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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Screenwriting is a craft based on what?
(a) Narration.
(b) Science.
(c) Exposition.
(d) Logic.

2. In what area did Mamet have greater experience in when writing the book?
(a) Acting.
(b) Stage directing.
(c) Screenwriting.
(d) Film criticism.

3. According to Mamet, what was his response to "lovely enthusiasts who will aver that the purpose of modern art is not to be liked"?
(a) "Let's get it over with."
(b) "Get a life."
(c) "Learn a craft."
(d) "Oh, grow up."

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

5. 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 Hippo Factor.
(b) The Jesus Factor.
(c) The K.I.S.S. Rule.
(d) The Rule of Circularity.

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

7. Who said that the point is what happens to he hero, not what happens to the writer?
(a) Aristotle.
(b) Plato.
(c) Hemingway.
(d) Sophocles.

8. Who did Mamet cite in saying that we needn't avoid things just because they're cliche?
(a) Hemingway.
(b) Eisenstein.
(c) Aristotle.
(d) Stanislavsky.

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

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

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

12. According to Mamet, you always want to tell a story in what?
(a) Shots.
(b) Character.
(c) Cuts.
(d) Narration.

13. Who said, "Write the story, take out all the good lines, and see if it still works"?
(a) Fitzgerald.
(b) Chekhov.
(c) Hemingway.
(d) Stanislavski.

14. What are after-the-fact attempts to shore up that which was not correctly designed in a film?
(a) Exposition.
(b) Narration.
(c) Editing.
(d) Signs.

15. What is a progression toward the simplest, most ordered state, according to Mamet in Chapter 2?
(a) Delineation.
(b) Entropy.
(c) Streamlining.
(d) Examination.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Mamet, you can't rely on the ________ to tell the story. Which of these is the correct answer?

2. What is another term for "looping"?

3. What is the rule which Mamet says means "Keep it simple, stupid"?

4. According to Mamet, when the film is correctly ____, the subconscious and the conscious are in alignment.

5. According to Mamet, film schools are basically what?

(see the answer keys)

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