Chapter 10 — Quiz

Twenty-five questions to check that the ideas of directing the frame have stuck: the role, blocking, non-actors, eyeline direction, relaxing a subject, and directing yourself. Mix of multiple choice, true/false-with-justification, short answer, and a few "what's wrong with this direction?" perception questions. Answers and one-line explanations are in the Answer Key at the end — try each question before you look.

Multiple choice

1. The chapter argues that the director's real job is mostly: - (a) choosing the right camera and lens - (b) shouting "action" and "cut" at the right moments - (c) communication — getting a truthful performance and clear blocking - (d) watching the monitor for technical errors

2. "Blocking" refers to: - (a) blocking out unwanted light on a set - (b) the deliberate staging of where people and camera go, planned together - (c) preventing an actor from leaving the frame - (d) the storyboard drawn in pre-production

3. The core inversion between directing actors and directing non-actors is: - (a) actors need less direction than non-actors - (b) with actors you add technique/intention; with non-actors you subtract self-consciousness - (c) non-actors should be given more detailed line readings - (d) actors work from a script and non-actors improvise

4. Which instruction is most likely to produce a false performance from a real person? - (a) "Tell me about the first time you tried this." - (b) "You're explaining it to a new apprentice." - (c) "Warn me about what could go wrong." - (d) "Look more excited."

5. A subject looking just off the lens at an interviewer beside the camera reads to the viewer as: - (a) a host talking directly to them - (b) a conversation they are overhearing - (c) a character who doesn't know they're being watched - (d) a mistake in the eyeline

6. For a standard testimonial, the lens is usually best placed at: - (a) well above the subject's eyes - (b) well below the subject's eyes - (c) the subject's eye level - (d) wherever the tripod happens to reach

7. "Chimping" — checking the screen after every single solo take — is discouraged because it: - (a) drains the battery - (b) breaks your flow and reloads your self-consciousness each time - (c) fills the memory card - (d) is bad for the sensor

8. An active verb you can hand a performer to play (instead of an adjective) is: - (a) "stern" - (b) "confident" - (c) "reassure [me]" - (d) "passionate"

9. The "steal the take after they think you're done" technique works because: - (a) the camera performs better when it's warmed up - (b) fatigue makes people speak more slowly - (c) once a subject believes the shoot is over, they drop the performance and become natural - (d) the light is better later in the session

10. According to the chapter, a set takes its emotional tone from: - (a) the most nervous person present - (b) the director - (c) the camera operator - (d) whoever is being filmed

True / False — justify your answer

For each, state True or False and give a one-sentence reason.

11. A technically perfect take (sharp focus, clean audio, good exposure) of a stiff, frozen subject is still a usable take.

12. "Act natural" is a good, clear instruction to give a non-actor.

13. The director should fill silences quickly so the subject doesn't feel awkward.

14. Blocking the people and blocking the camera are two separate jobs done in sequence.

15. A deliberate low camera angle (subject looking down at the lens) makes the subject read as more powerful.

16. With a nervous non-actor, a smaller, less intimidating camera setup can produce a better performance than a large professional rig.

17. You should announce "Action!" clearly to a real interview subject so they know exactly when to start.

Short answer

18. In one sentence each, name the two halves of the director's role, and say which one beginners tend to overlook.

19. Give the concrete "cause, not result" rewrite for each of these bad directions: (a) "be sad," (b) "look confident."

20. Name the three eyeline choices and what each one says to the viewer.

21. A subject is frozen and nervous. Give three specific things you could do — without saying "relax" — to get a truer performance, and state the single mechanism they all share.

22. Why can the café reaction performance afford to be tiny? Name the two craft elements that are doing the amplifying for it.

What's wrong with this direction? (perception)

23. A director sets up a talking-head, then spends five minutes giving the nervous subject ten detailed notes about posture, pace, word choice, and where to look — before the first take. The take is a disaster. Name the directing error and the fix.

24. A solo creator tries to adjust their focus and framing while delivering their piece to camera, and keeps drifting out of the frame and losing their place. Name the error (in §10.6 terms) and the fix.

25. In an edit, a person is shown looking down and to the left at a phone in their hands; the insert of the phone screen is framed as if seen from above and to the right. Name the continuity concept being violated and what the viewer will feel.

More short answer

26. Name the two questions the chapter says the director "owns," and explain why they're called the intention behind every other choice.

27. A nervous subject relaxes noticeably once you hand them a bowl to talk over. Explain the mechanism — why does giving the hands a task work?

28. A director gets one genuinely relaxed, natural answer, immediately says "Perfect — that's a wrap," and switches the camera off. Later they wish they had more material with that ease. Name the specific technique they skipped and how it would have helped.

29. True or False, justify: "Business" — giving a performer a real physical action to do — is a tool that only works for trained actors.

30. You're directing yourself and every take comes out stiff. Give two moves from §10.6 and say what problem each one fixes.

