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Film Quiz

Quiz Instructions

Format

This exam consists of six short response (2-3 sentence) and four medium response (4-5 sentence) prompts. The questions that mention films are referring to the films screened in class (i.e. not later remakes).

Instructions

Enter your responses in the text boxes below each prompt. You responses should concisely demonstrate your understanding of the concepts mentioned. Aim for a balance of precision and concision. You might consider explaining “Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?” (as appropriate) in your responses.

Evaluation

The short responses are worth 5 points each (30 points total). The medium responses are worth 10 points each (40 points total). The exam has 70 possible points, which Canvas will record as 30% of the overall course grade.

Open-Book Policy

You may refer to any appropriate textual resources (e.g. course readings, your notes, films, websites) you like while responding to the exam prompts. However, your responses should demonstrate your understanding of course concepts and should be “in your own words.” If you do draw from a textual source, include a footnote citation.

Short Response (2-3 sentences):

  1. Discuss the most significant factors that led the Hollywood studios to adopt the Production Code.
  2. What was the Hollywood Blacklist and what happened to the people who were blacklisted?
  3. Did drive-ins quickly adopt wide-screen formats? Why or why not?
  4. How are Cinerama and CinemaScope alike? How are they different?
  5. What was the Paramount Decision and in what did it result?
  6. How did the increasing ubiquity of television in the 1950s influence film production?

Medium Response (5 – 6 sentences):

  1. Discuss the most important ways that Gold Diggers of 1933 offers a social critique of and/or an escape from the difficulties of life during the Great Depression. Your response may discuss elements of social critique, elements of escapism, or both.
  2. Drawing from Bernstein, discuss what each of the Big 5 studios were known for in the 1930s and 1940s.
  3. What are the most significant ways that The Hitch-Hiker is typical or atypical of film noir? You are not required to quote it, but your response should draw from Paul Schrader’s discussion of film noir in “Notes on Noir?” You response may discuss ways that The Hitch-Hiker is typical, atypical, or both typical and atypical or film noir.
  4. Genre theorists have argued that genre film address the cultural anxieties of their eras. What kinds of cultural anxieties does Invasion of the Body Snatchersaddress? Explain how it addresses those anxieties, using specific examples from the film.

Also see: Film Analysis Essay