The perception of symmetry in the moving image: multi-level computational analysis of cinematographic scene structure and its visual reception

Abstract

This research is driven by visuo-spatial perception focussed cognitive film studies, where the key emphasis is on the systematic study and generation of evidence that can characterise and establish correlates between principles for the synthesis of the moving image, and its cognitive (e.g., embodied visuo-auditory, emotional) recipient effects on observers [Suchan and Bhatt 2016b; Suchan and Bhatt 2016a]. Within this context, we focus on the case of "symmetry" in the cinematographic structure of the moving image, and propose a multi-level model of interpreting symmetric patterns therefrom. This provides the foundation for integrating scene analysis with the analysis of its visuo-spatial perception based on eye-tracking data. This is achieved by the integration of: computational semantic interpretation of the scene [Suchan and Bhatt 2016b] ---involving scene objects (people, objects in the scene), cinematographic aids (camera movement, shot types, cuts and scene structure)--- and perceptual artefacts (fixations, saccades, scan-path, areas of attention).