Deck 7: Movies and the Impact of Images

Question 1

The existence of the Motion Picture Patents Company led some independent producers to make their pictures in faraway Hollywood.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

An oligopoly exists when a few companies control an industry.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The Singing Fool was a big commercial disappointment, and it demonstrated that movie fans were not ready for talking pictures.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The first movie theaters were called nickelodeons, a name that indicated the cost of admission.

Question 5

French director Georges Méliès pioneered a number of camera tricks and techniques, including slow motion.

Question 6

Hollywood was the international center of cinema from the very beginning.

Question 7

With the exception of Mary Pickford, the early studio moguls who ran Hollywood were mostly men.

Question 8

The Motion Picture Patents Company was established in 1908 to share film technology with independent filmmakers.

Question 9

Movie palaces looked beautiful on the outside, but were often very shabby on the inside.

Question 10

Georges Méliès made the first western, The Great Train Robbery.

Question 11

American studios were able to gain control of the world film industry during World War I.

Question 12

Select from the following list of terms to match the item with the best answer. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Domestic comedy
B. DirecTV
C. Above-the-line cost
D. Catch-up service
E. Evergreen
The first motion pictures were watched by only one person at a time.

Question 13

Select from the following list of terms to match the item with the best answer. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Domestic comedy
B. DirecTV
C. Above-the-line cost
D. Catch-up service
E. Evergreen
The first public showing of Edison's kinetoscope projector system was in a Paris café in
December 1895.

Question 14

The Birth of a Nation (1915) was very controversial when it premiered because of its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan.

Question 15

The Motion Picture Patents Company was founded by Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures and William Fox of Fox Film Corporation.

Question 16

In scriptwriting terminology, the discourse is how the story is told.

Question 17

Select from the following list of terms to match the item with the best answer. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Domestic comedy
B. DirecTV
C. Above-the-line cost
D. Catch-up service
E. Evergreen
Georges Méliès opened the first public movie theater in France in 1896.

Question 18

The first sound movie, The Jazz Singer, was basically a silent film with a few spoken words and musical numbers.

Question 19

Select from the following list of terms to match the item with the best answer. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Domestic comedy
B. DirecTV
C. Above-the-line cost
D. Catch-up service
E. Evergreen
To become a mass medium, the early silent films had to offer what books achieved: the suspension of disbelief and stories that engaged an audience's imagination.

Question 20

Select from the following list of terms to match the item with the best answer. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Domestic comedy
B. DirecTV
C. Above-the-line cost
D. Catch-up service
E. Evergreen
Thomas Edison's first attempt to create talking pictures in the late 1800s was an immediate commercial success.

Question 21

As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's Paramount decision, the major film studios divested themselves of their theaters.

Question 22

The Hollywood Ten were studio writers and directors jailed for leaking military secrets to the
Soviet Union.

Question 23

Three-dimensional (3-D) movies did little to stem the drop in movie theater attendance in the
1950s.

Question 24

Hollywood produces the most movies of any film industry in the world.

Question 25

Horror films are successful because they appeal to both teenagers and their parents.

Question 26

Cinema verité is a style of documentary filmmaking that closely resembles a big-budget, high- gloss Hollywood feature.

Question 27

With television capturing suburban audiences by the mid-1950s, movie producers made only family-friendly films to lure that audience back to theaters.

Question 28

Grouping films by genre allows the movie industry to achieve both product standardization and differentiation.

Question 29

Blu-ray discs have prevented the streaming of movies over the Internet from catching on.

Question 30

The Paramount decision ended the dominance of the major studios over the commercial film industry.

Question 31

Examples of genres include comedy, drama, romance, and action/adventure.

Question 32

Documentaries generally avoid controversial or unpopular subject matter.

Question 33

As of 2011, there are still no African American directors in mainstream Hollywood.

Question 34

Female directors often have far fewer financing opportunities for film projects outside the major Hollywood studios.

Question 35

The popularity of radio had a great impact on movie attendance in the late 1940s.

Question 36

During the Hollywood witch-hunts of the late 1940s and 1950s, many film executives and stars accused others in the film industry of being communist sympathizers.

Question 37

Movie attendance began a sharp decline in the 1940s mostly because of television.

