Test on Tuesday, December 6

The test will focus on Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho,  Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, and the key terms and concepts from Chapter 2 of our textbook, Understanding Movies. Be sure to look over your notes, your homework assignments, and all Viewing Guides and handouts. Also, know how to define "rhetoric" and be able to give an example of "rhetoric of the moving image." Along with the general plot, key quotes, and character developments of our films, be sure to focus on these areas in your review:

• In Run Lola Run: 5 visual aesthetics; the formalistic aspects of the film's style and story structure; epigraphs; birds-eye view shot; split screen; Butterfly Effect; motifs (spirals, clocks, etc.), montage; flash forward; red filter; freeze frame; web of life plot; and Lola as hero. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Psycho: shooting day for night; voyeurism; MacGuffin; parallel editing or crosscutting; director's cameo; motifs of mirrors and birds; the shower scene; the characterization of Norman Bates; the final image; and the groundbreaking features of the film in general. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point.
• In Do The Right Thing: title credits; match cut; breaking the fourth wall; litany; episodic story structure vs. the classical paradigm; montage; racial tensions in NYC; and Spike Lee's DVD Special Features. Be able to cite specific examples of these concepts from the film to prove your point. 

• In Chapter 2 - Understanding Movies: Mise en scene ("placing on stage"); aspect ratio (standard vs. widescreen); iris shot; the dominant; subsidiary contrasts; intrinsic interest; tight vs. loose framing; character placement; composition; proxemic patterns; open vs. closed form.

This is only a general guide and not necessarily a complete list of everything we learned and everything you should study!

Extra help will be offered after school at 2:35 p.m. on Monday, 12/5 in room 452.

The approximate test breakdown: 60% multiple choice / 20% mini essay on mise en scene / 20% short answers

Good luck!