Answer Key

1. (c) — Directing is communication, not camera; the deliverable is a truthful performance and clear blocking. (§10.1)

2. (b) — Blocking stages people and camera together as one plan. (§10.2)

3. (b) — Add with actors, subtract with non-actors. (§10.3)

4. (d) — "Look more excited" directs a result, which produces manufactured, false feeling; the others direct actions/circumstances. (§10.3)

5. (b) — Off-lens = the "overheard" documentary/interview look. (§10.4)

6. (c) — Eye level reads as equal and honest, the testimonial default. (§10.4)

7. (b) — It breaks flow and reloads self-consciousness; do a batch, then review. (§10.6)

8. (c) — "Reassure" is a playable action verb; the others are adjectives/states you can only fake. (§10.3)

9. (c) — Once they think it's over, they exhale and drop the performance, becoming natural. (§10.5)

10. (b) — The set borrows its emotional temperature from the director. (§10.1)

11. False — A frozen performance is unusable no matter how technically clean; you can't cut a piece together out of a frightened-looking person. (§10.5, ✂️ In the Edit)

12. False — "Act natural" is a result-direction and the worst possible instruction; it causes the self-monitoring that kills naturalness. (§10.3)

13. False — Letting silences sit is a key tool; subjects often add their truest, unguarded material into a pause. (§10.5)

14. False — They are two halves of one decision, planned together; blocking one without the other produces out-of-focus movement or a frozen, camera-trapped pose. (§10.2)

15. True — A low angle (lens below the eyes) grants stature and power; a high angle diminishes. (§10.4, building on §7.2)

16. True — A minimal setup lowers the stakes in the subject's mind ("this is just a conversation") and often yields a more relaxed, truer performance. (§10.5, Gear Note)

17. False — "Action" is a starting gun that triggers the freeze; for real people you roll early and slide into it with no bright line. (§10.5)

18. Decisions (keeping every choice consistent with the intention) and tone (the emotional safety that makes performance possible); beginners see the decisions and overlook the tone. (§10.1)

19. (a) "be sad" → e.g. "tell me about the last time you saw her" (a true circumstance/memory). (b) "look confident" → e.g. "explain this to me like you've done it a thousand times and I'm about to get it wrong" (an action). (§10.3)

20. To the lens = "I'm talking to you" (direct address: host/vlog/testimonial); off the lens = a conversation you're overhearing (interview/documentary); into the scene = a character unaware of us (narrative). (§10.4)

21. Any three of: roll before "starting," give the hands a task/prop, ask a real memory question, tell them take one doesn't count, let a silence sit, react silently, steal a take after "wrap." The shared mechanism: they all redirect the subject's attention outward (to a person, task, or memory), and self-consciousness can't survive genuine outward attention. (§10.5)

22. Because it's being amplified for it — the slow push-in (Ch.8) and the light + the cut intensify the moment, so the performance only needs to be true, and small/specific reads as true. (§10.3, §10.5)

23. Over-directing a non-actor before the first take — piling on notes manufactures the exact self-consciousness that freezes a performance. Fix: set a clear, simple frame, give at most one small adjustment, roll early, and get out of the way; direct with restraint. (§10.1, §10.5)

24. Trying to be operator and talent at the same moment. Fix: separate the roles in time — first lock the frame, focus (on a stand-in at your mark), and exposure as the operator, then step in and perform, trusting the setup, with a mark to hold your position. (§10.6)

25. Eyeline continuity (§9.5), now a directing concern: the insert's angle contradicts the person's eyeline, so they no longer appear to be looking at their own phone — the viewer feels, without naming it, that the connection between the person and the object has snapped. (§10.4, §9.5)

26. What is this scene about? and how should it feel? They're the intention behind every other choice because every technical decision — lens, blocking, light, cut, and the performance itself — exists to serve them; a choice that doesn't serve the why has no reason to exist, and the director is the person who notices and kills it. (§10.1)

27. It redirects the subject's attention outward, onto the task, and away from themselves. Self-consciousness is attention pointed inward (how do I look, am I doing this right); a person genuinely absorbed in a real task has no attention left over to monitor themselves, so the nerves have nowhere to live. (§10.5)

28. They skipped the steal — say "that's a wrap" but keep rolling and ask one more real question. Once a subject believes the pressure is off, they drop the performance entirely and become their most natural; the director turned the camera off at the exact moment the best material was about to arrive. (§10.5)

29. False — business works especially well for non-actors: a real task (Case Study 1's glove; the ceramicist's bowl) relaxes them and reveals character, and it hands the edit a cutaway. It's one of the most reliable tools for directing real people. (§10.3, §10.5, Case Study 1)

30. Any two of: separate the roles in time (lock frame/focus/exposure as operator first, then perform) — fixes the split-attention that makes you drift and tense up; give yourself an eyeline / "talk to one person" — fixes the cold, no-one-to-talk-to delivery; roll long without chimping — fixes the flow-killing self-judgment between takes; set a mark and lock focus — fixes drifting out of frame/focus. (§10.6)

Topics to review by question

• Q1, 10, 18, 23, 26 → §10.1 (the director's role: decisions + tone)
• Q2, 14 → §10.2 (blocking, marks)
• Q3, 4, 8, 19, 22, 29 → §10.3 (non-actors; cause not result; action verbs; business)
• Q5, 6, 15, 20, 25 → §10.4 (eyeline direction; height; continuity)
• Q9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 21, 27, 28 → §10.5 (relaxing a real subject)
• Q7, 24, 30 → §10.6 (directing yourself)