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Chapter 6: Cinematography
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The cinematographer is also known as the
a. visual director. d. lighting director.
b. filmographer. e. director of photography.
c. video recordist.
2. Although the director’s vision shapes a movie’s mise-en-scène, the cinematographer must make
decisions about
a. the casting of the principal actors.
b. how to photograph the movie.
c. the editing of the shots.
d. when to question the credibility of an actor’s performance.
e. the emotional truth of the screenplay’s dialogue.
3. Each time that a planned shot is captured is called a
a. scene. d. take.
b. sequence. e. setup.
c. shot.
4. A ________ is an unbroken span of action capture by an uninterrupted run of the camera.
a. scene d. slate
b. sequence e. setup
c. shot
5. The term for one camera position and everything associated with it is
a. a take. d. the shooting ratio.
b. the format. e. a setup.
c. the scene.
6. During production, the crew most closely associated with the camera consists of
a. the director and the production manager.
b. the production designer, editor, and assistant director.
c. the gaffer and best boy.
d. the camera operator and the first and second assistant camerapersons (ACs).
e. grips and electricians.
7. The ________ is the person responsible for feeding film stock into magazines that are then loaded onto
the camera during production.
a. loader d. best boy
b. first assistant cameraperson e. grip
c. gaffer
8. Cinematographic properties of the shot controlled by the DP include the recording medium, lighting,
and
a. location. d. editing.
b. lenses. e. mise-en-scène.
c. genre.
9. By 2012, what percentage of the top-grossing feature films were shot digitally?
a. 10 percent d. 60 percent
b. 25 percent e. 75 percent
c. 50 percent
10. A film stock’s “speed” refers to its
a. ease of use. d. cost.
b. motion through the camera. e. size.
c. sensitivity to light.
11. Since 1968, virtually all Hollywood feature films used ________ film stock.
a. grainy d. black and white
b. stereoscopic e. color
c. fast
12. What do you call the fragments of image information that a digital camera captures with its electronic
sensor?
a. silver halide crystals d. grips
b. pixels e. gaffers
c. gauges
13. The specialized digital format that compresses all pixel information into manageably sized files for
editing and viewing is known as a
a. codec. d. Steadicam.
b. additive color system. e. dolly.
c. thumb drive.
14. Which film switched between eighteen different stocks and formats to give the story a feeling of
disorienting instability?
a. Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace
b. The Searchers
c. Tangerine
d. Carol
e. Natural Born Killers
15. The use of color film stock for John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) was probably due less to aesthetics
than to.
a. the scarcity of black-and-white film stock following World War II.
b. industry trends.
c. advances in camera technology.
d. budgetary concerns.
e. John Wayne’s contract demands.
16. Why do audiences associate black-and-white photography and cinematography with a stronger sense
of unidealized realism than that provided by color film stock?
a. Color images are distracting.
b. The plots of black-and-white films are more realistic.
c. The reason is the historical use of black-and-white images for documentaries and newspaper
photographs.
d. Black-and-white images offer ambiguous moral positions for characters.
e. Color films are more closely associated with fantasy.
17. Why is it unusual that protagonist Marshal Will Kane in High Noon (1952) wears a black hat?
a. It makes it difficult to see his eyes.
b. It was uncomfortable for the film’s star, Gary Cooper.
c. It is not what was described in the screenplay.
d. Dark tones are traditionally associated with antagonists.
e. It is not part of an authentic wardrobe of nineteenth-century law enforcement officers.
18. The additive process to render color images on film stock was replaced by the ________ process in the
1930s.
a. monochromatic d. toning
b. hand-tinting e. subtractive
c. stenciling
19. When mixed together in varying degrees, the three primary additive colors, consisting of ________,
can produce all the other colors in the spectrum.
a. red, green, and blue d. brown, black, and green
b. red, green, and cyan e. magenta, red, and yellow
c. black, white, and blue
20. Which color film system recorded images on three separate strips of film simultaneously?
a. Kodak d. Monopack
b. Cinecolor e. Fujichrome
c. Technicolor
21. A colored filter placed before the lens is often used to correct
a. focus. d. performance.
b. color temperature. e. aspect ratio.
c. framing.
22. Hollywood became the center of American film production in part because of
a. its proximity to Mexico.
b. the color temperature of West Coast sunshine.
c. its exotic appeal to audiences.
d. the abundance of sunshine.
e. local access to film equipment manufacturers.
23. The use of ________ during filming can manipulate natural light by redirecting it.
a. key light d. silks
b. flags e. bounce boards
c. backlight
24. Adjusting the aperture of a camera lens changes the
a. focal length of the lens.
b. implied proximity of the camera to the subject.
c. contrast of the filmed image.
d. amount of light that passes through the lens.
e. color temperature of the light source.
