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Classical Film Theory
Formalist and Realist theories
151
Film, Theatre & Television
Undergraduate 4
12/13/2010

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Term
T/F The term "theory" refers to the processes of a given art form, as opposed to the term "aesthetics" which examines its beauty.
Definition
False??
Term
T/F The philosophical theory that refers to the existence of absolutes and universals is called Aristotelian realism.
Definition
T
Term
Plato declared that all artists/ poets and their works should be banned from the State. (T/F)
Definition
T
Term
( T)2. The philosophical theory that refers to contextual aesthetics is called Platonic realism. (T/F)
Definition
T
Term
Aristotle’s theory of Katharsis (emotional release) appears in which of the following: A. THE REPUBLIC; B. METAMORPHOSES; C. POETICS; D. UT PICTURA POESIS
Definition
Poetics
Term
Which of the terms in the preceding question acknowledges that there are affinities between the literary and pictorial arts?
Definition
Ut Pictura poesis
Term
The first film theorists, in the early silent period, insisted on entirely separating the film medium from the processes and effects of the other, more traditional arts. (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
The first writers to address themselves seriously to the moving pictures (between 1912-1914) were: A. theater critics; B. music critics; C. movie critics; D. literary critics
Definition
Literary critics
Term
It was stressed in class that film theory has developed steadily over the years, each theorist building upon the theories of the preceding generation in a cause-effect manner. (T/F)
Definition
True
Term
“David” a Baroque sculpture implying motion and the duration of time
( C )11. Modernist painter who emphasized the 2-dimensionality of the picture space
Definition
Bernini
Term
. “The Two Schools of Athens” a Renaissance painting that exploited linear perspective
Definition
Raphael
Term
Modernist painter who emphasized the 2-dimensionality of the picture space
Definition
Toulouse
Term
Modernist graphic designer whose optical illusions played with the polarities of volume duality
Definition
MC Escher
Term
14. Linear perspective was developed in what time period: A. Appx. 1425-1500; B. 1500-1650; C. 1650-1700; D. 1700-1750
Definition
A
Term
Linear perspective coincided with Copernicus’ theory of planetary motion and Gutenberg’s printing press. (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
Marshall McLuhan says the development of linear perspective may be described as a post-literate age. (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
McLuhan says that today’s “acoustic” world brings us back to a pre-literate, or “tribal” sensibility. T/F
Definition
True
Term
The wide-angle lens approximates the enforced perspective of a Medieval painting. (T/F)
Definition
True
Term
pictures of action
Definition
Sculpture in Motion
Term
pictures of intimacy
Definition
paintings in motion
Term
pictures of splendor
Definition
architecture in motion
Term
the chase film (or “hurdle race”)
Definition
sculpture in motion
Term
actors as “swiftly moved chessmen”
Definition
scultpure in motion
Term
“gossip in extremis”
Definition
painting in motion
Term
trick films and crowd films
Definition
architecture in motion
Term
classroom example: “From the Manger to the Cross”
Definition
architecture in motion
Term
classroom example: “The Sunbeam”
Definition
paintings in motion
Term
Who explained the three times of motion
Definition
Vachel Lindsay
Term
Which of these American poets influenced Vachel Lindsay with their “catalogs” and lists of poetic observations of people, places, and things: A. ROBERT LOWELL; B. EMILY DICKINSON; C. GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS; D. WALT WHITMAN
Definition
Whitman
Term
Lindsay’s enthusiasm for this movie star led to some of his most colorful writings: A. WILLIAM S. HART; B. MARY PICKFORD; C. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS; D. JOHN GILBERT
Definition
Mary Pickford
Term
Lindsay’s reputation rested primarily on his poetical works, of which this is an example: A. THE CONGO; B. KNOXVILLE SUMMER (James Agey?): 1915; C. THE BRIDGE; D. DEATH OF THE HIRED MAN
Definition
The Congo
Term
Lindsay was a member of the New York-based Modernist movement of poets and musicians called “The Eight.” (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
Both Vachel Lindsay and Hugo Munsterberg advocated the possibilities of the union of sound and image (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
Who was Munsterberg’s mentor at Harvard? A. CARL JUNG; B. WILLIAM JAMES; C. SUSANNE K. LANGER; D. RUDOLF ARNHEIM
Definition
William James
Term
Munsterberg received his training in Cinema Studies at Harvard. (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
Which of these works was not written by Susanne K. Langer: A. “A Note on the Film”; B. FEELINGS AND FORM; C. PHILOSOPHY IN A NEW KEY; D. THE FILM: A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY
Definition
The Film: A Psychological study
Term
Which of the above works was written by Hugo Munsterberg?
