1. Which narrative style best describes Bob Marley: One Love, the 2024 Netflix release chronicling the life of the reggae legend?
a) Concert film with live performance footage
b) Dramatized biopic tracing his rise to fame
c) Purely archival documentary with no re-enactments
d) Animated musical tribute
3. What makes Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé particularly
significant?
a) It showcases her as the first Black woman to headline Coachella
b) It chronicles her first NFL halftime show at the Super Bowl
c) It’s the first music documentary to win a Grammy Award
d) It was the first time an artist directed a Netflix film
5. Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam exposes the dark side of ’90s pop. What is the central scandal at the heart of this Netflix limited series?
a) The bands lip-synching their hit records at live shows
b) A copyright dispute over the Backstreet Boys’ name
c) The exploitation of under-age performers in music videos
d) A talent manager’s massive Ponzi scheme swindling
investors and artists
2. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese blends fact and fiction to revisit Dylan’s 1975 tour. Which of the following is true about the film’s approach?
a) It uses only actual concert footage, with no talking-head interviews.
b) It distinguishes clearly between real events and imagined scenes.
c) It includes fictional interviews and characters alongside real ones.
d) It is narrated entirely by Bob Dylan from present-day interviews.
4. In Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, what fresh perspective does the
documentary offer on The Notorious B.I.G.?
a) It goes deep into how he was tragically killed by a rival in 1997
b) A concert film compiled from his 1995 world tour
c) An analysis of his influence on 21st-century hip-hop production
d) Rare home-video footage shot by his close friend Damion “D-Roc” Butler
Answers
1. The correct answer is b.
Bob Marley: One Love is essentially a full-blown biopic, rather than a concert documentary or an archival-footage compilation. It begins in Trench Town and builds to the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston. In the film, Marley is seen dealing with politicians, struggling with his beliefs and spreading his message of unity through music — but it’s shot like a drama, not a documentary where they simply follow people around.
Kingsley Ben-Adir delivers a fantastic portrayal of Marley, and the filmmakers go all out with the period details. They mix in real footage and original recordings, but most of it comprises recreated scenes with actors, rebuilt studios and written dialogue to fill in the blanks where no authentic footage exists. The whole thing is structured like a classic story — complete with clear character arcs and powerful emotional climaxes. It’s definitely not just a bunch of concert clips thrown together or some animated feature. They wanted you to fully immerse yourself in Marley’s world, experiencing it as it actually was.
2. The correct answer is c.
Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue intentionally blurs the lines between reality and invention.
You see actual 1975 performance footage — Dylan in those shimmering outfits, Joan Baez singing alongside him, candid backstage moments — but Scorsese also includes entirely fictional interviews and fabricated characters.
The most famous one is “Stefan Van Dorp,” a Dutch filmmaker who appears real but is entirely fictional.
It’s done on purpose to make you think — “wait, is this actually true or did they just make this up?”
Scorsese has admitted he’s employing this device, calling the whole thing part documentary, part mythology.
The result captures that surreal, circus-like vibe of Dylan’s tour, where the music was astonishing and everything felt like the rules didn’t apply. Scorsese invites you in on the joke, celebrating the Dylan legend while admitting that memory and storytelling are highly subjective.
3. The correct answer is a.
Homecoming focuses on Beyoncé making history as the first Black woman to headline Coachella in 2018 — a huge deal for both the festival and representation. Fans and the media called it “Beychella,” and her performance was an incredible tribute to HBCU marching bands, stepping traditions and African American culture — elements you rarely see on such a massive stage. However, the documentary doesn’t just show concert clips. It offers an incredible behind-the-scenes look at the entire year of preparation — Beyoncé rehearsing endlessly, trying on costumes and co-ordinating hundreds of performers. She and co-director Ed Burke blend the performance footage with interviews from dancers, musical directors and Beyoncé herself, creating a rich portrayal of creative leadership and cultural pride.
Sure, Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl in 2013, but her Coachella performance — with all the dancing, the massive 100-person band and spectacular staging — truly demonstrated how she could take Black cultural traditions and make them the centrepiece of one of the world’s biggest music festivals.
4. The correct answer is d.
Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell stands out because it includes previously unseen home video footage. Damion “D-Roc” Butler, a close friend of Biggie’s in Brooklyn, filmed Christopher Wallace (Biggie) just hanging out — at block parties, joking around with family and freestyling in his mom’s kitchen. This film portrays Biggie as a regular guy rather than the legendary rapper we know from his hits. Instead of focusing mainly on his death in 1997 — which is undoubtedly significant — the documentary spends equal attention to his friendships, his sense of humour, and his creative process. They mix interviews with people like Lil’ Cease and Faith Evans and the producers who worked on his biggest tracks. What you get is this balanced picture that shows both sides — the mythical Biggie everyone talks about and the everyday moments that made Christopher Wallace who he truly was. It’s less about recreating crime scenes or going over timelines and more about seeing him through the eyes of the people who actually knew him best.
5. The correct answer is d.
Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam exposes Lou Pearlman’s massive fraud perpetrated against the biggest pop acts of the ‘90s — Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Aaron Carter, you name it. Through interviews with former band members, record industry people, and Pearlman’s legal adversaries, the series shows how he stole millions from record sales, merchandise, and tour revenue while posing as a trusted mentor and manager. This isn’t some surface-level thing about lip-syncing or fake images; it really digs into the financial crimes. We’re talking forged contracts, fake companies and bogus investor documents that defrauded both artists and banks. The result wasn’t just broke musicians, but a massive betrayal of trust in an industry that was already rather sketchy to begin with. Using courtroom footage, testimony, and old interviews, the series tells this disturbing story, in which all those platinum albums and sold-out shows were covering up one of the biggest white-collar crimes in music history. It’s about greed, betrayal, and more than just catchy songs and dance moves.