Perception of cuts in different editing styles

Abstract

The goal of this work is to explain how the cuts and their insertion in different editing styles influence the attention of viewers. The starting hypothesis is that viewers’ response to cuts varies depending on whether they watch a movie with a classical versus a messy or chaotic editing style. To undertake this investigation, we created three videos with the same narrative content and duration but different editing styles. One video was a fixed one-shot movie. Another video followed a classical editing style, based on the rules of classic Hollywood movies, according to David Bordwell’s studies. The other video used a chaotic style, beyond post-classic, which broke the classical rules of continuity and was inspired by music video clips. We showed these stimuli to 40 subjects while recording their brain activity using the electroencephalography (EEG) technique. The results showed that cuts reduce the eyeblink frequency during the second after they are seen. Since blinking is a well-known attention marker, we propose that cuts increase viewers’ attention. Cuts initiate a flow of electrical activity from the visual cortex to the cognitive processing zone in the prefrontal area. We also found that the different editing styles in which cuts are inserted affected perception, confirming the initial hypothesis. These results could be of great interest and utility for creators of audiovisual content and the management of attention in their work.

Viewers Change Eye-Blink Rate by Predicting Narrative Content

“…We had previously found that the style of editing affects viewers' eye-blink rate, especially the chaotic style [24]. Here, we found that synchronization between increased and decreased viewers' eye blinks occurred at some specific moments of the timeline while they watched a movie, regardless of the style of editing of the movie but linked to its content.…”

“…Since the dawn of media productions, communication researchers have adopted various approaches to determine how to quantify and manage attention in narratives [20][21][22]. Recent studies have demonstrated that one way to determine viewers' attention to media content is through a proper quantification of involuntary or spontaneous eye blinks [23][24][25][26]. Eye-blink patterns are certainly linked to communication processes.…”

“…Media content inhibits viewers' eye-blink rate significantly compared with the same narrative in reality [26]. In addition, recent investigations have proven that the style of editing affects viewers' attentional level as indicated by their eye-blink rate [24]. The more chaotic and discontinuous the editing style, the lower the eye-blink rate of viewers and, presumably, the greater their attention.…”

Análisis de la reacción fisiológica cerebral del usuario de realidad virtual a través de la encefalografía (EEG)

“…En nuestra búsqueda, hemos identificado varias publicaciones que han logrado resultados significativos al utilizar el electroencefalograma (EEG) como vía de investigación (Andreu-Sánchez & Martín-Pascual, 2021;Christoforou et al, 2015;Dmochowski et al, 2012;Smith, 2022). La electroencefalografía, ampliamente utilizada en el ámbito de la neurocinemática, lo es todavía en mucha menor medida en estudios vinculados al uso de RV.…”

Los elementos influyentes en la narrativa audiovisual contemporánea: caso serie Breaking bad

“…El segundo tenía cambios considerables de tomas y el último estaba realizado con cortes caóticos, similar a un videoclip. Se demostró que las personas prestan más atención a un video con muchos cortes (Martín y Sánchez, 2021).…”