25. The ________ lens tends to exaggerate the perceived spatial relationship between the subject and the
camera.
a. wide-angle d. normal
b. telephoto e. macro
c. prime
26. The selective use of a ________ lens during the filming of a scene from Sunset Boulevard (1950)
captured images that relate to our day-to-day experience of depth and perception.
a. zoom d. fisheye
b. normal e. short-focal-length
c. variable-focal-length
27. Wide-angle, normal, and telephoto lenses with fixed focal lengths are known as ________ lenses.
a. realistic d. stationary
b. documentary e. prime
c. zoom
28. The middle-focal-length lens (from 35mm to 50mm) is also known as a
a. fisheye lens. d. wide-angle lens.
b. telephoto lens. e. normal lens.
c. zoom lens.
29. “Depth of field” refers to the distances in front of the camera (and its lens) in which the subjects are
a. distorted. d. dwarfed by the environment.
b. out of focus. e. in apparent sharp focus.
c. in the frame.
30. The change of the point of focus from one subject to another during a shot is known as a
a. focal-length shift. d. wandering.
b. change in perspective. e. depth change.
c. rack focus.
31. When framing a shot, cinematographers are limited by the aspect ratio, which is the
a. perceived depth of field of an image.
b. relationship between the focal length and the film gauge.
c. size of the projected image.
d. ratio of the width of the image to its height.
e. ratio between the key light and fill light.
32. Up until the 1950s, the standard aspect ratio of most 35mm Hollywood films was ________, which is
known as the Academy ratio.
a. 1.66:1 d. 1.85:1
b. 1.375:1 e. 2.75:1
c. 2.35:1
33. The terms “long shot” and “medium shot” refer to
a. the implied distance between the camera lens and the subject being filmed.
b. the duration of a take.
c. the focal length of the lens.
d. the distance between a subject being filmed and the background.
e. the amount of light needed to capture an image on film.
34. When an extreme long shot is used to provide spatial context at the beginning of a scene, it is also
known as
a. a setup shot. d. a complex shot.
b. a mask shot. e. an establishing shot.
c. a functional shot.
35. If you are a cinematographer and the director asks you to photograph just the lips of an actor, what
type of shot is she asking for?
a. personal d. close-up
b. point-of-view e. medium
c. extreme close-up
36. One of the most difficult challenges cinematographers face when filming traditional two-dimensional
imagery is
a. creating the illusion of depth.
b. creating realistic lighting.
c. disguising changes in camera movement.
d. framing great distances.
e. maintaining focus.
37. What technique keeps all three planes of the film frame in sharp focus?
a. wide-angle composition d. Russian formalism
b. deep-focus cinematography e. spatial balance
c. deep-space composition
38. The planning of the placement and movement of figures and camera is a process known as
a. shaping. d. staging.
b. storyboarding. e. blocking.
c. kinesis.
39. The ________ is the level and height of the camera in relation to the subject being photographed.
a. composition d. camera angle
b. placement principle e. image depth
c. balance of the frame
40. To visually imply a character’s power and superiority, the camera is traditionally placed at ________
in relation to that character.
a. a high angle d. a subjective angle
b. eye level e. a neutral angle
c. a low angle
41. To imply that the on-screen world is somehow out of balance, filmmakers may photograph a subject
with a ________, which tilts the camera from its normal horizontal and vertical position.
a. high-angle shot
b. Dutch-angle shot
c. extreme low-angle shot
d. zoom shot
e. subjective point-of-view (POV) shot
42. Within one shot of The Birth of a Nation (1915), D. W. Griffith establishes a view of a Civil War
battle, turns the camera toward a woman and small children on a wagon, and then turns back to the
battle in order to
a. create a longer take.
b. save production costs by reducing camera setups.
c. exploit the relationship between the lens and the camera.
d. enhance the perceived camera angle.
e. show the relationship between the horror of the battle and the misery it creates for civilians.
43. Which European director referred to the moving camera as “the unchained camera” and is known for
pioneering its use?
a. F. W. Murnau d. Pedro Almodóvar
b. Otto Preminger e. Lars von Trier
c. Alfred Hitchcock
44. In the 1960s, a popular way of moving the camera in the cinéma vérité style of filmmaking was done
by a
a. Steadicam. d. moving crane.
b. zoom lens. e. handheld camera.
c. dolly.
45. The vertical movement of a camera mounted to the head of a stationary tripod is a
a. tilt shot. d. zoom shot.
b. dolly shot. e. handheld shot.
c. pan shot.
