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Chapter 8: Editing
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What is the basic building block of film editing?
a. the sequence d. the Kuleshov effect
b. the scene e. montage
c. the shot
2. What is a common ratio of unused to used footage in Hollywood productions?
a. 100 to 1 d. 10 to 1
b. 50 to 1 e. 1 to 1
c. 20 to 1
3. Which action extravaganza had the astronomical shooting ratio of 240:1 for its 120-minute running
time?
a. Justice League (2017)
b. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
c. Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
d. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
e. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (2015)
4. Documentary films often have ________ shooting ratios than commercial narrative films since their
stories are largely discovered during postproduction.
a. lower d. smoother
b. higher e. rawer
c. the same
5. A video produced by sequencing storyboard images and adding sound to help editors envision how
planned shots will work in the edit is known as a
a. workflow. d. picture lock.
b. animatic. e. cartoon edit.
c. framework.
6. Which of the following describes the usual creative role of the film editor?
a. the dominant creative power of the production
b. the creative power on equal footing with the director of the production
c. a mere technician with no creative power
d. a creative force that changes the entire shape of the film
e. the creative power who puts his or her talents in the service of the director’s vision
7. How do some film editors work during and before, and not just after, the shooting of movies?
a. by putting together all the elements completed in the course of shooting
b. by making suggestions to the director and cinematographer concerning composition, lighting, and
so on
c. by conferring with the producers about a movie’s casting
d. by refusing to work on any film material until the director has a clear plan for what he or she is
doing
e. by consulting with other editors about how to properly engage with the movie
8. Why has the typical film editor’s job become more involved in the last fifty years?
a. because film editing equipment has become more confusing and less effective
b. because audiences have become more discerning about discovering editing mistakes
c. because producers now interfere to a far greater extent in the editing process
d. because the art of editing is now rarely taught in film schools
e. because today’s movies run longer and contain more individual shots
9. After the action is photographed multiple times with a variety of different shot types and angles, the
editor constructs the scene using the particular viewpoint that is best suited for each dramatic moment,
which is a practice known as
a. classical cutting. d. associative editing.
b. intercutting. e. montage.
c. parallel editing.
10. Why does the master scene technique employ various camera angles?
a. They cover over any mistakes made in the editing process.
b. They cover over any mistakes made by actors in the shooting process.
c. They provide coverage to the director by avoiding the need to reshoot.
d. They provide coverage to the editor by making repetition of shots unnecessary.
e. They provide coverage to the audience by preventing it from having to discern shots in relation to
one another.
11. Which of the following is an example of a shot/reverse shot editing sequence?
a. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of the object that character is looking at
b. a shot of a character and then a shot of the same character from an angle 30 degrees or more
removed from the first shot
c. a shot of a character moving through space and then another shot of the same character moving
through space; both shots “match” so that the movement appears fluid and the cut is not conspicuous
d. an establishing shot of a location and then a closer shot of a character in that location
e. a shot of a character and then a shot of another character who is facing the first
12. When used in continuity editing, shots in a shot/reverse shot sequence are often framed in what way?
a. in extreme close-up d. over the characters’ shoulders
b. as establishing shots e. indiscriminately
c. in handheld style
13. How does shot/reverse shot fool viewers in order to achieve continuity?
a. by linking together shots on-screen that could have been recorded at completely different moments
b. by suggesting narrative events that cannot have possibly occurred
c. by giving more screen time to characters who don’t play major roles in the film
d. by making it appear as if two characters are talking together when they are not
e. by placing shots in an order that is chronologically out of order
14. What is parallel editing?
a. the cutting together of two or more lines of action that occur simultaneously at different locations
b. the cutting together of two or more shots of the same character as he or she moves across space
c. the cutting together of two or more shots that link eyelines
d. the cutting together of two or more shots that signals a long passage of time
e. the cutting together of two or more shots that have nothing explicitly to do with one another
15. In order to provide the editor more freedom to select the best possible viewpoint for each dramatic
moment, the best directors and cinematographers capture multiple angles and shot types covering the
same action, which are known as
a. split screen. d. coverage.
b. fragmentation. e. crosscutting.
c. intercutting.
