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Showing posts from March, 2013

Your Brain on Movies

     How do our brains respond to movies? With the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ), it is now possible to have individuals watch a movie in a scanner and record the brain regions that are active during the experience (something that was considered science fiction fantasy only 20 years ago). Brain circuits have been identified that pertain to various mental processes, such as vision, memory, language, emotion, and decision making. Of course, the whole brain must work together to give us the ability to perform complex operations, such interpreting the plot of a feature film. Mostly likely, when we watch movies we borrow many of the brain mechanisms we use in everyday experiences. Indeed, we often are sucked into a dramatic film almost as if we are in the scenes themselves. Recently, a few brain scientists have explored our movie experience—from the ways movies drive visual processes to ways they evoke brain responses associated with feelings. Neurosc

Story Arcs and The Rhythm of Movies

      What makes a good story? Aristotle in The Poetics suggested that a well-formed plot should be structured as a complete tale with a beginning, middle, and end. Characters are to be developed through recognition or realization, such as Luke Skywalker realizing that Darth Vader is his father. The screenwriting guru Syd Field articulated a three-act story arc for movies: Act I, the Set-up , lasts about a quarter of a movie and introduces the characters offering insights into their   nature, goals, and predicament.   Act II, Confrontations , is the longest segment, encompassing the middle half of a movie, which sets the protagonist off ("the game's afoot!") and builds tension through a series of challenges and conflicts. Act III, Resolution , leads to the climax with the last scene serving as a final release of tension. Acts are separated by plot points , which move the action and "spins it around in another direction" ( Fields, 2005 , pg 26).