Definition
The Film: A Psychological Study
Term
Langer’s theories about film insist that the film medium is a distinctively different art form from the others and must necessarily exist apart from them.
Definition
True
Term
“virtual space”
Definition
Painting
Term
“virtual volume”
Definition
Sculpture
Term
“virtual present”
Definition
film
Term
“virtual future” (destiny)
Definition
drama
Term
“virtual time”
Definition
music
Term
the “dream mode”
Definition
film
Term
Susanne K. Langer says that the semblance of architecture is virtual place. (T/F)
Definition
True
Term
Langer argues that the semblance, or illusion of film, is not primarily visual, i.e., that it is not a plastic art. (T/F)
Definition
True
Term
The “ambigram” is a graphic design that allows for the oscillation of “negative” and “positive” space
Definition
true
Term
Hugo Munsterberg rejected censorship on what grounds: A. Movies had no impact whatever on our emotions; B. movies created an illusion that always remained separate from our “real” world; C. he supported the First Amendment to the Constitution
Definition
movies created an illusion that always remained separate
Term
Munsterberg relates the shot to what cognitive process: A. attention; B. memory; C. division of interest; D. imagination
Definition
attention
Term
To which of the above does Munsterberg relate the process of parallel editing?
Definition
division of interest
Term
To which of the above does Munsterberg relate the device of the flashback?
Definition
memory
Term
Munsterberg and Rudolph Arnheim share the belief that the film medium should pursue the illusion of reality (T/F)
Definition
F
Term
Rudolf Arnheim insisted that because of “partial illusion” film could never be an art form. (T/F)
Definition
False
Term
Arnheim believed that the introduction of sound was necessary to the evolution of film as an art form. (T/F)
Definition
False
Term
To create the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface all but which of these techniques must be applied: A. OVERLAP; B. ENFORCED PERSPECTIVE; C. POSITIONING OF ELEMENTS IN THE FRAME; D. VISUAL SUBSTITUTES FOR WEIGHT AND TACTILITY; E. METHODS OF LIGHTING; F. all the above
Definition
all of the above
Term
Intellectual Montage
Definition
where meaning the result of a conscious leap made by the spectator between two terms of a visual metaphor or figure, uses shots which, combined, elicit an intellectual meaning.[2]
1. Intellectual montage examples from Eisenstein's October and Strike. In Strike, a shot of striking workers being attacked cut with a shot of a bull being slaughtered creates a film metaphor suggesting that the workers are being treated like cattle. This meaning does not exist in the individual shots; it only arises when they are juxtaposed.
2. In The Godfather, during Michael's nephew's baptism, the priest performs the sacrament of baptism while we see killings ordered by Michael take place elsewhere. The murders thus "baptize" Michael into a life of crime.
3. At the end of Apocalypse Now the execution of Colonel Kurtz is juxtaposed with the villagers' ritual slaughter of a water buffalo.....
Term
Metric Montage
Definition
the psychological impact of a given montage sequence can be dictated in part by the length of certain shots. For instance, steadily decreasing shot leght creates a sense of acceleration, excitement and vigor; increasing shot length can have the opposite effect, creating in the viewer a sense of languor.
Term
Rhythmic
Definition
includes cutting based on time, but using the visual composition of the shots -- along with a change in the speed of the metric cuts -- to induce more complex meanings than what is possible with metric montage. Once sound was introduced, rhythmic montage also included audial elements (music, dialogue, sounds).
Term
tonal montage
Definition
a tonal montage uses the emotional meaning of the shots -- not just manipulating the temporal length of the cuts or its rhythmical characteristics -- to elicit a reaction from the audience even more complex than from the metric or rhythmic montage. For example, a sleeping baby would emote calmness and relaxation.
Term
overtonal
Definition
- the overtonal montage is the cumulation of metric, rhythmic, and tonal montage to synthesize its effect on the audience for an even more abstract and complicated effect.