16. How does a split screen differ from parallel editing?
a. by only portraying telephone conversations
b. by dividing the viewer’s attention
c. by telling multiple stories within the same frame
d. by only telling two stories at a time as opposed to an unlimited number of stories
e. It is no different.
17. What was the central discovery of Lev Kuleshov?
a. that editing simply consists of joining shots together
b. that editing is more important than lighting, acting, and mise-en-scène
c. that editing has no effect on the viewer’s understanding of narrative
d. that two shots must have an actual relationship to one another to affect the viewer
e. that two shots need not have any actual relationship to one another to affect the viewer
18. Montage editing that uses juxtaposition to impart meaning in a way that we usually cannot help but
notice is known as
a. parallel editing. d. continuity editing.
b. associative editing. e. point-of-view editing.
c. elliptical editing.
19. The climactic scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) in which juxtaposed shots of
Willard slashing Kurtz with shots of the tribespeople slaughtering a passive water buffalo is an
example of what two forms of editing?
a. associative and elliptical d. parallel and continuity
b. continuity and elliptical e. parallel and associative
c. associative and continuity
20. How does a film editor typically fulfill his or her responsibilities for the spatial relationships between
shots?
a. by disregarding how audiences understand the space inhabited by the characters on-screen
b. by placing shots together so that the sense of the overall space suggested on-screen shifts and
expands
c. by using only close-up shots
d. by using only establishing shots
e. by adhering to violations of the 180-degree rule
21. Why is there no need for filmmakers to film in a real space whose dimensions correspond to the ones
implied by editing?
a. because audiences will never believe in the plausibility of an on-screen space
b. because production equipment cannot fit into or navigate a real space
c. because directors are not trained to work within a real space
d. because editing establishes relationships between shots that can fool audiences into accepting the
believability of spaces actually shot in fractions of implied space
e. because editing establishes relationships between shots that can fool audiences into accepting the
believability of spaces actually shot in complete and vast space
22. Which of the following is an element that the film editor does NOT manipulate?
a. mise-en-scène
b. spatial relationships between shots
c. spatial relationships between characters, objects, and their surroundings
d. temporal relationships between shots
e. the overall rhythm of the film
23. Which of the following constitutes a cinematic ellipsis?
a. a character remembering the murder of his father
b. a series of shots between a character and the movie he is watching
c. a cut between a shot of a woman contemplating diving off the high-dive board and a shot of her
emerging from the water
d. a sequence of shots showing several characters simultaneously but separately going about their
day
e. a cut from one character speaking to another character responding to the first
24. The effect of an ellipsis is determined by
a. how much story time is implied between shots.
b. the number of overall shots in film.
c. the film’s genre and style.
d. how many storylines the film contains.
e. the type of lighting in the second shot of the elliptical sequence.
25. What is a montage sequence?
a. the creation of a sense or meaning not proper to the images themselves but derived exclusively
from their juxtaposition
b. The various forms of editing that expressed ideas developed by Eisenstein, Kuleshov, Pudovkin,
and other Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s
c. a string of shots, often with superimpositions and optical effects, which shows a condensed series
of events
d. nonelliptical editing
e. continuity editing
26. How are freeze-frames created by an editor?
a. by holding the camera still on a subject
b. by making the subject stay perfectly still in front of the camera
c. by repeating the same frame for whatever length of time is required for the desired effect
d. by stopping the projector on a single image of the movie
e. by placing the film in cold-temperature storage
27. What grammatical tool can be compared to the function of a freeze-frame?
a. a comma d. an exclamation point
b. a semicolon e. a question mark
c. a period
28. What is it that signals to the editor how long to make each shot and with what rhythm to combine
them?
