Film:
Category: Video Games / Technology
When Jim and Nora were toddlers, they were huge fans of everything Disney. Here they're wearing their Disney pajamas as they play next to their Seven Dwarves figurines, underneath their TV, which was frequently used to watch Disney videos. We...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 4:59 PM • 12 Comments •
Category: Research
When Jim was 12 or 13, he seemed to want to watch almost every R-rated movie that came out. PG-13 movies were okay, and PG and G-rated movies were beneath his dignity. Was he simply interested in these movies because...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 2:30 PM • 13 Comments •
Category: Research
It's now taken as a given that the musical score of a movie can have huge influence on our perception of the movie. From the pulsating terror achieved in films like Psycho and Jaws, to the triumphant victories in Star...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 2:30 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Research
If you're like me, when you read a book, you form a picture of what's happening in your mind. I try to imagine not only what the characters look like, but also their surroundings. Eventually, I've created a picture of...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 3:10 PM • 14 Comments •
Category: Research
The Kuleshov Effect, discovered nearly a century ago by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov, posits that the context in which we see an image of an actor's face will determine the emotion the face portrays. For example, take a look at...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 5:10 PM • 10 Comments •
Category: Research
On the opening episode of the Colbert Report, faux conservative Stephen Colbert expressed his preference for "guts" over facts: That's where truth comes from -- the gut. Facts come from the brain -- and some people think that makes facts...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 4:09 PM • 14 Comments •
Category: News
I'm currently reading Hugo Münsterberg's fascinating 1916 book, The Photoplay (I'm reading a paper copy, but the link takes you to the complete online text). It's one of the earliest serious works on film, which was unfortunately not well received...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 2:07 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Research
In movie fight scenes, punches often miss by a foot or more, but when sound effects are added, and the punchee adds an effective-looking recoil, we're convinced that the punch is "real." We've posted on this phenomenon before: when a...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 10:26 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Research
In many ways, my career has been dominated by efforts to make "work" bear as much resemblance to "having fun" as possible. Today's article only confirms that rule. Yesterday afternoon, I spent an hour watching a World Cup soccer match,...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 11:54 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Film
Over at Uncertain Principles, Chad Orzel's hosting a discussion on who should be on a hypothetical Mount Rushmore of science. There's a fairly broad consensus that Darwin, Einstein, and Newton make the cut, but rather heated debate on who should...
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Posted by Dave Munger at 3:24 PM • 2 Comments •