126
CHAPTER 8
DOCUMENTARY FILMS: REPRESENTING THE REAL
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. Portapak is
A. a lightweight 16mm camera.
E. None of the options is correct.
2. In 1926, the term “documentary film” was coined by
A. F. W. Murnau.
E. the Man of Aran.
3. Personal documentaries became a rapidly growing subgenre in the 1980s because of
D. the golden age of television.
E. All of the options are correct.
4. Which of the following does NOT describe a non-narrative film?
A. A film that uses a visual list as an organization pattern
B. A film that de-emphasizes stories and narratives
5. Some specific purposes of political documentaries are
A. to provoke or move viewers with the will to reform social systems.
B. to support a particular social or political issue or group.
6. Historical documentaries
A. are a type of social documentary.
B. rely on old film footage or letters, testimonials by historians, or photographs.
7. Which of the following statements on cinéma vérité is correct?
A. It typically employs reenactments.
B. It began in the United States, before spreading to Canada and France.
8. An example given in your textbook of a documentary that uses reenactments is
A. Paris Is Burning (1990).
B. Atomic Cafe (1982).
9. In the 1930s and 1940s, which of these institutions supported documentary practices?
A. The American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
E. None of the options is correct.
10. Contrastive organizations
A. present a series of oppositions meant to indicate the different points of view.
B. may suggest a more complicated relationship between objects or individuals.
FILL–IN-THE-BLANK QUESTIONS
1. Among the very first movies that appeared in 1895, some were called _____________ because they showed
2. The American documentary version of cinema vérité, _____________ aims to capture unfolding events as
3. A _____________ eschews or de-emphasizes stories and narratives, instead employing other forms like lists,
4. A _____________ takes a much more humorous approach to the question of truth and fact by using a
5. _____________ aim to reveal global cultures and peoples, both living and extinct, authentically, without
imposing the filmmaker’s interpretations, but in fact they are often implicitly shaped by the perspectives of their
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
(3-4 SENTENCES)
1. Explain two possible functions of reflexive positions in documentary film.
2. How have cable and satellite television networks provided more opportunities for documentary projects?
3. What are cinema vérité and direct cinema? Give two examples of how these two approaches differ.
128
4. What are some of the advantages and liabilities of governments and institutions funding and distributing
documentary films?
5. How did the introduction of optical sound recording
in 1927 advance documentary films?