Abstract
Audio-visual rhythm can be achieved in a variety of ways, in film as well as in music videos. Here, we have studied human visual responses to video editing with regard to musical beats, in order to better understand the role of visual rhythm in an audio-visual flow. While some suggest that music videos should maintain synchrony in the audio-visual rhythm, and others claim that music videos should be rhythmically loose in their structure, there is a functional aspect of vision and hearing that reacts to the juxtaposition of audio and visual rhythms. We present empirical evidence of cognitive effects, as well as perceptual differences with attentional effects, for viewers watching music videos cut on-beat and off-beat.
Contributor Notes
Thorbjörn Swenberg has a PhD in Innovation and Design and is a Senior Lecturer at the Moving Image Production Department at Dalarna University, Sweden. His research interests include creative decision-making in media production, design of audiovisual objects, and viewer evaluation of audiovisual assemblies. His thesis explores these topics through a qualitative interpretation of design practice combined with quantitative analyses of eye movement data gathered in a set of experiments. E-mail: tsw@du.se
Simon Carlgren has a BA in Audiovisual Production, a MA in Film Editing, and is currently working as a documentary film editor. E-mail: simoncarlgren@gmail.com