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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who said of American films that they were all "pictures of people talking"?
(a) Eisenstein.
(b) Herzog.
(c) Alfred Hitchcock.
(d) Frank Capra.

2. Counterculture architecture was based on designing buildings based on what?
(a) How the architect felt.
(b) The natural surroundings.
(c) The weather.
(d) The setting.

3. What is the main shot of any given scene?
(a) The master.
(b) The main.
(c) The focus.
(d) The principle.

4. What craft did Mamet say he does sometimes in Chapter 3?
(a) Carves wood.
(b) Writes poetry.
(c) Sculpts.
(d) Paints.

5. Sometimes, Mamet says in Chapter 3, the piece (film) will do what?
(a) Work with you.
(b) Create roadblocks.
(c) Create impediments.
(d) Fight back against you.

6. The newspaper reviewer criticized an author for attempting screenwriting because he was nearly what?
(a) Blind.
(b) Deaf.
(c) Paralyzed.
(d) Illiterate.

7. Mamet's house was built without what?
(a) Brick.
(b) Wood.
(c) Nails.
(d) Metal.

8. A good writer only gets better by learning to do what, according to Mamet?
(a) Cut.
(b) Flesh out stories.
(c) Narrate.
(d) Create characters.

9. According to Mamet, the director is seen as what kind of extension of the screenwriter?
(a) Artistic.
(b) Scientific.
(c) Dionysian.
(d) Creative.

10. According to Mamet, film directors should all aspire to be what?
(a) Actors.
(b) Animators.
(c) Documentary film-makers.
(d) Play directors.

11. Who said the following: when we have two theories, each of which adequately describes a phenomenon, always pick the simpler?
(a) Einstein.
(b) Aristotle.
(c) Eisenstein.
(d) William of Occam.

12. According to Mamet, you can't rely on the ________ to tell the story. Which of these is the correct answer?
(a) Direction.
(b) Acting.
(c) Shots.
(d) Beats.

13. Who did Mamet compare with Frank Capra in Chapter 3?
(a) David Lynch.
(b) Werner Herzog.
(c) Alfred Hitchcock.
(d) Brad Commers.

14. Who characterized the notion of "judge of yourself"?
(a) Stanislavsky.
(b) Eisenstein.
(c) Herzog.
(d) Hemingway.

15. According to Mamet, the storyteller did NOT need something in Chapter 2. What was it?
(a) Characterization.
(b) Entropy.
(c) Back-story.
(d) Alliteration.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where was Mamet teaching in the fall of 1987?

2. Mamet cited Aristotle in saying there is no such thing as what?

3. According to Mamet in Chapter 3, "You tax the audience every time you don't move on to _______ of the progression as quickly as possible."

4. What are after-the-fact attempts to shore up that which was not correctly designed in a film?

5. What is the term which refers to the protagonist's immediate goal?

(see the answer keys)

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