Film Studies (General)

First Paper 100 Marks

1. Explain pioneering contribution of the Lumere Brothers and George

Melies in the development of the cinematic form.
2. Point out the Structural and thematic differences between Lumeres‟ and
Melies films.
3. Assess the role of films made by Edwin .S.Porter in the trnsition of
cinema, from P.M.R to I.M.R.
4. Discuss some of the key feature of early Phase of Cinema. Critically
distinguish between George Melies & Edwin S. Porter in context of the
technique of „Cinema of Attraction‟
5. Thomas Edison and Edwin Porter produced the first U.S. narrative film in
1903. Why and how did it incorporate parallel action?
6. Explain the Significance of the film “The Great Train Robbery” by
Edwin .S. Porter in the history of cinematic construction.
7. Explain in the Significance of the film “The Birth of a Nation” by D.W.
Griffith in the history of narrative cinema.
8. Narrative the Contribution of D. W. Griffith in the development of early
American Cinema. Discuss the key from of film-technique used in his
early films to any major studio.
9. Do you think Modern Times is a critical commentary on the capitalist
system? Justify you answer with relevant examples from the film.
10.Discuss the operational structure of the Studio System in Hollywood of
the 1930s with reference to any major studio.
11.Discuss different phases of Hollywood Studio System during the sound
era.
12.Discuss briefly the Historical and Socio- Political background of German
Expressionist Cinema. . Critically analyse Robert Weine‟s „The Cabinet
of Dr. Caligari‟ as an example of German Expressionist Cinema.
13.Critically comment on the use of decor and lighting in German
Expressionist films.
14.Discuss the five types of Montage introduced by Sergei Eisenstein with
example.
Make a comparative analysis of Pudovkin & Eisenstien‟s understanding
and theorization of Montage.
15.Italian Neo-Realism Movement innovate a reformed concept of reality in
context of subject and form- Critically analyse. Evaluate the contribution
of celebrated Directors Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini in the
milieu of Italian Neo-Realism Movement.
16.How did Italian Neorealist films depart from the standard codes of
Hollywoods cinema? Discuss with example.
17.Critically comment on the use of „jump- cut‟ in Godard‟s Breathless.
18.Can Francois Truffaut be considered as a cinematic „auteur‟? Discuss
with reference to „auteur policy‟ of the critics „cahiers du Cinema‟.
19.Analyses how the decaying post-war European society became thematic
content for Jean Renoir with proper examples.
20.For what reasons did Andre Bazin champion the cinema of Jean Renoir?
Discuss the relevant examples.
21.Discuss the differences between Theories of Montage by Eisenstien and
Pudovkin.
22.Discuss the contribution of Thomas Gutierrez Alea in Cuba‟s „Cinema of
Revolution‟ movement.
23.Kurosowa‟s Rashomon transcends the boundaries of a period crime
drama –critically comment.
24.Critically narrate the major key features of Japanese cinema. Explain how
cinematic technique helped thematic construction in Kenji Mizoguchi‟s
films.
25.Kenji Mizoguchi maintained the responsibilities of a social- conscious
film maker in his major films- Discuss with examples.
26.Comment on the portrayal of femininity and victimhood in Mizoguchi‟s
post-war films.
27.In what ways does Cinema Novo differentiate itself from European New
Wave cinemas? Discuss with examples.
28.Critically discuss the key features of „Third Cinema‟ of Argentina and
„cinema Novo‟ of Brazil in respect of the Socio-economic nd political
background of Latin America.
29.Discuss the critical distinction between First , Second and a Third cinema
as a elaborated in Solanas and Getino‟s celebrated manifesto.
30.Comment on the thematic and stylistic specificities of Prabhat Studios.
31.Analyse how the director constructs the concept of, a new India in the
background of Globalization in the film “Roja”.
32.Narrate the major features of mainstream Bollywood films. Would you
choose „Roja‟ by Maniratnam as a representative of Indian mainstream
film? - Critically Analyse.
33.Critically comment on the narrative structuring of the popular film in
1980s Bengal with reference to Anjan Chowdhury‟s Shatru (1984).
34.Show how Bhuban Shome is creatively conversant with new idioms in
International cinema of the 1960‟s.
35.Comment on the relationships between the rural and urban as portrayed in
Shyam Benegal‟s reformist film of the 1970s.
36.Discuss how different Indian Art Forms influenced D. G. Phalke as a film
maker.
37.Discuss the contribution of „Bombay Talkies‟ in the sound era of Indian
Cinema.
38.„Elippathyam‟ (Rat trap) by Adoor Gopalakrishnan is one of the authentic
documents of the feudal life of Kerala- Critically Analyse.

