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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does Mamet say most modern art is based around?
(a) Self-indulgence.
(b) Political reasons.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Creativity.

3. What is the term Mamet used for the protagonist's ultimate goal in the scene in Chapter 2?
(a) Superobjective.
(b) Action.
(c) Objective.
(d) Motivation.

4. Mamet cited Aristotle in saying there is no such thing as what?
(a) A tragic ending.
(b) Character.
(c) Plot.
(d) A happy ending.

5. What is the period after you've finished the shot list and before you go into shooting?
(a) Preptime.
(b) Preproduction.
(c) Designer Meetings.
(d) Postproduction.

6. According to Mamet in Chapter 3, he challenges the way people talk about any performance artist and the way they talk about whom?
(a) Donna Reed.
(b) James Stewart.
(c) Carey Grant.
(d) Humphrey Bogart.

7. What is the term which means "it works correctly on paper but for some reason doesn't work when we get it on its feet"?
(a) The Jesus Factor.
(b) The K.I.S.S. Rule.
(c) The Hippo Factor.
(d) The Rule of Circularity.

8. Anytime anyone does what, "that's a counterforce"?
(a) Extols empathy.
(b) Tells the truth.
(c) Narrates the back-story.
(d) Shows emotion.

9. What is the term for the thing which stands in the way of the protagonist?
(a) Action.
(b) Obstacle.
(c) Objective.
(d) Conflict.

10. Mamet says that the house has to look like a house. The ______ doesn't have to look like a house.
(a) The window.
(b) The door.
(c) The steps.
(d) Nail.

11. 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."
(a) The essential truth.
(b) The action.
(c) The MacGuffin.
(d) The next essential step.

12. The movie, more than what, is closer to simple storytelling?
(a) A novel.
(b) A television show.
(c) A memoir.
(d) A play.

13. Who wrote The Uses of Enchantment?
(a) Werner Herzog.
(b) Bruno Bettelheim.
(c) Carl Jung.
(d) Bruno Eisenstein.

14. Mamet says in Chapter 3 that it is the nature of human perception to go to what?
(a) The back-story.
(b) The MacGuffin.
(c) The most interesting thing.
(d) The protagonist.

15. What is the rule which Mamet says means "Keep it simple, stupid"?
(a) Idiot rule.
(b) Film rule.
(c) KISS rule.
(d) Shooting rule.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote Memories, Dream, Reflections?

2. According to Mamet, he lived in a house that was how many years old at the time this book was written?

3. What logical construct did Mamet use to explain the system of film-making in Chapter 3?

4. Who told Alice it didn't matter which road she took, as cited by Mamet in Chapter 2?

5. Whose method relies on a succession of images juxtaposed so that the contrast moves the story forward?

(see the answer keys)

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