What is it about?

The subliminal stimuli contained in films is something that has been written about but not thoroughly investigated and tested. Therefore, we conducted a research to specifically determine how many frames are needed to generate a cinematographic subliminal stimulus and at what point it becomes a supraliminal stimulus. Based on the results obtained, to create a subliminal stimulus in a film, one frame is required for 24 and 30 fps, and 2 or 3 frames for 60 fps. The use of 3 and 4 frames at 24 and 30 fps would already be a subpraliminal stimulus. For 1 and 4 frames at 60 fps, as well as 2 frames at 24 and 30 fps, the results were inconclusive, depending on various circumstances such as the spectator's predisposition to detect it, the nature of the displayed image, or whether the stimulus is inserted at a shot change or during the development of a shot.

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Why is it important?

Much has been written about the possibility of inserting subliminal stimuli in movies. The most talked about cases, such as the inserted frames in Fight Club and The Exorcist, are ones we can all observe, so can they really be considered subliminal? The research we conducted is the first to attempt to set concrete boundaries for what can be defined as subliminal and what cannot in a film. To do so, we aimed to measure the number of frames that constitutes the limit between what we can consider subliminal and what we cannot.

Perspectives

This research is the first step in a long-term project. We started by defining the duration of the stimuli inserted in films that should be considered subliminal, and the next step is to locate these stimuli throughout the history of cinema. Additionally, once a relevant set of these stimuli in films has been identified and analyzed, we will proceed to evaluate their impact on viewers through electroencephalogram (EEG) measurements.

Javier Sanz-Aznar
Universitat de Barcelona

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Subliminal Stimuli Generated in Films through Successive Frames: A Quantitative Assessment, Art & Perception, September 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/22134913-bja10061.
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