure of Citizen Kane so difficult for audiences of its time?
a. It demanded that they care for unsympathetic characters.
b. Its distinction between past, present, and future events was highly ambiguous.
c. It asked the audience to fill in plot details and order the story out of an elliptical narrative.
d. It covered too much historical time for an audience to properly process.
e. It never explicitly stated when the events in the story took place.
37. Which of the following films was greatly influenced by Citizen Kane in terms of plot structure?
a. Great Expectations d. Pulp Fiction
b. The Social Network e. Gladiator
c. 127 Hours
38. Which of the following would NOT be considered a major event in a film?
a. An aspiring actor asks a man on the street for the time as he rushes to get to rehearsal for which he
might be late.
b. A hermit receives an e-mail from a former friend that forces him to choose whether to see the
other.
c. A boxer is asked to throw a fight: This is against his principles, but it will allow him a shot at the
heavyweight championship bout.
d. A captain in the army is ordered to demote a soldier he knows is actually being treated unfairly.
e. A writer catches her best friend cheating on her husband, who is also the writer’s friend.
39. What is story duration?
a. the amount of time that the implied story takes to occur
b. the amount of time it takes to summarize the story to someone who has not seen the film
c. the elapsed time of those events within the story that the film explicitly presents
d. the amount of time it takes to shoot the film
e. the movie’s running time on-screen
40. What is plot duration?
a. the amount of time that the implied story takes to occur
b. the amount of time it takes to summarize the story to someone who hasn’t seen the film
c. the elapsed time of those events within the story that the film explicitly presents
d. the amount of time it takes to shoot the film
e. the movie’s running time on-screen
41. What is screen duration?
a. the amount of time that the implied story takes to occur
b. the amount of time it takes to summarize the story to someone who hasn’t seen the film
c. the elapsed time of those events within the story that the film explicitly presents
d. the amount of time it makes to shoot the film
e. the movie’s running time on-screen
42. Why must filmmakers pay particular attention to screen duration?
a. because films technically cannot run longer than three hours
b. because the running time of a film is usually dictated by budget as well as audience considerations
c. because running time always affects how much an audience is willing to believe a movie’s story
and plot duration
d. because a movie must be at least an hour long to effectively depict at least a week of real time
e. because a movie must be shorter than three hours long to effectively depict at most a century of
real time
43. In a Hollywood film what is the typical relation of a plot event to a story event?
a. A plot event is much longer than a story event.
b. A plot event is a little longer than a story event.
c. A plot event is equivalent in time to a story event.
d. A plot event is a little shorter than a story event.
e. A plot event is much shorter than a story event.
44. What is a summary relationship?
a. a brief synopsis of a film
b. the background story of a character
c. the chemistry between romantic leads
d. when screen time is shorter than plot time
e. when screen time is shorter than story time
45. Which of the following demonstrates a stretch relationship between screen and plot duration?
a. A five-minute scene captures in dramatic slow motion a two-minute shootout between police and a
gang of bank robbers.
b. A 145-minute film covers the twenty-year career of a major league baseball player.
c. A minute-long flashback portrays a character thinking through the most important moments of his
entire life.
d. An opening sequence summarizes the major events of the Vietnam War from beginning to end.
e. A short montage sequence encapsulates a typical school day for a teenage girl.
46. What device typically allows for the possibility of a stretch relationship in cinematic time?
a. voice-over narration d. lighting
b. editing e. sound track music
c. camera movement
47. What is the advantage of suspense over surprise?
a. Suspense momentarily shocks the viewer.
b. Suspense disengages the viewer from the narrative by making events entirely predictable, thus
allowing him to critically think about them.
c. Suspense is easier to place into a script than surprise.
d. Suspense makes the viewer active in watching the film by causing her to wonder at how events
will unfold or turn out.
e. Suspense can be used in all types of movies, whereas surprise can only be used for thrillers and
horror films.
