The first examination will be an in-class, written assessment of the materials we have covered to date. The goal will be to demonstrate that you have mastered the concepts and terminology presented in class and in our textbooks.
Most of the exam's questions will ask you to identify important concepts and terms, including the terms listed in the table below. Study tip: students have done well in the past by creating flash cards for each term.
In addition to the terminology questions, some questions will ask you to diagram shot plans, lighting placements, etc. These generally will be drawn from graphics presented in the textbooks. An example question about the "axis of motion" is available in PDF format (This is also known as the 180° rule. Hewitt and Vasquez discuss it on 149-51.)
The questions will vary in form. You can expect multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answer questions. These last will ask you to define the term and discuss its role in creating high-quality video. Your definition should be 2-3 detailed sentences that use (when possible) other key terms. As an example, here are good and bad answers for the term "wide angle":
- Good answer (full points):
- Wide Angle: This type of lens allows the camera to "see" a wider field of view than the human eye. The lens has a great depth of field, and it makes objects appear further apart than normal. Used for a closeup, a wide angle lens distorts facial features, so it is sometimes used for comic effect.
- Bad answer (zero points):
- Wide Angle: A kind of lens.
| Whittaker modules 22-25 | Sound |
| Fifteen guidelines for good composition | clapper |
| Content vs. form | lavaliere mic |
| A director directs attention. | boom |
| Insert shots | shotgun mic |
| Cutaway shots | omnidirectional mic |
| Composition defined | cardioid mic |
| Static composition | XLR connection |
| Dynamic composition | mixer |
| Slow equals boring. | audio levels (0 dB peak) |
| "The vast majority of the projects I see are too long." | Light and Lighting |
| Guidelines, not rules | quality (hard vs. soft) |
| intensity | |
| color | |
| Camerawork | available light |
| CU and ECU | ND filter |
| OTS | 3-point lighting |
| master shot | gel |
| establishing shot | barndoor |
| two shot | Fresnel |
| cutaways and inserts | contrast range |
| blocking | scrim |
| telephoto lens | safety issues |
| normal lens | |
| wide angle lens | Hewitt and Vazquez chapter 5 |
| "crossing the axis" (180° rule) | production book |
| continuity | consent & release forms |
| pan and tilt | office needs |
| zoom | scouting locations |
| dolly | buying vs. renting equipment |
| crane | Hewitt and Vazquez chapter 6 |
| selective focus | prioritizing interview subjects |
| Hewitt and Vazquez chapter 1 | cutaways |
| narrative structures | cover |
| Hewitt and Vazquez chapter 2 | screen vectors |
| characters | warm-ups |
| sequences | designing questions |
| ethics and visuals | |
| Hewitt and Vazquez chapter 3 | |
| friendly collaborators | |
| participant collaborators | |
| outside collaborators | |
| contracts | |
| Hewitt and Vazquez chapter 4 | |
| sources of money | |
| proposals | |
| budgets |