Term
metric montage
Definition
where the editing follows a specific number of frames (based purely on the physical nature of time), cutting to the next shot no matter what is happening within the image. This montage is used to elicit the most basal and emotional of reactions in the audience.
Term
japanese ideograms
Definition
graphic symbol that represents an idea of concept:
A series of links between cinema and other Japanese cultural activities. As he concludes--"So, it has been possible to establish (cursorily) the permeation of the most varied branches of Japanese culture by a pure cinematographic element--its basic nerve, montage." (103)

IDEOGRAM:
"Each, separately, corresponds to an object, to a fact, but their combination corresponds to a concept. From separate hieroglyph ha been fused--the ideogram." (91)
Examples--
picture for water and one of an eye--to weep
picture of an ear and one of a dog--to listen
picture of a mouth and one of a child--to scream
picture of a mouth and one of a bird--to sing
picture of a knife and one of a heart--sorrow

This is montage, Eisenstein says:
"combining shots that are depictive, single in meaning, neutral in content--into intellectual contexts and series. (92)
Term
biomechanics
Definition
Eisenstein, non naturalism. I believe like method acting. Studying the body and choreography.
Term
mozhukin experiment
Definition
Kuleshov effect "The Mozhukin Experiment"
First major film--ON THE RED FRONT 1920),combines documentary footage with acted sequences
Organizes the first State Film School and established in 1920 the "Kuleshov Workshop" (Eisenstein and Pudovkin both his students)
Term
sound/image manifesto
Definition
Pudovkin, Deserter
Term
“Kino-Eye”
Definition
the writings o dziga vertov
Term
Creative geography
Definition
film making technique invented by the early Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov sometime around the 1920s[citation needed]. It is a subset of montage, in which multiple segments shot at various locations and/or times are edited together such that they appear to all occur in a continuous place at a continuous time.
Term
Creative Anatomy
Definition
As for creative anatomy, that is accomplished with the use of stunt doubles and stand-ins. Many times a shot that a director needs is too dangerous, or it would simply be too time-consuming for the actor/actress to perform on their own. Sometimes by using a stunt double or stand-in, the director can free up the main actor/actress to work on other scenes, and it often saves time and money since a stunt double or stand-in is, most likely, paid less than the principle performer.
Term
Creative Acting/ Action
Definition
kuleshov effect
Term
typage
Definition
the human face as an expressive device.
Term
formalism
Definition
Formalist film theory is a theory of film study that is focused on the formal, or technical, elements of a film: i.e., the lighting, scoring, sound and set design, use of color, shot composition, and editing. It is a major theory of film study today. Formalism, at its most general, considers the synthesis (or lack of synthesis) of the multiple elements of film production, and the effects, emotional and intellectual, of that synthesis and of the individual elements. For example, take the single element of editing. A formalist might study how standard Hollywood "continuity editing" creates a more comforting effect and non-continuity or jump-cut editing might become more disconcerting or volatile.
Term
individual hero
Definition
pudovkin
Term
mass hero
Definition
eisenstein
Term
soviet social realism
Definition
Pudovkin and his colleagues came under attack from the Stalinist regime for not adhering to the policy of Soviet Socialist Realism, i.e, for sacrificing political realities for the sake of an alleged “formalism.”
Term
V. Meyerhold
Definition
was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer whose provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern theatre.
Constantin Stanislavski- Stanislavski's work was as important to the development of socialist realism in the USSR as it was to that of psychological realism in the United States.[3] Many actors routinely identify his system with the American Method, although the latter's exclusively psychological techniques contrast sharply with Stanislavski's multivariant, holistic and psychophysical approach, which explores character and action both from the 'inside out' and the 'outside in
Term
Sergei Eisenstein
Definition
"Father of Montage." He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1924), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1927), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958). His work profoundly influenced early filmmakers owing to his innovative use of
Term
V. Pudovkin
Definition
was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter and actor who developed influential theories of montage. Pudovkin's masterpieces are often contrasted with those of his contemporary Sergei Eisenstein, but whereas Eisenstein utilized montage to glorify the power of the masses, Pudovkin preferred to concentrate on the courage and resilience of individuals.