Write Shorts note: ( Marks 5 each).

 Garam Haowa
 Cashiers du Cinema
 Trip to the moon
 U.F.A
 Glauber Rocha
 Bycle Thieves
 Rashomon
 Birth of a Nation.
 The Big Five
 Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
 Slapstick Comedy
 Kuleshov Effect
 Uski Roti
 Sant Tukaram
 Mrinal sen‟s Kolkata-71
 Edwin S. Porter
 Modern Times
 German expressionist Cinema
 Kenji Mizoguchi
 Guru Dutt
 Bhuban Shome
 Key different between „Western‟ and „Gangstar‟ film
 Jean Renoir
 Film of Ritwik Ghatak
 Sholay
 New Theatres
 D.W.Griffith
 American Silent Comedy
 Nouvelle Vague/ New Wave
 Meboob Khan
 Nosferatu
 George Melies
 Battleship Potemkin
 I.P.T.A
 De Sica films
 Montage
 Akira Kurosawa
 Mother India
 Hitchcock
 Auteur Theory
 Ankur
 Rat Trap
 Francois Truffaut
 Rome Open City
 Breathless
 Gold Rush
 Great Train Robbery
 Intolerence
 Satru
 Mise-en-scene
 Film Studies (General)
Second Paper 100 Marks

1. Enlist the characteristics of the film made in the primitive era of cinema
from 1895 to 1903. George Melies used the medium of cinema of cinema very
differently from the way it was used by Lumiere Brothers. Discuss. Why did
lumere Brothers‟ Cinematograph become more popular than Edison
Kinotoscope?

2. Discuss Eadwerd Muybridge‟s contribution to the development of motion

picture photography.

3. Why did the lumierre cinematographe capture the imagination of the people
all over the world?

4. what is a synopsis? Explain the difference between a screenplay and a

shooting script.Discuss briefly the preparatory work required before writing a
script.

5. Explain with an example thedifference between objective camera movement

and subjective camera movement. Explain with an example the meaning of a
„point of view‟ shot and an „over the shoulder shot‟.

6. Is music an essential element of the soundtrack of a film? Enlist the multiple

roles of music in a film. What is a dissolve? Give three situations where
dissolve may be used as a transition device between two shots.

7. Discuss the difference between acting for the screen and acting for stage.
Why is it said that a film is a director‟s medium and a play is an actors medium?

8. Explain with an example the meaning of time compression and how it is

achieved through editing.

9. Discuss the narrative structure of Rashomon or Citizen kane.

10. Discuss with examples how space is created in a film using the following
elements:

a. Sound
b. Light
c. Camera movement
d. Mise-en- scene
e. Camera angle.

11. a. How would a cameraman define a shot

b. How would a viewer identify a shot?

c. Do you think the smallest unit of a film is a shot or a frame? Give

reasons for your choice.

d. Explain with appropriate examples the difference between a scene and

a sequence.

12.
i. Explain with an example how camera position, camera angle and
image size are used to make meaning in a visual.
ii. Discuss the role of a music in a film.

13. Explain with appropriate example the difference between Pudovkin‟s

linkage montage and Eisenstein‟s collision montage.

14.

a) What codes of expression have photographers and cinematographers

borrowed from painting?
b) How is the frame of a painting different from the frame of a film?
15. Compare the dramatic space represented in theatre and space represented in
cinema. Give examples to illustrate your point.

16.

a) What did Eisenstein mean by contrapuntal sound?

b) Discuss the importance of silence in the sound track of a film.

17. How can space be manipulated through editing and other elements in
Cinema?

18. Consider colour as a formative elements in cinema.

19. Silent vs sound film- discuss.

20. How is cinematic space different from space as represented in proscenium

theatre?

