Film as Event Perception
Applies ecological and event-perception theory to cinema, treating the viewer as actively segmenting and structuring a continuous stream into coherent perceptual events rather than passively receiving images.
Film cognition Event perception Ecological psychology Narrative
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Why it matters
Hecht frames film viewing through event-perception theory: audiences do not decode a sequence of static shots but perceive continuous, meaningful events — segmenting the stream at natural breakpoints and binding shots into narrative wholes.
The approach connects film theory to ecological psychology and anticipates current embodied and enactive accounts of cinematic experience.