Term
Lev Kuleshov
Definition
Kuleshov may well be the very first film theorist as he was a leader in Soviet montage theory — developing his theories of editing before those of Sergei Eisenstein (briefly a student of Kuleshov) and Vsevolod Pudovkin. For Kuleshov, the essence of the cinema was editing, the juxtaposition of one shot with another. To illustrate this principle, he created what has come to be known as the Kuleshov Experiment. In this now-famous editing exercise, shots of an actor were intercut with various meaningful images (a casket, a bowl of soup, and so on) in order to show how editing changes viewers' interpretations of images.
Term
Karensky
Definition
- Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky (Russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский; 4 May [O.S. 22 April] 1881 – 11 June 1970) was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.
Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution. He died in exile
Term
Moscow art theatre
Definition
theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas that were Russia's dominant form of theatre at the time. Moscow Art Theatre. Greatest theatrical movement in the world. Stanislavsky/Meyerhold. Stanislavsky greatest method actor. Anton Chekov greatest playwright.
Term
soviet film school
Definition
1919 Soviet Film School is founded. Led Kuleshov is in charge. Shake the masses to better the good of the state. Malevich (canvas with nothing in it) Conceptual art- framed space. Idea, not what’s on it. Folk songs help rouse this emotion.
Term
bolsheviks
Definition
under lenin, professional revolutionaries
Term
1905 Revolution
Definition
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included terrorism, worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies. It led to the establishment of limited constitutional monarchy, the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the multi-party system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906.
Term
by the law
Definition
kuleshov
Term
october
Definition
eisenstein (montage)
Term
end of st. petersburg
Definition
pudovkin, montage
Term
deserter
Definition
pudovkin
Term
potemkin
Definition
eisenstein, basket rolling down stairs
Term
strike
Definition
eisenstein compares animals to people
Term
man with a movie camera
Definition
vertov
Term
kino-pravda
Definition
vertov, children eating
Term
at land
Definition
maya deren
Term
goodfellas
Definition
martin scorsese
Term
the untouchables
Definition
brian de palma, kevin costner
Term
the color purple
Definition
steven spielberg
Term
theory of film
Definition
kracauer
Term
the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction
Definition
benjamin
Term
the ontology of film
Definition
julie n books?
Term
the myth of the total cinema
Definition
bazin
Term
mass cult and mid cult
Definition
dwight macdonald
Term
the redemption of physical reality
Definition
kracauer
Term
the transcendental style
Definition
bresson
Term
decoupage classique
Definition
bresson
Term
refugee from Germany who came to write and teach in america
Definition
kracauer
Term
mentor to the new wave filmmakers
Definition
bazin
Term
american historian and aesthetician who rejected "grand theory"
Definition
david bordwell
Term
cultural historian who committed suicide during his attempt to flee Nazi Germany
Definition
Benjamin
Term
What is cinema
Definition
bazin
Term
founded and edited cahiers du cinema
Definition
bazin
Term
thomas kinkade
Definition
painter, entrepreneur
Term
michel gondry
Definition
is a French film, commercial and music video director and an Academy Award-winning screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène.
Term
Jean Renoir
Definition
15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. As an author, he wrote the definitive biography of his father, the painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Renoir, My Father (1962).
Term
bazin
Definition
was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. Bazin believed that a film should represent a director's personal vision, rooted in the spiritual beliefs known as personalism. These ideas would have a pivotal importance on the development of the auteur theory, the manifesto for which was François Truffaut's 1954 Cahiers article "A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema". Bazin also is known as a proponent of "appreciative criticism," wherein only critics who like a film can write a review of it, thus encouraging constructive criticism.
Term
bazin
Definition
was a renowned and influential French film critic and film theorist. Bazin believed that a film should represent a director's personal vision, rooted in the spiritual beliefs known as personalism. These ideas would have a pivotal importance on the development of the auteur theory, the manifesto for which was François Truffaut's 1954 Cahiers article "A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema". Bazin also is known as a proponent of "appreciative criticism," wherein only critics who like a film can write a review of it, thus encouraging constructive criticism.
