CLEP Humanities : Answering Other Questions About Film

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Film

What movie was the first popular American movie to feature sound prominently?

Possible Answers:

Intolerance

City Lights

The Jazz Singer

Wings

The 39 Steps

Correct answer:

The Jazz Singer

Explanation:

In 1927, Al Jolson, a notable vaudeville star, starred in a semi-autobiographical film called The Jazz Singer, which was most notable for Jolson turning to the camera and telling the audience, "You ain't heard nothing yet!" This was the first recorded sound to feature prominently in a movie. The Jazz Singer ushered in the era of talkies, and largely spelled the doom of silent films.

Example Question #2 : Answering Other Questions About Film

The Lumière brothers were instrumental in the development of what medium?

Possible Answers:

Photography

The novel

Newspapers

Screen-printing

Film

Correct answer:

Film

Explanation:

The Lumière brothers were Frenchmen who ran a family photographic business in Lyon, France at the end of the nineteenth century. They were some of the first people to figure out how to connect individual images to create moving pictures, and they essentially invented the modern process of filmmaking. Their first film, from 1895, was a forty-five-second reel depicting workers leaving their factory.

Example Question #3 : Answering Other Questions About Film

Who is the producer and director responsible for the first full-length animated film produced in America?

Possible Answers:

Jack Warner

Walt Disney

Ub Iwerks

Chuck Jones

Tim Burton

Correct answer:

Walt Disney

Explanation:

Walt Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was considered a folly while Disney was making it, as no one had made a full length animated feature before. Financed entirely on his own, and with considerable debt accrued, Disney's film was released under great suspicion. The film ended up being a success, with the Academy Awards giving seven small special Oscars to Disney for his film.

Example Question #4 : Answering Other Questions About Film

The Western The Magnificent Seven was a remake of a film made by which director?

Possible Answers:

Jean-Luc Godard

Akira Kurosawa

Ingmar Bergman

Sergio Leone

Alfred Hitchcock

Correct answer:

Akira Kurosawa

Explanation:

The Japanes director Akira Kurosawa became internationally famous for his samurai films, which were sweeping epics that reflected a wide range of philosophical issues. Many of his films were remade around the world in different genres. Most notable among these was the 1960 Western film The Magnificent Seven, by John Sturges, which followed a similar story to that of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai.

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