With the development of cognitive neuroscience in the 1970s, the cognitive film theory was formally put forward by American film theorist David Bordwell in his book Narrative in the Fiction Film (1985), which opened a new turn in the scientific and empirical research on the psychology of film and television audiences.Footnote 1 To be concrete, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Electroencephalogram (EEG), Eye Tracking (ET), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), etc., which took cognitive neuroscience as a tool, were married with biosensors and artificial intelligence technology based on the Internet of Things ecology, especially in the intelligent era marked by the application of big data, to expand new methods and paths for the psychological research of film and television audience. In this paper, film studies were extended to more practical disciplinary areas for more convincing research experimentally and empirically.

Why the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was taken as an example

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the first Chinese-language film in history winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and at the same time has been given the US Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the British Academy Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award. Besides, it, in September 2019, ranked 51st on the Guardian’s list of the 100 Best Films of the twenty first Century and, up to now, has earned 128 million USD in North America and 213 million USD worldwide, ranking first in the overseas box office of Chinese films and the top in the box office of foreign language films in North America. Therefore, the film cognition analysis with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as a case is typical and of reference significance for the current and future development of Chinese films.

Experimental design

Experimental purpose

The physiological and psychological reaction data of international students in Liaoning University amid watching the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were collected by sensing equipment, and the application of perception intelligence in international communication was studied.

Experimental preparation

Experimental equipment

Skin electrical sensor, wet electrode patch, and camera.

Stimulus material

The movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Subjects

A total of 22 international student volunteers from Liaoning University (Figs. 1 and 2).

Fig. 1
figure 1

International student volunteers who participated in the experiment

Full size image
Fig. 2
figure 2

Wear physiological sensors for international students

Full size image

Experimental process

  1. 1.

    Watch the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and record the time when the dragon mark appears.

  2. 2.

    When the list of actors occurs, record the time and end the experiment (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
figure 3

The Film: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Full size image

Experimental principle

Hasson’s team at the Wezeman Institute of Science in Israel has done a number of studies combining neuroscience with film studies after exploring the coherence of brain activity during film viewing using fMRI (2004), who offered mountains of important achievements in the early application of cognitive neuroscience to the research of film ontology, and raised the concept of “Neurocin ematics” in their book “Neurocin ematics: The neuroscience of film” (2008) to name the interdisciplinary research field between cognitive neuroscience and cinematics. The so-called “Neurocin ematics” refers to the empirical study on films through neuroscience technology such as fMRI and theoretical methods involved in cognitive neuroscience.

Professor Wang Yiwen from the School of Art and Communication of Beijing Normal University put forward the idea that, PET, EEG, EDA and other cheaper and more convenient biological testing technologies will be applied to research in the future in his article entitled “Paths to Film Research under the Trend of Cognitivism”. Since 2022, the “NEW LIBERAL ARTS AND MEDIA CONVERGENCE EXPERIMENTAL CENTER”of Liaoning University has carried out a series of GSR experiments. GSR is an electrochemical sensor, which belongs to contact sensing. Psychological theory believes that the phenomenon of skin electrical activity is related to the changes caused by muscles, blood vessels and the endocrine system under the action of emotion. GSR can directly reflect the sympathetic nerve activity, the sweat gland cells in the skin are innervated by the preganglionic fibers of the sympathetic nerve system and sympathetic nerve activity is an indispensable condition for emotional changes. When emotions fluctuate, sweat gland activity changes.

Therefore, the working principle of GSR detection is to record the skin electrical activity caused by emotional changes by placing electrodes on the skin parts rich in sweat glands, such as the palm and fingers, amplify the electrical signal through an amplifier and transmit it to the instrument used for acquisition.

Data conclusion

Based on the above data and the analysis of the plots in the corresponding movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it is found that (Figs. 4 and 5):

Fig. 4
figure 4

Curve of interest

Full size image
Fig. 5
figure 5

Average score

Full size image

Long shots

The audience’s interest in the Chinese martial arts presented by long shots shows an upward trend. David Bordwell’s cognitivism is a kind of “embodied cognition”. The documentary characteristics of long shots make the film more realistic. According to the experiment, the Ch’ing Kung (a kind of Chinese martial art) presentation with relatively long shots can beckon with the audience better (Figs. 6 and 7).

Fig. 6
figure 6

The fight between Yu Jiaolong and Yu Xiulian

Full size image
Fig. 7
figure 7

The fight between Yu Jiaolong and Yu Xiulian

Full size image

Meanwhile, too-long martial arts scenes will crank down the audience’s interest. For instance, since the 21st min, the martial arts scene had lasted for 2 min and at this time, the audience’s interest rating curve rises and then falls.

