Filed under: 231Project2

231 Third Experiment

My third experiment was again attempting to invoke a more safe/comfortable environment by looking at how people interact with the content of a horror film when alone and when with friends.

I got Ben to watch another horror scene and looked at how he sat and how he responded to the film. This was all taken place inside and in a dark room to enhance the films effects.

I then got him to watch another scene from the same film but this time with Bevan and Ryan in the same room. All three of them watched the scene. The tension of the room seemed to vanish and it was a less intense experience.

(download)
Although the results were not as extreme as my second experiment they still had a positive effect. I had hoped that the boys would talk about the scene and lose all immersion but apart from a few comments about certain things they liked it was still a pretty tense environment. Especially when the scene became extremely suspenceful everyone was totally silent and still as Ben was before joined.

231 Second Experiment

My second experiment was looking at how the environment can change someones experience when watching horror films.

My friend Johnny was happy to help out. I first made him watch a horror scene insided the house with all the lights off and curtains/doors closed. I then made him watch it outside in the sunshine with the wind blowing. I was hoping to discover that he found it harder to become immersed when he was outside.

(download)

Johnny said the following things after the experiment:

The dark setting of the scene mimicked his surroundings which helped make him feel like he was there as well. The suspense of the scene was accented by the darkness.

The sunshine and wind detracted from his experience and almost made it impossible to be immersed by the scene. He noticed that his mind occasionally wandered away from the film and that he always knew where he was. He felt more safer outside and less 'frightened' by the scenes.

231 First Experiment

My first experiment was to see if I could incur a routine in a person watching a film.

I made Kenji watch a heavily action oriented scene from Flags of our Fathers by Clint Eastwood. This scene has a strong immersion associated with it. I paused the film every five seconds and he would then have to resume the film by unpausing it using the space bar. My motive was to see if he would recognize the pattern and naturally switch his attitude towards the film to accompany this constant change.

(download)
Kenji originally started to watch the film upright with his hands holding his head up. Over time as he quickly realised the film would be stopped every few seconds he moved his hand to be at the spacebar, allowing him to restart the film straight away to get a continuous flow.

Some keywords associated with his responce were as follows: annoying - frustrating - immersion was broken - repetitive - predictable - as soon as stopped tried to start again - just wanted to watch the movie. He quickly noticed the pattern and switch his stance and mind state to accompany this pattern. He was actively ready for the film to stop and was waiting in between to make sure he could quickly start it again.

 

231 Ideas for experiments

Here are my three experiment ideas for creating moods whilst watching horror films

 

1 - Change the environment the person is in. (Dark - Light, Inside to Outside, Daytime to Nighttime)

2 - Experiencing watching movies with and without friends.

3 - Continously having to start the film when it is paused every 5 seconds.