COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Filmmaker and Neurocinema: How filmmakers or movies can engage the subconscious minds of the viewers
Creator:
Altahir, Suhayb
Subject:
Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Film and Television
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Film and Television
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"This research project seeks to explore the relationships between film, neuroscience and cinema, and neurocinema. Film communicates to the subconscious mind through sonic, visual and auditory elements that have been shown to connect to and activate neurological activity. My research has revealed that neuroscience contributes to the impact of film on viewers. I borrow from 'your brain on movies by Jeffrey Zacks who defines 'neurocinema' and explores its affiliation to psychology. Scholarly articles, journals, and various elements of film will be analyzed to demonstrate how viewers process films in their physical brains and then reconstruct the film psychologically. Additionally, my project will present analyses of select films that draw on these connections to create film productions to explore key examples of neurocinema. Towards completing this research, I conducted my own experiment by running brain scans on five different viewers watching the same select scenes of my film. Drawing on my own filmmaking experience, and the research compiled here, I hope to prove my hypothesis, that when filmmakers consider the manner in which our brains work, paired with the integration of the elements of the psyche, they will have the ability and the opportunity to tell a more effective and impactful story."
Abstract:
*Includes the author's short thriller "Flicker," about a film student "who stumbles upon how to integrate techniques in a film including audio-visual elements to affect the psychological behavior of people," but things go wrong when he engages the help of an insane neuroscientist--Adapted from thesis page 29
Abstract:
*Keywords: film study, storytelling, filmmaker, film theory, neuroscience, neurocinema, fMRI, cinema, cognitive control, brain
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2019-11
Format:
PDF : 34 pages + 1 film (approximately 20 min.) : MP4, sound, color