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98 | Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education
film clip and another subject watched a more neutral film clip. In another
type of study, the effect of a film on several recipients was investigated. The
researchers examined if the same film elicited the same response from the
recipients. A variation of this type of study examined emotional responses
by projecting a film clip with or without manipulation (such as sound or a
change of color) (Raz, Hagin & Hendler, 2013).
In the field of art psychology, Kovacs and Papp-Zipernovszky’s (2019)
investigated the relationship between the narrative structure of films and the
personality traits of the audience. The empirical study focused on how viewers
created a continuous plot from fragments, and formed causal relationships
between episodes. The researchers recorded the hypotheses of the audience
about the continuation of the plot by stopping the film sequence by sequence.
Content analysis was used to determine which parts of the film narrative
elicited causal inferences from the recipients. The researchers also distributed
personality tests and found that openness to experience was a personality trait
that contributed to a more thorough exploration of the causal relationships
in the film narrative. The impact of a Hitchcock film on personality was also
measured in the research. The personality functioning patterns of recipients
(n = 51) were assessed before and after watching the film using projective
techniques and personality tests (Fecsk6-Pirisi, Urban, Martos & Nagy, 2014).
Balint, Blessing and Rooney (2020) investigated the effect of close-ups in
film clips on a large sample (n = 495). The researchers wanted to find out to
what extent close-ups of the faces of film characters changed the reflections
of the viewers. The recipients were asked to reconstruct the narrative of the
film, and content analysis of the transcriptions showed that close-ups of the
characters helped the viewers to identify the characters’ emotional states.
CHAPTER 3.
STORYTELLING AS TOOL AND OBJECT OF RESEARCH
The storytelling process itself can become both a tool and an object of
research, especially in qualitative ethnographic and anthropological studies.
Some of this research focuses on the role of storytelling in the community,
especially on the storyteller and the function of the storytelling act. Another
type of research in this vein is fieldwork, in which the researcher is involved
in the life of the community under study. The researcher records research
experiences and reflections in a diary and actively participates in the shaping
of the research narrative. A third research approach is art-based participatory
action research, in which the researcher and the research subjects create
artifacts as a community and share experiences during the process.
Keszeg (2011, pp. 85-86) identified eight directions for anthropological
research on storytelling, which can be narrowed down to three main areas:
(1) Eras and Society, in which the researcher examines the typical narratives