a. the depth of the movie’s characters
b. the type of music used on the movie’s sound track
c. the average number of takes the director recorded for each shot
d. the internal requirements of the movie’s narrative
e. the amount of overall footage shot for the movie
29. How does an editor control the rhythm of a film?
a. by timing sound track music correctly to edited shots
b. by making sure edited shots match each other in terms of continuity
c. by following each shot with a counter-shot that reverses the field of the previous one
d. by forcing shots to be part of the same montage sequence even if they don’t make logical sense
when placed together
e. by varying the duration of the shots in relation to one another and thus controlling their speed and
accents
30. Which is a quality that discontinuity editing seeks to achieve?
a. logic d. sequential flow
b. invisibility e. temporal and spatial orientation
c. contrast
31. What is one of the goals of continuity editing?
a. to remind audiences they are watching a manufactured illusion
b. to keep viewers oriented in space and time
c. to ensure a dynamic flow between shots
d. to maintain little connection between adjacent shots and scenes
e. to call attention to itself as an element of cinematic form
32. Which of the following describes the way continuity and discontinuity can be employed in the movies?
a. When continuity editing is used in a movie, discontinuity can never also be used.
b. When continuity editing is used in a movie, discontinuity can only be used in dream sequences and
for other such “fantastical” moments.
c. When continuity editing is used in a movie, discontinuity must also be used.
d. Continuity and discontinuity editing can only be used together in avant-garde films.
e. Continuity and discontinuity editing are tendencies along a continuum that can be used whenever
the narrative of the film calls for either of them.
33. What is screen direction?
a. a screen appearing to move in a theater based on optical illusion
b. camera movement in relation to the static position of a film screen
c. filmmakers directing movies to fit movie theater screens
d. the way direction takes precedence over all other aspects of movie production
e. direction of a figure’s or object’s movement on the screen
34. What are the fundamental building blocks of continuity editing?
a. graphic matches and superimpositions
b. master shots and the 180-degree system
c. jump cuts and violations of the 30-degree rule
d. flash-forwards and freeze-frames
e. vari-speed motion
35. How does the 180-degree system influence screen direction?
a. It prevents screen direction from being coherent to the viewer.
b. It makes screen direction haphazard across and between cuts.
c. It ensures consistent screen direction when shots are edited together.
d. It disrupts screen direction and substitutes for its discontinuity.
e. It isolates screen direction and foregrounds it for the viewer.
36. Which of the following demonstrates a violation of the 180-degree system?
a. In a scene of dialogue in which character A and character B stand still and face each other, the
camera records shots of both characters solely from one side of an imaginary line between them.
b. In a scene of dialogue in which character A and character B move around a room together while
talking, the camera records shots of both characters solely from one side of an imaginary line, even as
that line changes with their movements.
c. In an action scene featuring one car chasing another, two separate shots capture first car A and
then car B from different sides of an imaginary line between them.
d. In an action scene featuring one car chasing another, two separate shots capture first car A and
then car B from the same side of an imaginary line between them.
e. No imaginary line is drawn between two characters in a gun battle sequence.
37. What is the axis of action?
a. an imaginary horizontal line between the main characters being photographed that determines
where the camera should be placed to preserve screen direction
b. an imaginary vertical line between the main characters being photographed that determines where
the camera should be placed to preserve screen direction
c. an imaginary horizontal line that divides the top and bottom of a movie screen
d. an imaginary vertical line that divides the right and left side of a movie screen
e. a real line placed by the director in the scene to demarcate where actors should stand and move
38. Where must the camera be placed in relation to the axis of action?
a. on both sides of the axis of action in alternating sequence
b. on both sides of the axis of action in random sequence
c. on both sides of the axis of action depending on the director’s fancy
d. on one side and one side only of the axis of action
e. on one side of the axis of action but also on the opposite side if the need for further coverage calls
for such a switch
39. What is the purpose of keeping the camera on one and only one side of the axis of action?
a. The resulting shots disorient the viewer as to what is happening in the scene.
b. The resulting shots orient the viewer as to what is happening in the scene.
c. The resulting shots alienate the viewer in regard to what is happening in the scene.
d. The resulting shots allow the viewer to question what is happening in the scene.
e. The resulting shots position the viewer as an intruder in regard to what is happening in the scene.
40. The 180-degree system is
a. a rule that can never be violated.
b. a convention that can be broken.
c. a restriction on artistic freedom.
d. a guideline for directors to carefully work around.
e. an obsolete principle held over from the early days of filmmaking.