Question 38

In America, most woman movie directors have first been successful actresses or scriptwriters.

Question 39

Directing opportunities for women in Hollywood have been limited.

Question 40

Film noir movies are notable for their bright lighting, lush sets, and upbeat story lines.

Question 41

Although Hollywood movies may show actual consumer products, such as Pepsi-Cola or BMW automobiles, for the effect of realism, the studios may not receive any money or other compensation for showing those products.

Question 42

The movie industry has largely embraced the Internet's ability to distribute new films and rentals to consumers.

Question 43

Movie studios make their films available on DVD and Internet streaming services at the same time as the theatrical release.

Question 44

American filmmaker Edwin S. Porter .

A) shot narrative scenes out of order
B) made what is considered America's first narrative film
C) used the first close-up in U.S. narrative film history
D) adapted Méliès's innovations for narrative film
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 45

Because of high equipment and operating costs, digital technology is not expected to benefit independent filmmakers for many years.

Question 46

Movie studios can earn more than double their U.S. and Canadian box office receipts by distributing their films in foreign markets.

Question 47

For creative reasons, film studios have generally resisted making product placement deals.

Question 48

Time Warner's cable channels can be considered a form of high-tech vertical integration.

Question 49

The success of Star Wars had no effect on the business strategies of major studios going forward.

Question 50

The six major studios were able to dominate movie exhibition in the United States by acquiring all of the country's drive-in theaters.

Question 51

Who opened the first public movie theater in France in 1896?

A) Thomas Edison
B) Georges Méliès
C) Auguste Lumière
D) Louis Lumière
E) Adolph Zukor

Question 52

Movie studios in the United States still practice block booking and require that theaters accept lesser films in order to get blockbuster movies.

Question 53

Between 80 and 90 percent of new movies lose money during their theatrical release.

Question 54

Six studios dominate the U.S. film business.

Question 55

All six major Hollywood film studios today are owned and operated by U.S.-based corporations.

Question 56

Which of the following chronologies best describes the way early movie industry technology developed?

A) narrative films → vitascope → celluloid → zoetrope
B) zoetrope → vitascope → celluloid → narrative films
C) celluloid → zoetrope → vitascope → narrative films
D) zoetrope → narrative films → celluloid → vitascope
E) zoetrope → celluloid → vitascope → narrative films

Question 57

A consensus narrative is a type of movie that seeks a small, select, niche audience.

Question 58

Most U.S. films provide shared cultural experiences that operate across different times and cultures.

Question 59

Movie theaters are still the largest single source of revenue for a typical feature film.

Question 60

Why was Edwin S. Porter's 1902 film The Life of an American Fireman important?

A) It was the first to use editing and close-ups as narrative-building techniques.
B) It was the first studio film to use personal style.
C) It was the first sound picture.
D) It challenged racial stereotypes.
E) It was the first film to be shown to a theater audience.

Question 61

Which of the following statements about women and/or minority film directors in the United States is true?

A) The influence of Mary Pickford meant women enjoyed the same directing opportunities as men, even if minorities didn't.
B) With a few exceptions, women and minority directors have received little recognition and opportunity for much of the history of movies.
C) Minorities, as long as they were men, have for decades enjoyed the same status as white
D) Both women and minorities have received the same degree of recognition in Hollywood as white male film directors.
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 62

Under the studio system, .

A) actors were independent contractors who could work for any studio
B) movies were made using an assembly-line process
C) the studios had no control over the private lives of their creative talent
D) producers were hired to direct the pictures
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 63

In commercial filmmaking, who is considered the ''author'' of a film?

A) The lead actor/actress
B) The executive producer
C) The studio
D) The screenwriter
E) The director

Question 64

According to your textbook, what is a main reason that Hollywood tends to make films that belong in certain genres?

A) It makes it easier for studios to predict which scripts will make good movies.
B) It is easier for studios to promote a film that fits into a preexisting category.
C) Filmmakers don't like to be challenged and would rather be told by studios what kind of film to make.
D) It costs less money to make films that fit into a specific formula.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 65

Who launched United Artists?

A) Mary Pickford
B) Adolph Zukor
C) Edwin S. Porter
D) Thomas Edison
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 66

Which film was the first successful talking motion picture?

A) The Great Train Robbery
B) Snow White
C) Birth of a Nation
D) The Jazz Singer
E) The Life of an American Firefighter

Question 67

In an early attempt to monopolize the film industry, inventor Thomas Edison formed _.

A) The Motion Picture Monopoly of America
B) General Electric
C) The Edison Oligopoly Company
D) Paramount Studios
E) The Motion Picture Patents Company

Question 68

Nickelodeons were .

A) turn-of-the-century theaters dedicated to screening children's films
B) the first fancy downtown movie palaces, located mainly in business centers
C) the original movie theaters, popular with immigrants
D) large, multiple-screen movie complexes typically located near busy highways
E) cheaply priced drive-in theaters

Question 69

Nickelodeons and the silent films they showed were very popular with turn-of-the-century immigrant populations because .

A) they advertised outside of Ellis Island
B) they provided an inexpensive escape
C) nickelodeons showed films in color
D) popular Broadway singers were the featured players
E) the elaborate movie sets were visually exciting

Question 70

Which of the following is one of the methods used by the Trust to control the film industry?

A) Distributing faulty movie film to other companies
B) Acquiring most major film distributorships
C) Signing exclusive contracts with actors
D) Forcing film producers to relocate to New York
E) Building the most lavish nickelodeons

Question 71

Mary Pickford was .

A) instrumental in raising the salaries of film actors
B) a founder of Paramount Pictures
C) an experienced stage actress before going into the movies
D) known as ''America's Villain''
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 72

Which of the following is not one of the original five major studios that once dominated the film business?

A) RKO
B) Warner Brothers
C) Paramount
D) Disney
E) Twentieth Century Fox

Question 73

Mary Pickford was able to start United Artists because .

A) early Hollywood was known for respecting women and promoting their careers as producers, directors, and studio executives
B) Adolph Zukor wanted more studios competing to make films
C) she had become very popular with audiences and influential in the industry
D) she was born into a wealthy family
E) she was an award-winning director

Question 74

When a studio engaged in block booking, it .

A) opened a big-budget film in at least one thousand movie theaters across the United States
B) hired an entire neighborhood or category of people to appear in a film
C) guaranteed an exhibitor that a film would attract a minimum number of paying customers
D) required exhibitors to book a large number of new or marginal pictures in order to get the movies they really wanted
E) required movie actors to sign exclusive contracts

Question 75

Adolph Zukor formed the Famous Players Company in 1912 to .

A) give young actors a start in movies
B) exert control over movie production
C) serve as an agent for established actors
D) make exceptional movies with the best directors available
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 76

Which of the following is true about early major Hollywood studio heads like Adolph Zukor?

A) They allowed independent, smaller filmmakers to thrive because of their own experiences fighting the opposition and control of Thomas Edison and the Trust.
B) They struggled because of stiff competition from European filmmakers following World
C) They tried to give actors and directors a great deal of choice about the kinds and numbers of films to make.
D) They believed that the three main areas of the movie business-production, distribution, and exhibition-should be handled by separate companies.
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 77

Through the 1920s, 85 to 95 percent of all film revenue was generated by .

A) small neighborhood theaters
B) downtown first-run theaters
C) multiplexes in shopping malls
D) home video rentals
E) drive-in theaters

Question 78

What is vertical integration?

A) Control of the production, distribution, and exhibition of a film or other cultural product by one company
B) A system for predicting whether a film will succeed or fail at the box office
C) The theory that media elites atop the social hierarchy can persuade the citizenry to act in certain ways
D) The process a movie goes through from script to promotion
E) A unionizing tactic in which all levels of movie production-from actors and directors to camera operators and janitors-are brought into a single bargaining force

Question 79

Which of the following is not an element of vertical integration in the movie industry?

A) Syndication
B) Distribution
C) Production
D) Exhibition
E) All of the options are elements.

Question 80

Which of the following is a reason for the sharp decline in the number of foreign films released in cinemas between 1966 and 1990?

A) Moviegoers asked their local cinemas to stop showing foreign films.
B) Multiplexes felt foreign films posed too strong a threat to domestic films.
C) Multiplexes didn't want to screen foreign titles because of their small profit margins.
D) Foreign films were too highbrow for American audiences.
E) None of the above options is correct.