THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FORMAL FILMIC MEANS AND THE SEGMENTATION BEHAVIOR OF FILM VIEWERS

The present study addressed the question of whether formal filmic mean s (e.g., cuts) serve a syntactic function for the viewers by guiding t hem in segmenting the continuous flow of events depicted in the film. Three films depicting complex production processes were shown to 48 ap prentices. We adopted a procedure developed by Newtson (1973) in which participants were required to segment the film content by pressing a button each time a production step ended and a new one began. Results show that the occurrence of either visual or auditory formal filmic me ans led to an increase in the proportion of segmentations. Also, forma l filmic means indicating a change of scene elicited more marked segme ntation behavior than formal filmic means indicating minor changes wit hin scenes. No general effect on segmentation behavior could be found for the spectators' expertise for the depicted film content.