41. What is a match-on-action cut?
a. a cut that shows the likeness in shape or volume of two different objects or people
b. a cut that shows two characters looking at each other across two different shots
c. a cut that shows us the continuation of a character’s or object’s motion through space
d. a cut that jumps among seemingly unrelated or unconnected objects and people
e. a cut that shows a person looking offscreen and what he or she is looking at
42. Which of the following constitutes an eyeline match cut?
a. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of another character also looking offscreen
b. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of the exterior of the location where that
character is positioned
c. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of that character from another angle
d. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of another character looking back at him
e. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of that character walking toward something
43. What is the difference between point-of-view shots and eyeline matches?
a. Point-of-view shots show what a character is looking at, whereas eyeline matches do not.
b. Point-of-view shots include reaction shots of a character, whereas eyeline matches do not.
c. Point-of-view shots include shots that show us what a character is looking at from his approximate
position, whereas eyeline matches join two comparatively objective shots.
d. Point-of-view shots necessarily involve characters, whereas eyeline matches do not.
e. Point-of-view shots cannot include dialogue, whereas eyeline matches must.
44. Which of the following is a graphic match cut?
a. a shot showing a man firing an arrow and then a shot of that arrow hitting a target
b. a shot showing an eye and then a shot showing a moon in the same size and shape as the eye
before it
c. a shot showing a man driving to work and then a shot showing what his wife is doing at home
d. a shot showing landscape and then a closer shot showing a group of people driving via horse
through that landscape
e. a shot showing one person talking and then another shot showing the person to whom the first is
talking
45. Graphic matches often repeat ________ and provide a strong ________.
a. actors; visual sense of a connection between them
b. similar shapes; direct link between the events and content presented in the two different shots
c. odd associations; visual sense of fragmentation and disorientation
d. spatial impossibilities; temporal sense of nothingness
e. cinematic convention; spatial sense of wholeness
46. At one moment in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a cut causes an abrupt transition between a shot of a
bone thrown in the air by a primitive prehuman and a shot of a spaceship. This cut is shocking and
unusual because
a. it signals a shift between radically different genres.
b. it implies an immense period of elapsed time.
c. it implies a barely perceptible period of elapsed time.
d. the shots possess no connection whatsoever.
e. the bone turns suddenly into a spaceship.
47. Which of the following is an example of point-of-view editing?
a. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of another character also looking offscreen
b. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of the exterior of the location where that
character is positioned
c. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of that character from another angle
d. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot, from his or her point of view, of what he or
she is looking at
e. a shot of a character looking offscreen and then a shot of that character walking toward something
48. What is a jump cut?
a. a cut between two similar shapes
b. a cut joining two actions into one flowing movement
c. a cut matching the eyelines of two different characters
d. a cut paralleling simultaneous occurrences taking place in two different locations
e. a cut creating a disorienting ellipsis between two shots caused by the absence of a portion of film
that would have provided continuity
49. Which film was one of the first movies to intentionally and repeatedly violate conventional continuity
with jump cuts that call attention to the film’s construction?
a. Rear Window (1954) d. Breathless (1960)
b. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) e. The Tin Drum (1979)
c. Casablanca (1942)
50. Why are jump cuts sometimes regarded more as an error than as an expressive technique?
a. because they can occur on purpose according to filmmakers’ artistic visions
b. because they often occur because filmmakers have failed to follow continuity principles.
c. because they don’t communicate meaning
d. because they look antiquated
e. because they are so common
51. What is the purpose of the fade-in and fade-out?
a. to start and end the film
b. to dissolve between scenes
c. to allow a scene to open or close slowly
d. to denote dream sequences
e. to signify a character’s lapse into unconsciousness
52. How does a dissolve differ from a fade?
a. A dissolve can be used to mark the passing of time, whereas a fade cannot.
b. A dissolve can be used to mark a connection between two shots, whereas a fade cannot.
c. A dissolve emphasizes the image, whereas a fade does not.
d. A dissolve’s transition occurs simultaneously on the screen, whereas a black screen separates the
two parts of a fade.
e. A dissolve is a transitional cut, whereas a fade is not.
