Chapter 7 — Quiz
Twenty-five questions to check your grip on shot sizes, angles, the line, the eyeline, and coverage. Mix of multiple choice, true/false (with a required justification), short answer, and a few "what's wrong here?" perception questions. Answer everything before you open the key — a wrong answer you thought about sticks better than a right one you read. The key, with one-line explanations and a review map, is at the end.
Multiple choice
1. Which shot size's primary job is to establish where a scene takes place and the geography of the space? - A) Close-up (CU) - B) Medium shot (MS) - C) Wide / long shot (WS / LS) - D) Medium close-up (MCU)
2. The Hitchcock principle in the chapter says the size of a subject in the frame should be proportional to: - A) how well-lit the subject is - B) the subject's importance in the story at that moment - C) how far the camera is from the subject - D) the focal length of the lens
3. The medium close-up (MCU) is described as the standard framing for: - A) an epic landscape establishing shot - B) a person talking to camera or to an interviewer - C) an extreme detail like an eye or a phone screen - D) a full-body action shot
4. A low-angle shot (camera looking up at the subject) tends to make the subject feel: - A) smaller, weaker, more observed - B) bigger, more powerful, more dominant - C) exactly neutral, like eye-level - D) disoriented and uneasy
5. The line (axis of action) is best defined as: - A) the horizon line you keep level in the frame - B) the imaginary straight line connecting the two subjects of a scene - C) the edge of the frame where captions sit - D) the focus distance between camera and subject
6. The 180-degree rule tells you to: - A) rotate the camera 180 degrees between shots - B) use a 180-degree shutter angle for natural motion - C) keep every camera on one side of the line - D) shoot every scene from exactly 180 degrees of coverage
7. In a two-person shot-reverse-shot, if person A looks camera-right toward B, then in the reverse, person B should look: - A) camera-right as well - B) straight down the lens - C) camera-left toward A - D) away from the camera entirely
8. The master shot in the master-and-coverage method is: - A) the tightest, most important close-up in the scene - B) a wide take that runs the entire scene start to finish - C) the first shot you delete if you run low on card space - D) a shot from the opposite side of the line for variety
9. The main reason to run the full action on every coverage pass (so the sizes overlap) is: - A) to use up the memory card - B) so you can cut from any size to any other at any moment - C) so each take is a different length - D) to make the shoot take longer
10. A POV (point-of-view) shot usually needs which shot next to it to work? - A) another POV shot from a different character - B) a wide establishing shot of the whole building - C) a shot of the person looking (to show whose view it is) - D) an extreme close-up of a clock
11. An insert / cutaway (a detail shot like hands or a cup) is most useful in the edit for: - A) establishing the geography of the room - B) compressing time and hiding a trim between other shots - C) replacing the need for a master shot - D) fixing exposure problems
12. Which of these is the honest, neutral default camera height for an interview? - A) high angle - B) low angle - C) eye-level - D) a canted (Dutch) tilt
True / False — justify each in one sentence
13. A scene shot entirely at one shot size will still cut together with good rhythm and emphasis. True / False — why?
14. The 180-degree rule in this chapter is the same rule as the 180-degree shutter rule from Chapter 2. True / False — why?
15. A close-up is a neutral change of distance that carries no instruction to the viewer. True / False — why?
16. You can get a "close-up" either by walking closer with a wide lens or by staying back with a long lens, and the two shots will look essentially identical. True / False — why?
17. Coverage means capturing a scene from enough sizes and angles that the editor can assemble it and cut around problems. True / False — why?
18. If two people in a dialogue both look camera-left across a cut, they will read as looking at each other. True / False — why?
Short answer
19. Name the three anchor shot sizes and give the one-word job of each.
20. In one sentence each, define the line and the 180-degree rule, and state what happens on screen if you cross the line.
21. Define eyeline and explain what makes an eyeline "matched" in a shot-reverse-shot.
22. List the pieces on the coverage checklist — the shots you want before leaving any scene — and say what each is for.
What's wrong with this shot / edit?
23. A described edit: a conversation between two seated friends is shot only in a single locked-off wide from across the café; the camera never moves closer for the whole two-minute scene. Name two problems and the coverage that fixes them.
24. A described edit: an emotional climax — a character learning a loved one has died — plays out in a wide shot where the face is tiny and unreadable, while an earlier, trivial line about the weather is shown in extreme close-up. Using the Hitchcock principle, explain what's wrong and how to re-assign the sizes.
25. A described shoot: a director films one person from the near side of a table, then walks around to the far side to film the second person "for a better angle," and cuts the two together. Name the rule broken and describe what the viewer will see go wrong.