EDUQAS A Level Film - Component 2 Section C - Buster Keaton and Silent Cinema

Question 1

What device did Eadward Muybridge invent which created the moving image illusion?

Accepted Answer

Zoopraxiscope - The Horse in Motion (1878)

Question 2

What is a 'two-reeler'?

Accepted Answer

An 8mm film lasting between 12-24 mins requiring two reels

Question 3

Which Soviet director is often credited for developing the 'montage'?

Accepted Answer

Sergei Eisenstein

Question 4

Which short film by the Lumiere Brothers caused spectators to run away?

Accepted Answer

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station (1895)

Question 5

What is vaudeville theatre?

Accepted Answer

A type of entertainment featuring a mixture of acts on stage

Question 6

What was the controversy surrounding Fatty Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe?

Accepted Answer

Arbuckle charged with rape and manslaughter of Rappe

Question 7

What year was the advent of sound leading to the marginalising of Keaton films?

Accepted Answer

1927

Question 8

What Buster Keaton two-reeler alludes to the Arbuckle scandal?

Accepted Answer

Cops

Question 9

The Birth of a Nation often is criticised for its KKK propaganda, what is it renowned for?

Accepted Answer

The birth of modern narrative cinema

Question 10

Other than used for the gag (given wrong instructions), why show a wonky house construction?

Accepted Answer

An allusion to cubist art movement

Question 11

Visual comedy, audacious stuntsman, long shot visual gags, poker face, romance narratives...

Accepted Answer

...distinctive stylistic features of Buster the auteur

Question 12

What type of films did Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd star and direct?

Accepted Answer

Slapstick comedy

Question 13

What context preceded the 1930s Studio System and Hays Code?

Accepted Answer

1920s Star System and 1927 introduction of sound

Question 14

Buster Keaton Productions (1920-23) had a film executive who gave him complete creative freedom

Accepted Answer

Joseph M. Schenck

Question 15

What postmodern technique (ahead of its time) is used in 'One Week'?

Accepted Answer

Direct address, Breaking the fourth wall

Question 16

How did Keaton's 1920s slapstick star persona differ from Chaplin's?

Accepted Answer

Buster had a deadpan approach to eliciting laughs

Question 17

What techniques does Keaton use to elicit comedy?

Accepted Answer

Deadpan, misdirection, dramatic irony, inventive edits, Hydraulic props, epics, comedy of errors narratives

Question 18

Why did Keaton use long shots rather than Chaplin's close ups?

Accepted Answer

To show the environment as context for the gag

Question 19

How were policemen stereotypically represented in Keaton films?

Accepted Answer

Often outwitted by protagonist

Question 20

Who gave the actor-director the nickname "buster' when observing that he could take a fall?

Accepted Answer

Harry Houdini

Questions 20