Term
paul schrader
Definition
is an American screenwriter and film director. Despite his credentials as a director, Schrader has received more recognition for his screenplays for others, especially Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. He is often called[by whom?] one of the best screenwriters never to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Term
robert bresson
Definition
in French; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director known for his spiritual, ascetic style.
Term
truffaut
Definition
6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was an influential filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave.[1] In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five films. Along with Jean-Luc Godard, Truffaut was one of the most influential figures of the French New Wave, inspiring directors such as Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese.
Term
Kracauer claims that the borders of the photograph or the movie screen exerts a centrifugal force
Definition
False
Term
What are Kracauer's "affinities" of photography? Which one is unique to the film medium?
Definition
1. The unstaged, the fortuitous, endlessness, indeterminate, the flow of life$$$$
Term
Kracauer says cinema has three revealing functions.
Definition
True
Term
Kracauer in essence denies that the film medium is an art form.
Definition
t
Term
Kracauer says that the filmmaker is more dependent on Nature "in the raw" than the painter.
Definition
F
Term
Kracauer, in general, rejects filmmakers' attempts to make historical films that are authentically accurate to the time period that is depicted.
Definition
T
Term
Kracauer would agree with Kuleshov that the individual shot is a neutral particle.
Definition
T
Term
Walter Benjamin says that art images first originated in what circumstances?
Definition
Magical and religious rituals
Term
Define Benjamin's concept of aura
Definition
essence of authentic original, copies are bad.
Term
What does Benjamin mean by a work's cult value
Definition
when color is copied and comes to you, cult value has been replaced by exhibition value, the cult of the celebrity, those who are dead etc. photographs have cult value
Term
Benjamin says that this replication process traces manually images onto a stone block. . .
Definition
lithography
Term
According to Benjamin, what medium freed the hand of the artist for the first time?
Definition
photography
Term
In comparing the painter and the photographer, Benjamin says the photographer cannot penetrate as deeply into the web of nature as the painter can.
Definition
False
Term
Benjamin's "actor in exile"
Definition
His body loses its substance, deprived of reality, voice, and noise (think of Arnheim). It is like the image we see in a mirror--though now that image is SEPARABLE AND TRANSPORTABLE. It is transportable before the public.
Term
Benjamin compares the "unconscious optics" of the movie camera to the works of what famous thinker.
Definition
Freud
Term
the concept of "unconscious optics" was compared in class to the theories of photography by what theorist?
Definition
Arnheim
Term
Before his suicide in the late 1930s, Benjamin worked in what capacity?
Definition
writer??
Term
Benjamin says that an object's cult value has been replaced by what value today?
Definition
exhibition value
Term
Andre Bazin compares the evolution of cinema to what Greek myth?
Definition
plato's cave??
Term
Bazin says that cinema "hasn't been invented yet." (myth of total cinema)
Definition
true
Term
Bazin and Kracauer would agree with Arnheim that the individual shot presents only a "partial illusion" of reality.
Definition
t
Term
What are Bazin's four components of mise-en-scene?
Definition
deep focus, moving camera, the long take, real time
Term
Bazin insists that the editing process should be noticeable to the viewer.
Definition
false
Term
Bazin's mise-en-scene permits inter-shot montage.
Definition
f
Term
What filmmakers does Bazin praise as practitioners of mise-en-scene?
Definition
Orson Wells, Jean Renoir
Term
What filmmakers does Paul Schrader cite as practitioners of the "transcendental style"?
Definition
Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer
Term
mass cult
Definition
"is very, very democratic; it refuses to discriminate against or between anything or anybody." Note the way Life Magazine mixes Hollywood gossip with articles on foreign policy, etc. All becomes equal--or you could say that all is reduced and nothing is elevated.
Term
mid cult
Definition
has all the elements of Masscult, but with the additional veneer of pseudo respectability: "It pretends to respect the standards of High Culture while in fact it waters them down and vulgarizes them." It is thus a corruption of High Culture. While it is "totally subjected to the spectator," it is able to pass itself off as the real thing.
Term
high art
Definition
high art?
Term
kitsch
Definition
form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. (gnomes)
Term
grand theory
Definition
doctrine centered
Term
bottom to top
Definition
bordwell, explaining precisely
Term
Bresson's beliefs
Definition
no actors, music, medium shots, body parts
Term
bazin's film strategy
Definition
invisible editing
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