Film Final Exam

Know the directors

• The Virgin Suicides: Sofia Coppola

• Citizen Kane: Orson Welles

• Wild: Jean-Marc Vallée

• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: Aditya Chopra

• Do The Right Thing: Spike Lee

• Pan’s Labyrinth: Guillermo del Toro

• The Rules of the Game: Jean Renoir

• Sunrise: F.W Murnau

• Jeanne Dielman: Chantal Akerman

• Velvet Goldmine: Todd Haynes

• Rashōmon: Akira Kurosawa

• Children of Men: Alfonso Cuarón

• Free Solo: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin

• Holy Motors: Leos Carax

Know the plots

• The Virgin Suicides: Teenages sisters that are isolated by their strict parents that have tragic outcomes.

• Citizen Kane: A wealthy newspaper magnate's life story unfolds through memories, revealing his complex relationships and the pursuit of happiness.

• Wild: A woman goes on a journey of self-discovery and healing while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: A love story set against the backdrop of cultural conflict and family expectations.

• Do The Right Thing: Set in Brooklyn, it explores racial tensions on the hottest day of the summer, leading to a violent confrontation.

• Pan’s Labyrinth: A young girl navigates her dark world of fantasy and reality during the Spanish Civil War, encountering mythical creatures and moral choices.

• The Rules of the Game: A group of aristocrats engage in a weekend of deception and betrayal amidst the backdrop of 1930s France.

• Sunrise: A woman struggles with her husband’s infidelity while raising their child in a pastoral setting, reflecting on the cycle of life and love while her husband plans her murder.

• Jeanne Dielman: A widowed mother struggles to maintain her household and identity while performing domestic tasks, leading to a gradual unraveling of her reality.

• Velvet Goldmine: A rock star's rise and fall during the glam rock era and its impact on love and identity.

• Rashōmon: Multiple perspectives on a crime and its aftermath, exploring the nature of truth and subjective reality.

• Children of Men: In a dystopian future where humanity faces extinction due to infertility, a bureaucrat must protect a miraculously pregnant woman while navigating societal collapse.

• Free Solo: Climbers attempt to scale El Capitan without ropes, showcasing the challenges and triumphs of free soloing.

• Holy Motors: A mysterious man travels through various personas in a day, exploring themes of identity, performance, and mortality.

Know the character’s names

• The Virgin Suicides: Lux, Cecilia, Bonnie, Mary, Therese Lisbon. Trip Fontaine.

• Citizen Kane: Charles Foster Kane, Susan Alex, Jedediah Leland, Mr. Bernstein, Mary Kane.

• Wild: Cheryl Strayed

• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: Raj Malhotra, Simran,

• Do The Right Thing: Mookie, Sal, Buggin' Out, Radio Raheem, Ruby Dee, Smiley, Da Mayor, Pino, Mister Señior Love Daddy, Mother Sister.

• Pan’s Labyrinth: Ofelia, Captain Vidal, Mercedes

• The Rules of the Game: Christine de la Cheyniest, Robert de la Cheyniest, André Jurieux, Octave, Marceau, Lisette.

• Sunrise: The Man, The Wife, The Woman From The City

• Jeanne Dielman: Jeanne Dielman, Sylvian Dielman (son)

• Velvet Goldmine: Brian Slade, Curt Wild, Arthur Stuart, Mandy Slade, Jerry Devine

• Rashōmon: The Bandit, The Samurai, The wife, The Woodcutter, The Priest, The Commoner, The Medium, The Policeman.

• Children of Men: Theo Faron, Julian Taylor, Kee, Luke, Jasper Palmer, Miriam.

• Free Solo: Alex Honnold, Sanni McCandless, Tommy Caldwell, Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Dierdre Wolownick, Peter Croft.

• Holy Motors: Monsieur Oscar, Céline, Kay M, Eva Grace, The Sleeper, Monsieur Merde.

be familiar with the themes of each film

• The Virgin Suicides: The impact of repression and the longing for freedom among adolescents.

• Citizen Kane: The corrupting influence of wealth and the elusiveness of happiness.

• Wild: Redemption and self-discovery through nature.

• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: The clash of tradition and modern romance.

• Do The Right Thing: Racial tensions and the complexities of community interactions.

• Pan’s Labyrinth: The intersection of innocence and harsh reality during war.

• The Rules of the Game: The hypocrisy of the upper class and the chaos of human relationships.

• Sunrise: The theme of transformation and forgiveness in love.

• Jeanne Dielman: The monotony and alienation of domestic life.

• Velvet Goldmine: The exploration of identity and the impact of fame.

• Rashōmon: The subjectivity of truth and the nature of perception.

• Children of Men: Hope and resilience in the face of despair.