48. What does the repetition of a story element signal?
a. that the filmmakers have made a continuity error
b. that the element is relatively insignificant because it is overemphasized
c. that the element is relatively important because it is part of a pattern
d. that the element can be removed from the film and made an object of study on its own
e. that the element is one of the director’s “trademarks” placed in the narrative for only die-hard fans
49. What does the setting of a film consist of?
a. the time and place in which the story occurs
b. the time and place in which the film was shot
c. the time and place in which the film is projected to an audience
d. the time and place in which the backstory occurs
e. the genre to which the film belongs
50. Which of the following CANNOT be established or provided by setting?
a. the date the film takes place
b. the social background of a character
c. the educational background of a character
d. what a character eats
e. the overall editing style of the film
51. What do we mean when we refer to the “scope” of a film?
a. a type of screen format
b. a type of camera lens
c. an epic quality attributed to adventure and historical films
d. the overall range, in time and place, of the movie’s story
e. the overall range, in emotion, of the movie’s characters
52. Which of the following describes the relationship between plot and story in Stagecoach?
a. The plot takes place over a lengthy period of time and covers the lives of several characters,
whereas the story takes place in just two days and mostly brings the characters together to trace their
progress.
b. The plot takes place in just two days and mostly brings the characters together to trace their
progress, whereas the story takes place over a lengthy period of time and covers the lives of several
characters.
c. The story and plot never converge.
d. The story and plot are exactly the same.
e. The story and plot are lacking within the film.
53. Which of the following is a flat character in Stagecoach?
a. Dallas d. Lucy
b. Ringo e. Peacock
c. Doc Boone
54. What common goal do the characters of Stagecoach share?
a. exacting revenge on the Plummers d. reaching Lordsburg
b. creating new lives on the frontier e. resolving social divisions
c. defeating Geronimo
55. Which of the following describes the order of the story events in Stagecoach?
a. chronological
b. nonchronological
c. both chronological and nonchronological
d. obscure
e. unknown
56. Which of the following is a diegetic element in Stagecoach?
a. opening titles d. background music
b. closing titles e. closing credits
c. a honky-tonk piano in the bar
57. Which of the following is a minor plot event in Stagecoach?
a. Buck’s wavering enthusiasm for driving the stagecoach against the odds
b. Ringo’s willingness to risk his life to bring the stagecoach under control as the Apaches attack
c. Ringo’s attempt to escape at Apache Wells
d. Dallas’s decision at the Apache Wells station to accept Ringo’s proposal
e. Marshal Curly Wilcox’s decision to set Ringo free
58. Which of the following characterizes the scope of Stagecoach?
a. narrow d. nonmythic
b. broad e. courageous
c. overwhelming.
59. What is “manifest destiny” in relation to Westerns?
a. a social theme concerning the belief that the United States really belongs to Native Americans
b. a social theme concerning the corrupting influence of civilization
c. a social theme concerning doubts as to America’s inherent greatness
d. a social theme concerning the environmental destruction of the Old West
e. a social theme concerning the inevitability of God-ordained territorial expansion
60. Which of the following is one of the beliefs that is persistently expressed in the movies of John Ford?
a. that Americans can only achieve liberty through individual pursuits
b. that manifest destiny was a philosophy in opposition to those of the founding fathers
c. that the wilderness should not be explored or tamed by civilizing forces
d. that civilization occurs as a result of a genuine community built through heroism and shared values
e. that social hierarchies must be upheld in order to foster democracy
TOP: Looking at Narrative in Stagecoach MSC: Remembering
ESSAY
1. Explain why the camera is the primary narrator in every movie.
2. Why is it that movie stories are invigorated by a plethora of possible character traits available for
possible character types?
3. Using a hypothetical example, explain how a movie protagonist in active pursuit of a goal invests the
viewer in the story.
4. Using a hypothetical example, explain how a happy ending in a movie is not always dependent on the
protagonist achieving his or her goals.
5. Explain how an inciting incident, or catalyst, moves a typical narrative forward.
6. Why does narrative depend on obstacles to impede the protagonist from reaching his or her goal?
7. Using a hypothetical example, explain how story and plot can overlap in creative ways.
8. Provide an example of three movies with similar or the same stories, and then explain how each is
uniquely conveyed to the audience through distinct plots.
MSC: Applying
9. What does the hierarchy of events consist of, and why is it important?
10. Using a hypothetical example, explain “real time” in terms of screen and plot duration.
11. Using a hypothetical example, explain what a “familiar image” is and how it functions in narrative
filmmaking.
12. How do the two main subtypes of the biopic, a historical figure’s life as told through one significant
episode or period, or else through a series of events, often from birth to death, reveal the many ways in
which scope can be employed in movies?
13. Why do character traits in Stagecoach transform over the course of its story?
14. How does the setting of the stagecoach emphasize the importance of social hierarchy to the story and
characters?
15. Explain the complexities of Stagecoach’s representation of wilderness and civilization.