46. In a ________ shot, the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform to move smoothly along with the
action.
a. pan d. dolly
b. zoom e. rack
c. crane
47. The opening of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958) features a lengthy, continuous ________ shot.
a. digital video d. crane
b. stationary camera e. pan
c. trackless dolly
48. The Steadicam is a patented harness device worn by the camera operator that combines the mobility of
a ________ with the smoothness of a ________.
a. dolly shot; tracking shot d. tracking shot; pan shot
b. handheld camera; tracking shot e. pan shot; tracking shot
c. handheld camera; dolly shot
49. A director chooses the ________ frame when the characters in the story are restricted in their
movements, often due to outside forces, such as social or economic background or a repressive
government.
a. balanced d. asymmetrical
b. composed e. closed
c. open
50. The open frame is generally used in ________ films.
a. horror d. antirealistic
b. documentary e. foreign
c. realistic
51. A director chooses the ________ frame when the characters in the story are restricted in their
movements, often due to outside forces, such as social or economic.
a. balanced d. asymmetrical
b. composed e. closed
c. open
52. Darren Aronofsky’s stylized and allegorical horror film Mother! (2017) is, by design, ________ film.
a. a closed d. a factual
b. a documentary e. both an open and closed
c. an open
53. ________ POV shows us what the camera/narrator sees, remaining fairly neutral with the camera more
or less objectively recording the action of the story.
a. An objective d. A group
b. A subjective e. An omniscient
c. A single character’s
54. Of the various elements of composition, which one directly implies a point of view?
a. color d. framing
b. kinesis e. balance
c. organization of figures
55. The standardized number of frames shot and projected per second is 24 frames per second (fps), but
what frame rate did Peter Jackson experiment with in The Hobbit trilogy in an effort to produce
sharper images and a more precise reproduction of movement?
a. 8 fps d. 32 fps
b. 16 fps e. 48 fps
c. 25 fps
56. The slow-motion power walk was popularized in which of the following films?
a. Amélie d. The Birds
b. Reservoir Dogs e. Lucy
c. Rumble Fish
57. The sequence shot is a particular kind of which of the following aesthetics?
a. long take d. closed frame
b. fast motion e. point of view
c. slow motion
58. To reveal the inner thoughts of Nicole Kidman’s character, Anna, in Birth (2004), the director
combined what two cinematographic tools?
a. deep focus and fast motion
b. the close-up and the long take
c. the close-up and the high angle
d. the Steadicam and slow motion
e. a single character’s POV and a zoom-in
59. ________ is a specific visual effect in which a live-action subject wears a bodysuit fitted with
reflective markers that enables a computer to record each movement as digital images.
a. In-camera d. Motion capture
b. Mechanical e. SPFX
c. Optical
60. To achieve an incongruous dreamlike quality that placed viewers in the protagonist’s solitary
perspective, the filmmakers of Moonlight (2016) shot virtually every scene using only a
a. single fill light. d. single three-point lighting system.
b. single key light. e. single spotlight.
c. single backlight.
61. In Moonlight, director Barry Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton chose to shoot in a ________
to help the actors immerse themselves in a dramatic situation without the distraction of cutting and
slating new takes.
a. codec d. Dutch angle
b. studio e. 8mm
c. color
62. Some of the more striking cinematic moments in Moonlight are accomplished with alternating
________ shots involving the direct gaze of each character into the camera.
a. extreme close-up d. point-of-view
b. Dutch angle e. extreme long
c. aerial
ESSAY
1. What is the primary goal of a cinematographer? In what ways is a cinematographer’s method in
achieving that goal similar to that of a painter or writer?
2. What are the differences between a shot, a take, and a setup? How are they related?
3. Using an example from the text, explain the following: While cinematographers must have firm
control over the framing, lighting, and composition of a shot, occasionally the unexpected may play a
role in creating a great shot.
4. Virtually all feature films today are shot in color. Identify two examples in which the use of black and
white may have been a better choice from a critical standpoint. Explain your answer.
5. How did set and costume designers and makeup artists of the classical Hollywood studio system
manipulate colors when shooting in black and white? Why was this necessary?
6. Although Technicolor film was available in the early 1930s, what non-aesthetic factors influenced the
studios’ decisions to shy away from using Technicolor? Beginning in 1939, what factors contributed to
the gradual shift to color production?
7. Identify those occasions when filmmakers changed the aspect ratio within a film.
.
8. Citing specific examples, how did most filmmakers create the illusion of depth in films prior to Citizen
Kane (1941)? What were some of the techniques credited to Greg Toland that helped change those
approaches?
9. Citing an example from the text, in what ways can the traditional meanings of a high-angle shot be
reversed?
10. Explain how Spike Lee in Do the Right Thing (1989) and Stanley Kubrick in The Shining (1980) use
low-angle shots to convey two different meanings.
11. Explain the key differences between a zoom shot and a dolly shot and explain why zoom shots are
used less frequently than dolly shots by professional filmmakers.
12. Explain the aesthetic advantages of the Steadicam and how director Stanley Kubrick used it to his
thematic advantage in The Shining (1980).
13. What are the reasons by which a cinematographer would select opened or closed framing for a film?
14. Fast motion, which is achieved by filming at a lower frame rate to make action on-screen appear twice
as fast as it should, can be used for comedic or dramatic effects. Describe some films’ use of fast
motion for such effects.
15. How did director Barry Jenkins and director of photography James Laxton achieve an incongruous
dreamlike quality in Moonlight, thus creating an aesthetic that diverged from the documentary realism
typically expected of independent film dealing with social issues?