• Free Solo: The pursuit of personal achievement and the risks of ambition.

• Holy Motors: The fluidity of identity and the role of performance in life.

Shot Sizes Vocabulary

Camera Movement Vocabulary

Camera Angles Vocab

High angles: shots directed at a downward angles on individuals or a scene.

Low angles: shots from a position lower than its subject

Overhead shot: depicts the action from above, generally looking directly down on the subject from a crane, helicopter, or drone.

Point-of-view shots: reproduce a character’s optical point of view, often preceded or followed by shots of the character looking.

Film Crew Vocab

Modes of Documentary vocab

Rule of 180

Stan Brakhage

Maya Deren

Michael Moore

4th Wall

Montage

A term for editing most frequently used for a style that emphasizes the dynamic relationship between images, following Soviet silent- era filmmakers’ use of the term; also designates rapid sequences in Hollywood films used for descriptive purpose or to show the rapid passage of time.

High Key/ Low Key Lighting

High-key lighting: lighting where the main source of light creates little contrast between light and dark.

Low-key lighting: lighting where the main source of light creates a stark contrast between light and dark.

Fill light

A lighting technique using secondary fill lights to balance the key lighting by removing shadows or to emphasize other spaces and objects in the scene.

Day and Date release

A simultaneous release strategy across different media and venues, such as theatrical release and a DVD release.

Antagonist

A character who opposes the protagonist as a negative force in a film.

Method Acting

Principal Phtography

The majority footage filmed for a project during the shoot.

Deep Focus

A camera technique using a large depth of field in which multiple planes in the shot are all in focus simultaneously, usually with a special lens.

Dissolves

An optical effect that briefly superimposes one shot over the next, which takes its place; one images fades out as another image fades in.

Shot Reverse Shot

An editing pattern that begins with a shot of one character looking offscreen in one direction, followed by a shot of a second character, who appears to be looking back; also called shot/countershot. The first shot is taken from an angle at one end of the axis of action, the second from the “reverse” angle at the other end of the line; often used in conversations.

Steadicam

A camera stabilization system introduced in 1976 that allows a camera operator to film a continuous and steady shot without a dolly or other device.

Location Shooting

Soundstage Shooting

Temporal and Physical Setting

Soundtrack and Score

Soundtrack: Audio recorded to synchronize with a moving image, including dialogue, music, and sound effects; the physical portion of the film used for recorded sound.

Score: Music composed to accompany a completed film.

Key Ideas Foley v Sound Design

Foley Artist: A member of the sound crew who generates live synchronized sound effect while watching the projected film; named after the inventor, Jack Foley.

Sound Designer: The individual responsible for planning and directing the overall sound of a film through to the final mix.

Key Ideas Sound Mixing

Sound Mixing: The process by which all the elements of the soundtrack, include music, effects, and dialogue, are combined and adjusted to their final levels; also called re-recording.

Key Ideas Pre-productuion/Production/Post-Production

Pre-production: The phase when a film project is in development, involving preparing the script, financing the project, casting, hiring crew, and securing locations.

Production: The industrial stages that contribute to the making of a finished movie, from the financing and scripting of a film to its final edit; more specifically, the actual shooting of a film after preproduction and before postproduction.

Post-Production: The period inn the filmmaking process that occurs after principal photography has been completed; usually consists of editing, sound, and visual-effects work.

Key Ideas How movies make money

Key Ideas Auteur Theory

An approach to cinema first proposed in the French film journal Cahiers du cinéma that emphasizes the director as the expressive force behind a film and sees a director’s body of work as united by common themes or formal strategies; also referred to as auteurism.

Key ideas Realism/Classicism/Formalism

Realism: An artwork’s quality of conveying a truthful picture of a society, person, or some other dimension of everyday life; an artistic movement that aims to achieve verisimilitude.

Classicism:???

Formalism: A critical approach to cinema that emphasizes formal properties of the text or medium over content or context.

Know these in depth Aspect Ratio

The width-to-height ratio of the film frame as it appears on a movie screen or television monitor.

Know these in depth Mise en Scene

All the elements of a movie scene that are organized, often by the director, to be filmed and that are later visible onscreen; include actors, lighting, sets, costumes, make-up, and other features of the image that exist independently of the camera and the processes of filming and editing…… give more detail

Know these in depth Diegesis

The world of the film’s story (its characters, places and events), including what is shown and what is implied……. give more detail

Know these in depth Storyboard

A shot-by-shot graphic representation of how a film or a film sequence will unfold……. give more detail

Know these in depth Foley

Foley Artist: A member of the sound crew who generates live synchronized sound effect while watching the projected film; named after the inventor, Jack Foley.