In the 1990s, researchers at University of Texas in Austin determined that our attention spans could be described by the 1/f fluctuation, a pattern representing the ebb and flow of our concentration over a period of time. In a new study, professor James Cutting found that the more recent the blockbuster, the more closely its editing followed this fluctuation.
Where’s Detour, made in 1945, has shots that only vaguely correspond to the 1/f fluctuation, the 2005 King Kong remake stays surprisingly snug with the attention span wave.
As Cutting explains, this increasing correlation means that films “resonate with the rhythm of human attention spans,” but just because movies are increasingly pleasing to our subconscious minds doesn’t mean that we will necessarily like them more: the Star Wars prequels strictly followed the formula. [PhysOrg and PopSci]
olearymo
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 12:07 PMI’m afraid I didn’t make it all the way through this. Is it irony that the very thing he’s invented won’t stand up to the average attention sp….
oh a bunny!
aaron
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 3:43 PMNice dig at Star War…ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
Pogla The grate
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 3:57 PMMaybe I’m just an odd individual, but some of my favourite flics I like for the broad, sweeping long camera shots. Specifically:
Mr Canton and Lady Rose – Jacki Chan responding to critics saying he could only do an ‘action’ flick. Based on an old Buster Keaton film, Chan shows off his directing style culminating in a tracking shot of around three minutes following a character from the street, though a club and then upstairs to the mob boss’ office.
The Cook, The Theif, His Wife and Her Lover –
Peter Greenaway’s finest film (in my humble opinion). Not only does it feature long tracking shots, but these shots include costume changes and set changes which fall seamlessly into the tracking progression.
Tom Yun Goong (aka The Protector) –
I still think this film should be called ‘Dude, Where’s My Elephant’, but there are a couple of beautiful scenes – most impressively the fight scene in the Buddhist Temple, and the three and a half minute single shot going up three levels with multiple stunt men and multiple awesomeness.
2001… don’t need to say more
Luke
Monday, February 22, 2010 at 4:15 PMAgreed. Children of Men is one of my favourite films from last decade, and it had some of the longest continuous shots I’ve seen in a film. I never found my attention wavering because of them.