Short notes
i. Sequence
ii. Persistence of Vision
iii. Frame
iv. Intellectual montage
v. Continuity editing
vi. Synchronization of Sound
vii. Effect Sound
viii. Three- Point –Lighting
ix. Wide angle lens.
x. Aspect ratio
xi. Shooting script
xii. Mise-en- scene
xiii. Optical sound track
xiv. Post Synchronization of sound
xv. Day for night shot.
 xvi. Jump cut
xvii. Dubbing
xviii. Zoom lens.
xix. Rule of thirds.
xx. Freeze Frame
xxi. Tracking
xxii. Fade in/ Fade out
xxiii. Imaginary line
xxiv. Silhouette
xxv. Montage
xxvi. Story Board
xxvii. Master shot
xxviii. Deep Focus
xxix. Fish eye lens
xxx. Kino Pravda
 Film Studies- (General)
Third Paper 80 Marks

1. „Pather Panchali‟ signifies the advent of realism in Bengali Cinema.

Discuss the pros and cons of this development.
2. „Battelship Potemkin‟ signifies a departure from the bourgeois humanism
of Hollywod Cinema. Discuss.
3. The film „Citizen Kane‟ is the never-ending but never-to-be-found search
by Kane of his lost childhood. Discuss
4. Chaplin‟s Tramp, lurking behind his „The Great Dictator‟ persona, mocks
at an unequal, power-hungry society. Discuss.
5. „Lagaan‟ challenges and protests against the colonial power from within
the colonial framework where the rules have been set by the ruler. Do you
think such „protests‟ have any relevance in an independent India today?
Discuss.
6. The genesis of the world “documentary” reveals its double purpose: to
present the true facts of a case and to educate. Discuss.
7. How far do you think documentaries tell stories? Discuss with reference
to Flaherty‟s “Nanook of the North”.
8. Dziga Vertov has a different look at the urban spaces of his times in his
documentary flims. Discuss.
9. While Cinema Verite „interfered‟ with their human subjects by asking
questions. Direct Cinema maintained the principle of absolute non-
interference by merely following their subject matter. Which one of the
above two is a more effective mode to unravel the truth? Give your
reasons.
10.Have modern Indian documentaries brought a different sensibility to the
documentary field in India? Discuss with examples.
11.Realism in “Pather Panchali” acts as a reference point for the paths-
whether similar or contrary – to be taken by the sub sequent filmmaker in
Indian Cinema. Discuss.
12.„Battleship Potemkin‟ represents the montage form of filmmaking rather
than the form of continuity adopted by Hollywood Cinema. Discuss.
13.„Citizen Kane‟ is one of the finest films to represent the way politics
conducted in the US system. Discuss.
14.The same worldview permeates Chaplin‟s role of a tramp to that of the
great dictator. Discuss.
15.Even in the worst forms of colonization, the colonized always have some
space to act provided the spirit of resistance operates in them. In this
context, discuss „Lagaan”.
16.While there is a trend in recent times for documentary and fiction film
narrations to come closer together, the real difference occurs in the
mental attitudes of the audiences in watching these two kinds of films.
Discuss.
17.In which way does Dziga Vertov‟s documentaries differ from those of his
predecessors like Flaherty, etc ? Discuss.
18.Technological innovations like hand-held cameras, sync sound, etc
.helped expose larger chunks of reality in documentary Cinema In this
context, discuss Cinema Verite or Direct Cinema.
19.Indian documentary filmmaking took major step in its evolution when it
moved away from the historical narration of the Films Division
documentaries or the portrait-based documentaries by the earlier
filmmakers. Discuss.
20.Is there any role of lyricism in documentary cinema? Discuss.
21.Write a note on Subrata Mitra‟s cinematographic style in Satyajit Ray‟s
Pather Panchali.
22.Discuss the „descriptive‟ quality of realism in Satyajit Ray‟s Pather
Panchali.
23.Discuss Eisenstien‟s „montage of collision‟ as reflected in the „Odessa
Steps‟ sequence of The Battleship Potemkin.
24.Discuss one important characteristics of Sergei Eisenstien‟s style of
filmmaking with reference to The Battleship Potemkin.
25.Do you consider Charles Chaplin‟s The Great Dictator as an example of
„political film‟? Give reason.
26.Charles Chaplin‟s The Great Dictator presents a critique of fascism-
Discuss.
27.Orson welles‟ Citizen Kane presents a picture of the American Capitalist
society. – Discuss.
28.Analyse the character of Charles Foster Kanes as portrayed in Orson
Welles‟ Citizen Kane.
29.Discuss the Identity politics mainifested in the narrative of Ashutosh
Gwarikar‟s Lagaan.
30.How does Ashutosh Gwarikar‟s Lagaan project a particular idea of
„Indianness‟?
31.Comment on the cinematographic and editing style of Robert Flaherty in
Nanook of the North.
32.How does Robert Flaherty‟s Nanook of the North project the filmmaker‟s
romantic self?
33.Discuss „documentary‟ film and „Newsreel‟ as two different modes of
non-fiction films.
34.Discuss in brief the different modes of non-fiction filmmaking.
35.What is „Kino-eye‟? Discuss with reference to Dziga Vertov‟s The Man
with the Movie Camera.
36.„Movement inside the frame and within frames is very important in Dziga
Vertov‟s The Man with Movie Camera- Discuss.
37.Discuss in brief the contribution of the Film Division of India in the
development of Indian documentary films.
38.What are the basis features of Direct cinema? Discuss with reference to a
film of your choice.
39.Discuss the basic stylistic features of Cinema Verite in 1905s and 1960s.
40.Write a film review within 500 words: ( Recent Films) Compulsory:
For example
Shabdo
Kahani
Icche
Spectra
Rajkahini
Phantom
Talvar
Bajirao Mastani
Dilwale
Spectre
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Inside Out
 Film Studies - (General)
Practical