This indicates that the film shows the skills and personality of the characters with long shots and frequent fighting scenes of “running over the walls”. The heroes keen on Ch’ing Kung constantly leap between heaven and earth, showing the world the unique charm of Chinese martial art films. In contrast, too dense and fantastical presentation is counterproductive. Nowadays, with the advance of globalization, China is no longer far away from the imagination of people around the world. While romantic acrobatic jumping is presented, complex Ch’ing Kung plots and long fighting scenes also test the audience’s psychological endurance limit.

Montage

As for the scene in that Yu Jiaolong was lost in Xinjiang memories, the film adopted the flashback method, and the audience’s degree of interest shows an obvious downward trend. Through the montage editing technique, the movie integrates the story of Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu in Xinjiang into the main plot, which inevitably requires the audience to switch back and forth in the mainline scenario and the Xinjiang one. This results in a lack of the audience’s mental preparation amid the scene flashback and at the moment of “entering” and “leaving” the story, the audience is easily distracted and needs some time to adjust their emotions before they can commit to the new story (Figs. 8 and 9).

Fig. 8
figure 8

Yu Jiaolong falls into memory

Full size image
Fig. 9
figure 9

Yu Jiaolong’s mind from memory to reality

Full size image

The montage editing technique destroys the continuity of time course and the embodied scene accepted by the audience, says Bordwell in his article “Narration in the Fiction Film”. To this end, the film in the editing arrangement should try to avoid the abruptness of the connection before and after the frames.

Forward and reverse shots

In the film, the audience’s interest in the scenes implying the relationship between characters with forward and reverse shots shows an obvious upward trend (Figs. 10 and 11).

Fig. 10
figure 10

Forward and reverse shot between Yu Jiaolong and Li Mubai

Full size image
Fig. 11
figure 11

Forward and reverse shot between Yu Jiaolong and Li Mubai

Full size image

Bordwell explained in details the ins and outs of film cognitivist theory in his essay: The Amateur Cognitivist: From the Perspectives of Film Studies and proposes that the problem to be addressed by cognitivism is “how the audience communicate and interact with movies”. This kind of classical coding method to guide the audience to identify with the screen image undoubtedly creates the psychological illusion of the relationship between the two people and forms the psychological identity of the audience.

In-depth interview

Members of the evaluation team conducted in-depth interviews with international students. Pursuant to the data, the film has a high popularity, with a score below 70 accounting for 0%. Furthermore, the results of the in-depth interview also confirmed the conclusion, which manifested that, 86.4% of the students said they liked the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon very much, and at the same time they also mentioned some details that they were not satisfied with (Table 1, Figs. 12 and 13).

Table 1 Personal status of respondents (N = 22)
Full size table
Fig. 12
figure 12

Members of the experiment team conducted in-depth interviews with international students

Full size image
Fig. 13
figure 13

Members of the experiment team conducted in-depth interviews with international students

Full size image

Student A from Pakistan: “I like the main character Li Mubai very much as he is serious, short-spoken and very “man”. But I don’t believe that people can really fly. I prefer real movies.”

Student B from Bangladesh: “I really like Chinese Kungfu, and the way that Chinese live and express their emotions in the movie. I think the relationship between Yu Xiulian and Li Mubai is true love. Yu Jiaolong and Luo Xiaohu are more like seeking excitement, just as children chase lollipops.”

Student C from Bangladesh: “I like Chinese Kungfu, but there are too many scenes flying around. If such scenes can be reduced, the film will be better.”

Student D from Pakistan: “My favorite part is when Yu Jiaolong and Yu Xiulian fight with different weapons and as far as I am concerned, the movie may want to express the idea that follow your heart and don’t let anyone change who you are.”

Student E from Tonga: “I like the environment in the movie, which is pretty beautiful. And it allows people who have never been to China knowing more about China, I think.”

Student F from Zambia: “The film shots are a little slow, and I wish the shots could be faster”.

Conclusion

Director Ang Lee has won both domestic and international box office and public praise for his romantic martial art films with the aesthetic conception of morality nobleness and Confucianism and Zen harmony. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon takes theft in detective films familiar to the audience as the narrative starting point, and adds narrative elements of ethics and martial art films, broadening the rich cognitive space of the film. In the shot language, the director places the audience in the context of the film, which on the one hand, makes it easier for them to accept the creation of it and, on the other hand, makes the film both commercial and artistic.

Amid summarizing the successful experience of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in balancing content and form, perception intelligence technology empirically summarizes more universal and verifiable experiences. Although data interference may occur in the development of perception intelligence, for example, the subjects are affected by personal memory and attention, resulting in the bias of statistical data potentially, as data accumulates and application scenarios increase, perception intelligence will enhance the communication power of film and television works with respect to cultural shaping, and provide reliable support for both local and international markets.