The Origins of Cinema RI. 3 Practice

According to the passage, critics initially responded to films with

• haughty pessimism.
• intense excitement.
• warm appreciation.
• great apprehension

According to the passage, what great shift in cinematic history occurred in the 1920s?

• Film stars started becoming celebrities.
• Film cameras started to shoot at 16 frames per second.
• Movie studios started adapting stage plays into films.
• Movies started to be made with sound.

An additional paragraph at the end of this article would most likely discuss

• the influence that modern films have on worldviews.
• the most recent contributors to cinematic technology.
• a comparison of modern film studios around the world.
• the latest methods film studios use for marketing movies.

Which statement is supported by the passage?

• Early films were long and complex in subject matter.
• The new film medium was rejected by the public from the very beginning.
• The lack of success in early filmmaking led to the decline of new inventions in cinema.
• The development of cinema was a collaborative and creative effort between inventors and filmmakers.

What is another good title for this passage?

• The Development of the Movie Theater
• The Early History of Film
• Thomas Edison: Movie Pioneer
• How Movies are Made

How does the author organize the information in the passage?

• by analyzing the long-term impact of the movie camera
• by describing the evolution of the movie industry
• by explaining the development of classic films
• by comparing different kinds of films

Read this sentence from Paragraph 4. Legend has it that during the initial public showings of a movie that featured a train entering a station, people in the audience ducked and ran for cover, fearing the train would rush into the audience. What message does the author intend to convey about early audiences?

• They circulated wild rumors about movies.
• They reacted strongly to the vivid realism of movies.
• They enjoyed participating in the dramatic action of movies.
• They anticipated plot events before the events occurred in the movies.

Which movie development detailed in the article best supports the concept of 3-D described in the text box?

• early film of a man sneezing
• early film of a train entering a station
• technological capabilities for mass production of films
• feature-length films based on adaptations of dramatic plays

Which sentence from the passage best supports the information in the text box?

• One hundred years ago, cinema—a word that can mean movies in general or a movie theater itself—was a far more obscure form of entertainment.
• As more people began to invest in motion pictures, new studios and new technologies came along that created mass production capabilities for movies.
• Since then, movies, technologically and artistically, have continued to develop.
• Film, since its humble origins, has truly become the most universal and influential art form.

In Paragraph 4 of the passage, what evidence does the author use to emphasize the idea that films were novelties to early movie viewers?

• an emotional testimony from a movie viewer
• a set of statistics on the number of movie viewers attending the screening of the first film
• a review from an expert film critic
• an anecdote illustrating the initial reactions of movie viewers to early films