MFA Film and Digital Media Arts 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'mise-en-scène' in filmmaking?
- The process of editing footage together in post-production
- Everything visible within the film frame — set design, lighting, costume, actor placement, and camera position (Correct answer)
- The musical score composed for a film
- The script format used during pre-production
Correct answer: Everything visible within the film frame — set design, lighting, costume, actor placement, and camera position
Mise-en-scène refers to all the visual elements placed within the camera's frame: settings, props, lighting, costumes, and the staging of actors.
Question 2: What is 'montage' in film theory and practice?
- A widescreen cinematography technique
- The theory and practice of editing — the juxtaposition of shots to create meaning beyond what any single shot contains (Correct answer)
- The use of natural lighting on location shoots
- A type of musical score that matches action in a film
Correct answer: The theory and practice of editing — the juxtaposition of shots to create meaning beyond what any single shot contains
Montage, developed by Soviet filmmakers like Eisenstein, holds that meaning in film is generated by the collision and juxtaposition of edited shots rather than by individual images alone.
Question 3: What does 'aspect ratio' refer to in film and video production?
- The frame rate at which footage is recorded
- The proportional relationship between a frame's width and its height (Correct answer)
- The resolution measured in pixels of a digital image
- The ratio of ambient to artificial light in a scene
Correct answer: The proportional relationship between a frame's width and its height
Aspect ratio is the proportional width-to-height relationship of a film or video frame, such as 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3 (standard definition television).
Question 4: In digital media art, what is 'interactive installation'?
- Software installed on multiple computers in a gallery network
- An artwork that changes or responds to viewer participation or presence, often using sensors or computer systems (Correct answer)
- A time-based media piece played in a loop without viewer input
- The physical installation of hardware components for a digital artwork
Correct answer: An artwork that changes or responds to viewer participation or presence, often using sensors or computer systems
Interactive installation art creates an environment or object that changes, responds, or is activated through audience participation, often using sensors, cameras, or interfaces.
Question 5: What is a 'tracking shot' in cinematography?
- A static shot that uses a zoom lens to appear to move closer
- A shot in which the camera physically moves through space, following or alongside a subject on wheels, dolly, or Steadicam (Correct answer)
- An overhead aerial shot tracking a landscape from above
- A handheld shot that follows an actor's eye-line
Correct answer: A shot in which the camera physically moves through space, following or alongside a subject on wheels, dolly, or Steadicam
A tracking shot physically moves the camera through space — typically on a dolly, track, or Steadicam — to follow movement or explore an environment.
Question 6: What is 'non-linear editing' (NLE) in video post-production?
- Editing film in the traditional linear fashion, reel to reel
- Digital editing in which footage is accessed randomly and can be reordered without physically cutting or rearranging the source media (Correct answer)
- Editing that deliberately jumps backward in chronological narrative order
- A technique that overlaps multiple timelines simultaneously in the final cut
Correct answer: Digital editing in which footage is accessed randomly and can be reordered without physically cutting or rearranging the source media
Non-linear editing allows editors to access and rearrange any footage at any time in a digital timeline, unlike tape-based linear editing which required sequential assembly.
MFA Film and Digital Media Arts 1
What is 'mise-en-scène' in filmmaking?