53. What is a dissolve?
a. a fade-in or fade-out within a scene
b. a scene that ends on a “down note”
c. when a small circle of visible action surrounded by black expands to fill the entire screen
d. when a character never reappears in a movie
e. a transitional device in which a shot gradually superimposes over another shot
54. A wipe, which is a transitional device in which shot B wipes across shot A vertically, horizontally, or
diagonally to replace it, was commonly used in what popular movie franchise?
a. X-Men d. Star Wars
b. Twilight e. Hunger Games
c. Lord of the Rings
55. What is an iris-out?
a. the effect in which the film image dissolves into a circle
b. the effect in which the film image starts with a small circle of visible action and then expands out
c. the effect in which the film image wipes into a wider circular view
d. the effect in which the film image blurs focus
e. the effect in which the film image closes in on an image with a gradually tightening circle
56. Why would an editor choose an iris-out over another type of transition?
a. The iris-out draws the audience’s attention to a particular place on the screen.
b. The iris-out looks more sophisticated.
c. The iris-out is cheaper to implement.
d. The iris-out is more expressive.
e. The iris-out is the only way to signify the ending of a scene.
57. What is the best way to analyze an editor’s contributions to a film?
a. by comparing how different editors composed the same film
b. by investigating the editor’s entire body of work
c. by looking at the raw footage of the film and then the final product
d. by reading interviews with the editor
e. by examining individual scenes and trying to understand how their parts fit together
58. Which of the following categorizes repeated shots of a man sharpening knives in the opening sequence
of City of God?
a. match cut d. pattern
b. master shot e. fade-in/fade-out
c. shot/reverse shot
59. Why does the director of City of God use middle and long shots during the opening sequence when the
chicken is running through the streets?
a. because they allow closer proximity to an important symbol
b. because they give the viewer a wider perspective on the chase and verify the chicken’s forward
movement
c. because they force the viewer to sympathize with the animal
d. because they fit into a tightly organized sequence that excludes all handheld shots
e. because they show off the film’s location shooting
60. When the editor cuts away from the chase in the opening sequence to introduce Rocket in the city of
God, what is being created?
a. a sequence of parallel action
b. a montage sequence
c. a graphic match
d. a shot/reverse shot sequence
e. an eyeline match
ESSAY
1. Using a single movie scene either as mentioned in the textbook or elsewhere, explain the difference
between the technique, craft, and art of editing.
2. Explain the major challenges that director Amanda Lipitz and editor Penelope Falk faced in
constructing the documentary, Step.
3. Using hypothetical examples, explain the difference between crosscutting and intercutting.
4. Explain why it is that montage editing (in the Hollywood sense of the word) is so counterintuitive and
potentially unnatural compared to the way human beings see and experience the world.
5. What does Darren Aronofsky mean by “hip-hop montage” and how does it operate in Requiem for a
Dream (2000)?
6. Describe how the climatic sequence of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Vietnam War film Apocalypse
Now uses both parallel and associative editing.
7. Discuss a scene of discontinuity editing using jump cuts in the seminal French New Wave film
Breathless (1960).
8. Summarize the three factors upon which the 180-degree system depends and which work together to
achieve the goals of continuity editing.
9. Using a hypothetical example, demonstrate how the jump cut can be used for expressive purposes.
10. Using two hypothetical examples, explain how fade-ins/fade-outs can be used both within scenes and
between scenes.
11. Which choices by filmmakers contribute to effective editing, and why?
12. What is the advantage of the style of editing that presents a cumulative series of details from different
viewpoints?
13. The entrance of Li’l Zé into the frame when he runs into Rocket in the opening sequence of City of
God is filmed as a slow-motion shot. Why?
14. What are some conclusions that can be reached concerning the editing of the opening sequence of City
of God?
15. Why are the shots of Rocket in the opening sequence of City of God relatively stable and of longer
duration than the shots of Li’l Z, which are heavily fragmented and handheld?
