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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote The Uses of Enchantment?

2. In what area did Mamet have greater experience in when writing the book?

3. Where did Mamet go to college?

4. According to Mamet in Chapter 3, he challenges the way people talk about any performance artist and the way they talk about whom?

5. Who did Mamet cite in saying that we needn't avoid things just because they're cliche?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Mamet write of producers in Chapter 2?

2. What is a "MacGuffin", and who coined this phrase?

3. What did Mamet write in Chapter 3 regarding film with political agendas?

4. What was Mamet's rule of thumb for cutting extraneous material from a film?

5. Describe the objective and beats in the hypothetical film in Chapter 2.

6. Describe how film is like a design.

7. What is the backdrop of On Directing Film? From what setting did the author base the text?

8. What did Mamet indicate is the point of view of the performance artist, in Chapter 3?

9. How did Mamet relate the "School of Countercultural Architecture" to film directing?

10. What did Mamet write regarding dreams and film in Chapter 1?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What authors did Mamet quote in the book with regard to cutting extraneous text in a screenplay? What theorists did he speak about in dramatic analysis?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Mamet's approach to the director's interaction with the actors and the camera operators on the set. What did he suggest in these interactions, and why?

Essay Topic 3

Define and discuss the terms "modern art" and "performance art" in the text. How did Mamet feel about these genres? What is the role of politics in film?

(see the answer keys)

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