We measured the eye movements of participants who watched a 6-minute movie in stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic form. We analyzed four shots of the movie. The results indicate that in a 2D movie viewers tended to look at the actors, as most of the eye movements were clustered there. The significance of the actors started at the beginning of a shot, as the eyes of the viewer focused almost immediately to them. In S3D movie the eye movement patterns were more widely distributed to other targets. For example, complex stereoscopic structures and objects nearer than the actor captured the interest and eye movements of the participants. Also, the tendency to first look at the actors was diminished in the S3D shots. The results suggests that in a S3D movie there are more eye movements which are directed to wider array of objects than in a 2D movie.
INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of a moviemaker is to influence the viewers to pay attention to salient events of the script, so that the viewers understand the details, consequences and emotional significance of events 1 . This can be accomplished by utilizing for example shot distance, focus, angle, movement, point of view, scene composition and principles of cutting 1,2 . In a stereoscopic film the effect of these techniques might be different, as the processes of stereoscopic vision affect the way viewers pay attention and understand the scenes. Moviemakers and stereographers know how to utilize the possibilities of stereoscopy, as recent excellent stereoscopic films have shown, but there is less empirical data related to these effects. According to our recent studies the viewers most often mention experiences of reality-likeness, presence, enhanced emotions and richness of structural details when watching a stereoscopic movie 3,4 . Asking the viewers to describe their experiences is the best way to form an understanding of the underlying psychological processes 5-8 , so these results tell us a lot about the experiential added value of stereoscopy. However, there are also processes that are not consciously accessible. These processes might be reflexive, automatic or too quick to enter the consciousness of the viewer. For example, eye movements and the related changes in the focus of attention are only partially guided by conscious intentions of the viewers. As the locations where the eyes stop to collect information determine what parts of the visual environment we notice, measuring the eye movements with stereoscopic film shows, which part of each shot is regarded as informative and important.Eye movements can be divided to two main phases. Firstly, there are fixations when the eye is pointing to a single location of the scene. Secondly, there are saccades when the eyes quickly move the point of regard to another position. Information is acquired during fixations, as during the saccades the information from the eye is mostly suppressed. Experiments suggest that viewers look at the most informative areas of the scene. The definition of informative depends on the task and the cont...
