Which way did he go? Film lateral movement and spectator interpretation

Abstract

Elements of on-screen motion in film hold specific meanings and contexts depending on their usage in the moving image. The common wisdom that left-to-right is primary, preferred, and evaluated as more positive has not been directly tested with spectator responses. This study focuses on how film spectators interpret lateral motion, comparing left-to-right and right-to-left. A posttest only experimental design utilized footage from a short film as the stimulus. Participants completed a questionnaire after watching the sequence, answering items concerning affective and perceptual evaluations of the sequence. ANOVAs showed a significant difference between the experimental groups on the Positive Affect spectator evaluation scale and the Activity scale, such that right-to-left motion was perceived more negatively and as less active. There were no differences in the Uniqueness scale. Additionally, the study found no support for potential moderating impacts of religion or psychometric characteristics, indicating robustness of the main findings.