Paper-III-B 20 Marks

1. Shooting a silent continuity Video Film (max, 3 minutes duration)

with a maximum of three characters at five to ten shots.
 Film Studies- (General)
Fourth Paper 60 Marks

1. Analyse the contribution of Metz in the Film Theory.

2. In what way did Metz compare „film‟ to a „language‟?
3. Critically evaluate the contribution of Metz in Film theory.
4. Bazin founded aesthetics in film – Discuss.
5. Discuss how Bazin‟s Theory of Aesthetics has enriched film.
6. Deep Focus‟ and „Long Take‟, according to Bazin are techniques of cinema
that cause a greater redemption of reality. Discuss with examples.
7. In what way the Theory of Montage reflects the dialectic principle of conflict
in cinema? Discuss with examples.
8. Discuss in detail Eisenstein‟s Theory of Montage with examples.
9. Discuss and explain the various categories of Montage as classified by
Sergei Eisenstein with example.
10.Write a proposal for a documentary on „Kolkata International Book Fair‟.
11.Write a proposal for a documentary on „Communal Harmony‟.
12.Write a proposal for a documentary on „Environmental Pollution‟.
13.What are the board classifications of non-fiction films? Discuss with
examples.
14.Comment on the decline of the „Star‟ and emergence of the „Script‟ as the
„real hero‟ of contemporary Hindi film.
15.Critically analyse the trend of recent mainstream Hindi Films.
16.Critically analyse the impact of song and music on Bengali Film.
17.Critically analyse the social realism in recent Bengali Films.
18.Analyse the importance of script in Feature Film Making.
19.Consider Mrinal Sen‟s “Bhuvan Shome” as the pathfinder of Indian New
Wave.
20.Would you consider Tapan Sinha‟s films as „Middle Cinema‟?
21.Discuss the contribution of New Theaters in spread and extension of film in
Indian film world especially in Bengal in pre-independence era.
22.Mrinal Sen‟s “Kolkata Trilogy” is a reflection of social realism.-Discuss.
23.Discuss the contribution of Tapan Sinha in middle stream Bengali Film.
24.Critically analyse the influence of literature in Tarun Majumder‟s films.
25.The films of Ritwik Ghatak are the manifestation of the pain of partition. -
Discuss.
26.Can Satyjit Ray‟s films be considered revolutionary? - Discuss with
example.
27.Tarun Majumder is a sympathetic chronicler of the rural life of Bengal.
28.Draw the common features found in the Popular Indian films.
29.Discuss the contribution of Ajoy Kar in Bengali Film.
30.Good films were made in India before 1955 but after Pather Panchali we
have observed some significant changes. Can you categories some changes?
 Film studies – (General)
Practical

Fourth paper 40 marks

1. Shooting a silent continuity Video Film ( max, 3 minutes duration)with a

maximum of three characters at five shots.

You will be assessed on

The silent continuity video film
Script/scenario representation in a laboratory note book
Breaking the action into shots
Framing and compositional elements
Viva-voce

2. Write a brief report on your experience of making the film starting from pre-
visualization stage through shooting to its post production stage.