Cuts in movies, and their impact on memory

[NickM]

...acording to this recent study:

http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/01/cuts_in_movies_and_their_impac.php

They showed people scenes from a basketball game from one angle, 2 angles, and a moving camera.
People were more likely to remember what happened if there were no cuts, and even more if there was no movement either.


nick

[StuR]

That was an interesting article. I'd never really thought about that before.

[Bill]

Very interesting to see science taking an interest in this.

The weakness with this study is, I think, that they have chosen a half court basket ball game
with computer generated players in similar outfits.

It is therefore not surprising that cutting tends to disorient the viewer and their ability to
remember who was where when much more than a static or tracking shot.

If we are to draw the conclusion from this that cutting disturbs the viewer and is
inferior to the "held" shot then maybe we should all pack up and go home now. The first paragraph
in this article is also at odds with this conclusion. They mention that we usually don't notice cuts
made by the editor (what was the role of the editor in the study) and also that "people who've never seen
a motion picture have no difficulty following along with the cuts and different camera angles in a video".

In over 30 years of working in cutting rooms I've never been near material like that used in this study.

It is very different when the reason you cut is being driven by a story with identifiable characters.

[E_Tedeschi]

It's an interesting idea, but I'm with Bill - the 'Cognitive Daily' (what a great name!) study is almost useless due to the material used for the tests.

Be VERY interesting to see this done with live action footage.

[JWRL]

No, I disagree.

In the context in which they were working, this is a good "worst case" study. What is dangerous though is if someone extrapolates from this study to a generalized rule. Then we would have a slower equivalent to the "faster is always better" school of editing.

That would be an equally bad state of affairs.

[Dylan de Silva]

Hi all.. I feel I'm slightly delayed in adding my two cents but regardless I will throw them in! :)

After reading the article I'm not sure it really concludes much...
In any case as editors if we made 'abrupt' cuts of course it would disorient the audience.
That's why we tend to look for points to cut such as movement to make the transition easier for the viewer.
Sometimes in my experience the viewer doesn't even notice the cut and isn't that what we want to do as an editor?
Also I agree with Bill that the material looked uninteresting
and its hard to compare making an audience "follow the character's movements"
(like remembering their positions on a basketball court),
to following a storyline... which is the editor's job.

Just my 2 cents... or 5 cents now that we have no pennies. :D

Dylan.

[Joseph]

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Skip the intro and do the 'awareness test'.
Appropriately its based on a basketball court too.

I think this sums it all up rather nicely.

[Chester]

Originally posted by Joseph
http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Skip the intro and do the 'awareness test'.
Appropriately its based on a basketball court too.

I think this sums it all up rather nicely.

Great ad! And good to see awareness of cyclists being promoted, as one who has bitten the asphalt on more than a few occasions, thanks to drivers not looking.

Just a few days ago I was in a screening with a producer who wanted to change a couple of words of dialogue and suggested that I move a cut so that the talent was off screen to enable them to ADR the line. "But he's already off screen for that line" I explained. "You sure?" he asked. So I showed him that what he 'saw' was not what was in the edit!!

Not the first time that that's happened, is there a name for this phenomenon? Humorous answers only please!!

[Richard Clark]

quote; "In any case as editors if we made 'abrupt' cuts of course it would disorient the audience."
Say what, David Lean created some of the most remarkable 'abrupt' cuts in movie history. Lawrence of Arabia with the cut from Match Flare to Sun Rise, awesome and certainly not a 'gentle' moment. Then in 'Heat of the Night' the edit to the tail Light was very similar and certainly had the audience bolt up right. I don't go to movies to catch up on my sleep and I disagree with the idea that my job is to make the audience comfortable, surely it is to take them on a journey, tell, weave, a story, create mood, otherwise go and simply watch television.
In 'No Country for Old Men', the Cohen's, with the :) help of FCP created a very challenging and thought provoking ending to the story, simply cutting to black when I was settled in for a resolution. It took a quiet 2 hours over a very nice kiwi Pinot Noir, no not my own, and I am still with the movie 24 hours later.
Now that, is why I go to the Cinema.