View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. According to Mamet in Chapter 3, the film business is caught in a spiral of degeneracy because it is run by people who have no what?

3. Counterculture architecture was based on designing buildings based on what?

4. How many films had David Mamet directed at the time that the book was written?

5. Mamet says in Chapter 3 that it is the nature of human perception to go to what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Describe the "School of Countercultural Architecture."

4. How did Mamet describe human nature in piecing together stories from film?

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

6. How was the hypothetical film shot in Chapter 2?

7. Describe how film is like a design.

8. What does Mamet say regarding the juxtaposition of uninflected images in Chapter 3?

9. What are ways that directors attempt to keep the audience's attention when the design of a film fails?

10. What did Mamet cite from the book, "The Uses of Enchantment" in Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Eisenstein's theory of montage. How did Mamet view this approach to storytelling in film?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Mamet's metaphor for film and the Countercultural Architecture movement.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Mamet's take on exposition and narration in storytelling and specifically in film.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 812 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample