Read the following passage.
A. Norman McLaren was travelling in India when a telegram reached him with the news that his short film Neighbours had won an Oscar. He wrote back that he was happy to win an award, but asked "who was this Oscar?" Hardly anyone had expected the nomination. Most American theatrical distributors had turned the film down, calling it "too gruesome and of a poor technical quality." Oddly, the award was for best short documentary, although the film contained no documentary material at all.
B. McLaren was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1914. In his early twenties he worked at the British GPO Film Unit, run by John Grierson, where he noticed that knife marks on a film's soundtrack played back as sounds. He then moved to New York. Grierson, by then head of Canada's National Film Board, invited him to join the Board, and McLaren came to Ottawa in 1941. In 1943 he became head of Studio A, the animation department, and he recruited a group of future filmmakers, among them Evelyn Lambart and René Jodoin.
C. Much of his work did not need a camera at all. McLaren scratched and painted images directly onto film stock, and he treated sound in the same way, marking the soundtrack with pencils, pens, brushes and razor blades. With Lambart he developed a deck of pitch cards, a kind of keyboard that allowed the exact notes of a piano to be photographed onto the soundtrack. His films in this style include Begone Dull Care (1949), set to the music of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, and Synchromy (1971), the high point of the card method.
D. Neighbours was McLaren's response to the Korean War, which had cast the Chinese as the enemy. He filmed live actors one frame at a time, a technique called pixilation, in a story of two neighbours fighting over a flower. In Canada many viewers disliked the film, and some asked theatres to withdraw it. An American educational distributor cut the scene in which women and babies are attacked as too violent, and the Board distributed this shorter version for years. In 1967, as the war in Vietnam grew, McLaren decided to restore the full film, because he felt its images of innocent people being attacked made a strong statement against war.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: C
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says that he and Lambart developed pitch cards. These let the exact notes of a piano be photographed onto the soundtrack. Lambart is the co-worker, and photographing notes turns musical tones into pictures on film.
Passage Reference: With Lambart he developed a deck of pitch cards, a kind of keyboard that allowed the exact notes of a piano to be photographed onto the soundtrack.
Tips: Lambart is named in two paragraphs. One says he hired her, the other says what they built together.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about the Oscar news and the odd award category. It says nothing about how sound was put on film.
- B: Paragraph B names Lambart as someone he hired, and mentions knife marks that made sounds. But the pitch cards they built together come later.
- D: Paragraph D explains how Neighbours was filmed with live actors and later cut. Musical notes are not part of it.
- E: The third paragraph describes the invention: pitch cards, made with Lambart, that put the exact notes of a piano onto film.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: In his early twenties he worked at the British GPO Film Unit, run by John Grierson, where he noticed that knife marks on a film's soundtrack played back as sounds.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says that in his early twenties he worked at the British GPO Film Unit. Only later did he come to Ottawa, in 1941. So his first film job was with a British unit, before Canada.
Tips: Several places appear in the passage. Find the paragraph that puts his first film job in order before Canada.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it has him in India when the Oscar news came, long after he had moved to Canada. His early film work is not mentioned.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer explains his methods at the Board in Canada, not where he worked before.
- D: Notice that paragraph D mentions the Korean War, Vietnam and an American distributor. It says nothing about his own early work.
- E: His work at the British GPO Film Unit in his early twenties opens Paragraph B, before the move to Ottawa.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Norman McLaren was travelling in India when a telegram reached him with the news that his short film Neighbours had won an Oscar.
Why this is correct: Paragraph A opens with McLaren travelling in India when a telegram told him Neighbours had won an Oscar. So the good news about his film reached him while he was away in India.
Tips: Find where he is 'visiting India'. Check what he learned while he was there, and whether it was about one of his films.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Look at paragraph B: it follows his moves from Scotland to New York to Ottawa. But no prize reaches him during these moves.
- C: Notice that paragraph C names two of his films and how they were made. It does not say where he was when news arrived.
- D: In paragraph D, the writer tells of the Korean War and Vietnam. But those are wars in the news, not trips he made.
- E: The telegram that found him in India, with news of the Oscar, is the first sentence of Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: In 1943 he became head of Studio A, the animation department, and he recruited a group of future filmmakers, among them Evelyn Lambart and René Jodoin.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says he came to Ottawa in 1941. In 1943 he became head of Studio A, the animation department, where he recruited future filmmakers. Two years is soon, and recruiting future filmmakers means hiring young talent.
Tips: The Board appears in more than one paragraph. Look for the one about his job title and the people he brought in.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph deals with the Oscar for Neighbours. It does not mention running a studio or hiring anyone.
- C: Notice that paragraph C shows him working with Lambart on pitch cards. But it does not say he led a department or hired people.
- D: In paragraph D, the Board is simply the distributor of Neighbours. It is not shown as a place where he took charge of staff.
- E: In paragraph B, the writer gives the year, 1943, and the job, head of Studio A, and says he recruited future filmmakers.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: His films in this style include Begone Dull Care (1949), set to the music of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, and Synchromy (1971), the high point of the card method.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says Begone Dull Care was set to the music of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The music came from another artist, Peterson, and the film was made to go with it.
Tips: Find the film that was made to go with music. Then check that the music came from someone else.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The telegram, the award and the documentary category fill paragraph A. No musician appears in it.
- B: The second paragraph mentions sounds on a soundtrack at the GPO Film Unit. But that noise came from knife marks, not from another artist.
- D: Paragraph D tells the story of Neighbours and its violent scene. It does not say whose music the film used.
- E: Notice that paragraph C names the film, Begone Dull Care, and the musician whose music it was set to, Oscar Peterson.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: An American educational distributor cut the scene in which women and babies are attacked as too violent, and the Board distributed this shorter version for years.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says a distributor cut the scene in which women and babies are attacked. The Board distributed this shorter version for years. The cut scene was the harshest one, so for years viewers saw the film without it.
Tips: Two places describe people who objected to the film. Ask which one says part of it was taken out for years.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A says distributors called the film too gruesome and refused it. But refusing a film is not cutting a scene from it.
- B: In paragraph B, the writer covers his early career up to 1943, before Neighbours existed.
- C: Notice that paragraph C talks about marks and images on film stock, but nothing is removed from any film there.
- E: The cut scene and the years of the shorter version are both reported in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: He filmed live actors one frame at a time, a technique called pixilation, in a story of two neighbours fighting over a flower.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D explains how Neighbours was filmed, with live actors shot one frame at a time. It never says where the filming took place. Ottawa appears only in Paragraph B, as the city he moved to in 1941.
Tips: The city of Ottawa does appear in the passage, but check whether any sentence links it to the filming of Neighbours.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A tells how he heard about the Oscar in India. It gives no filming place.
- B: The second paragraph names Ottawa as the city where he joined the Board in 1941. But it does not connect Ottawa to the making of Neighbours.
- C: In paragraph C, the writer describes films made without a camera. That is the opposite of shooting actors outdoors, and no location is named.
- D: Notice that paragraph D explains the pixilation method and the story, yet it is silent about where the camera was set up.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Oddly, the award was for best short documentary, although the film contained no documentary material at all.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says the award was for best short documentary, although the film contained no documentary material at all. So the category, documentary, did not match the kind of film it was.
Tips: Find the type of prize the film won. Then compare it with what kind of film it really was.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: His early jobs and the studio he led are the subject of paragraph B. It does not mention any award.
- C: Notice that paragraph C calls Synchromy the high point of his card method, but that is praise, not an award category.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about the reasons for Neighbours and the cut version. It does not discuss the Oscar at all.
- E: Look at paragraph A. It points out the odd category, best short documentary, for a film with no documentary material.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: In Canada many viewers disliked the film, and some asked theatres to withdraw it.
Why this is correct: Paragraph D reports how viewers in Canada reacted: many disliked it. It says nothing about audiences outside Canada, and it never compares Neighbours with other Board films.
Tips: The statement compares the film with every other film the Board made. Check whether the text ever ranks it like that outside Canada.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A says the film won an Oscar and that few expected it. But an award is not the same as being the most popular film.
- B: In paragraph B, the writer describes the Board and his studio, with no comparison of films.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it lists some of his films and methods. It does not rank any film by popularity.
- D: Notice that paragraph D gives the reaction in Canada only. It does not tell us how the film did outside Canada or compare it with other films.
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