Sanz-Aznar Javier, Bruni Luis Emilio, Soto-Faraco Salvador
Section of Communication, Department of Hispanic Studies, Literary Theory and Communication, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Augmented Cognition Lab, Section for Media Technology, Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, The Technical Faculty of IT and Design, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Front Neurosci. 2023 Jul 14;17:1173704. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1173704. eCollection 2023.
Film editing has attracted great theoretical and practical interest since the beginnings of cinematography. In recent times, the neural correlates of visual transitions at edit cuts have been at the focus of attention in neurocinematics. Many Event Related Potential (ERP) studies studies have reported the consequences of cuts involving narrative discontinuities, and violations of standard montage rules. However, less is known about edits that are meant to induce continuity. Here, we addressed the neural correlates of continuity editing involving scale, and angle variations across the cut within the same scene, two of the most popular devices used for continuity editing. We recorded the electroencephalographic signal obtained from 20 viewers as they watched four different cinematographic excerpts to extract ERPs at edit points. First, we were able to reproduce the general time and scalp distribution of the typical ERPs to filmic cuts in prior studies. Second, we found significant ERP modulations triggered by scale changes (scale out, scale in, or maintaining the same scale). Edits involving an increase in scale (scale out) led to amplification of the ERP deflection, and scale reduction (scale in) led to decreases, compared to edits that kept scale across the cut. These modulations coincide with the time window of the N300 and N400 components and, according to previous findings, their amplitude has been associated with the likelihood of consciously detecting the edit. Third, we did not detect similar modulations as a function of angle variations across the cut. Based on these findings, we suggest that cuts involving reduction of scale are more likely to go unnoticed, than ones that scale out. This relationship between scale in/out and visibility is documented in film edition manuals. Specifically, in order to achieve fluidity in a scene, the edition is designed from the most opened shots to the most closed ones.
自电影摄影术诞生以来，电影剪辑就引起了极大的理论和实践兴趣。近年来，剪辑点处视觉转换的神经关联一直是神经电影学关注的焦点。许多事件相关电位（ERP）研究报告了涉及叙事不连续性的剪辑以及违反标准蒙太奇规则的后果。然而，对于旨在营造连续性的剪辑却知之甚少。在此，我们探讨了连续性剪辑的神经关联，这种剪辑涉及同一场景中剪辑处的尺度和角度变化，这是连续性剪辑中最常用的两种手法。我们记录了20名观众观看四段不同电影片段时获得的脑电图信号，以在剪辑点提取ERP。首先，我们能够重现先前研究中典型ERP对电影剪辑的一般时间和头皮分布。其次，我们发现尺度变化（放大、缩小或保持相同尺度）引发了显著的ERP调制。与剪辑前后保持尺度不变相比，涉及尺度增加（放大）的剪辑导致ERP偏转增强，而尺度减小（缩小）的剪辑则导致ERP偏转减弱。这些调制与N300和N400成分的时间窗口一致，根据先前的研究结果，它们的振幅与有意识检测到剪辑的可能性有关。第三，我们没有检测到作为剪辑处角度变化函数的类似调制。基于这些发现，我们认为与放大的剪辑相比，涉及尺度减小的剪辑更不容易被注意到。尺度放大/缩小与可见性之间的这种关系在电影剪辑手册中有记载。具体而言，为了在一个场景中实现流畅性，剪辑是从最开放的镜头设计到最封闭的镜头。
