The Magic of the Silver Screen: Our Brains on Film

Whether it's the magical world of Harry Potter, action-packed Marvel features, or the emotional epic that is Titanic, no matter who you are there is a film for you. My fascination with film began at a young age, jump started by movies like Ponyo, Wall-E, and Spider-Man. Even at the age of 5 or 6, these movies were extremely impactful, stirring up emotions that I lacked the vocabulary to describe. Now at 17, I still am infatuated with film but I am also interested in what makes them so magical. If we know it's not real, why is Friday the 13th so scary, The Green Mile so sad, and Superbad so funny. The answer lies in film's relationship with the way we all interpret and understand the world around us, the real magic-maker: our brain!

An artist's depiction of film

Many consider film to be the peak form of art as it incorporates image and sound to serve its storytelling purpose. This means that it has a unique effect on the brain. It stimulates the areas of the brain that processes visual and auditory information and several areas that signify emotions such as fear, compassion, or self-awareness. Studies conducted by Princeton University's Uri Hasson has made great advances in understanding film's effect on the brain. Subjects were exposed to clips from different films and TV shows like Bang! You're Dead, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Dog Day Afternoon, and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as footage from Washington Square Park in NYC, with varying effects. The study uses ISC (Inter Subject Correlation) which is merely a measure of how much of the brain activity was shared among the participants. It showed that across films with more deliberate editing and emotional scenes, there was a ISC measure of 65 percent of the participants compared to a more freeform, true to life approach taken by Curb Your Enthusiasm which came into about 18 percent. The structured, edited films scored significantly higher in ISC than the unstructured, minimally edited films. This study shows us the collective effects of film and specifically the importance of film editing and cinematography. Hard editing and structure is used to pull the viewer's attention to a specific subject or idea. Correct usage of both allows the viewer to dissect the scene and understand its point and value to the story. Subjects who watched edited, emotion driving clips exhibited similar brain activity and emotion responses. So, now we know that film with meaningful editing, whether it is to build suspense or draw out an emotional response from the viewer, is a contributing factor of the reaction to a film. 

A graph produced by Hasson's study which measures the ISC of viewers

A graph produced by Hasson's study which measures the relative effectiveness of films

But film is much more than editing, and it is about more than collective responses. So, how does film effect the individual? A study conducted by Phil Carlsen and Devon Hubbard at Mindsign, a company that invests in neurocinematics, investigates activity in different areas of the brain while watching a film. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, which measures blood flow within the brain which corresponds to brain activity. In this study, several observations point directly to the relationship between the screen and the mind. Areas of the brains like the frontal cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, fusiform gyri, and insula were stimulated during the viewings. These areas are important for functions like emotion, facial recognition, memory, self-awareness, and attention. This shows the viewer's brain being stimulated in order to deconstruct a complex series of shots and sounds to create a story. And within this story, the brain can connect as we see when the insula or ventromedial prefrontal cortex are stimulated. This study shows us the specific areas and functions of the brain that makes movie going so enjoyable for viewers. 

A labeled diagram of the affected areas of the brain during film screening

So there we have it, the real magic ingredient in the film industry isn't the actors, cinematography, costumes, or even the music. It's the brain. The brain allows for information to be taken from the big screen, processed and analyzed, and then connect with us on an extremely personal level. Neurocinematics is a growing field of interest between scientists and companies and has practical uses in the industry. Trailers, TV clips and more have been analyzed by ISC ratings to see which cut is the most stimulating to the viewer's brain. It is a young field but has a lot of potential for the movie making business in the future. Even without it, we have found a way to make countless impactful, touching films since the technology was first developed in 1895. Film is an expression of human emotions that is like no other. It connects, inspires, and brings joy to people all around the world. But film would be nothing without the hard work of our brains. Film will always have a special place in my heart...and brain.