Which Way Did He Go? Lateral Character Movement in Film

[@lancegrabow9432]

going to the right made the kid look like a stalker to me while the right to left one looked more mournful, like he was an ex of the girl

[@MissingSirius]

That's exactly what I thought!

[@zeozen]

wooow, interesting that this observation is fairly common! I too thought this!

[@Roxfox]

I second this observation. When the video went on to describe the theory of right being "forward" and left being "backward" I started speculating as to why I felt that way: In the example when going left to right, the guy might have arrived at the scene specifically to spy on the girl and immediately moved on when he realized he could be noticed. Whereas right to left, he may have been on his way home, from school or whatever, happened to pass by the house of someone he knew and decided to take a peek. Regardless, he'd already been somewhere, and "obviously" was just returning home, so that rules out that he went out solely to spy on her. That might explain why the second one felt less sinister to me.

[@htomeht4072]

Well, it isn't that strange really, the man moving to the right is moving into the future where he will have a part to play in the girls future life while the one moving left is leaving her life and moving into her past. As such the time when looking into the window also makes a difference. The first man perceives and will act in the future while the second has already performed his actions and is taking a last look.

[@DallasVakarian]

Exactly what I thought! That's so interesting

[@hazy_lacy]

For some reason when he exits right, it feels like “oh shit, where did he go? Is he gonna approach from the back now?”. While exiting left has more of an innocent “did I just see something?” vibe.

[@alexjessee442]

The Guy With No Channel that’s exactly how I felt

[@TheSwaroopB]

Completely agreed!

[@1nf3ct3dTT]

You have to remember this is also the 2nd time you saw him. Maybe if the videos were showed reverse you would see it vice versa (time for a study)

[@gus8824]

Odd that he didn't mention the stage tradition. Villain enters stage left, hero enters stage right. (From an audience perspective, the villain is moving right to left, the hero left to right). That predates film, so surely its significant to this?

[@5atch22]

Gus, could be that it shows that the idea of l r movement is deeply in our minds and have been doing it for years. More than just something we've been taught from movies.

[@amjan]

@@5atch22 It has to! Most people are right-handed and right legged, and on a bicycle we feel more comfortable turning left where the right side of our bodies is more protected.

Absolutely. And that raises and interesting question, because this contradicts what he said in the video and showed Smeagol on the right and Gollum on the left. So if the hero is at far left of the stage and villain to the far right, but still works, the theory falls apart.

[@dingobiff]

So I think it'd only contradict the gollum and smeagol point if the villains stayed on the right instead of moving from right to left

[@liquidbraino]

I once played the villain in a play at a theater in Hollywood. My characters first entrance was from behind the audience; walking past them and onto the stage. The final exit was through a trap door in the center of the stage (downward).

[@joeprado3614]

maybe it was a fluke, but the second time I saw the guy in a more sympathetic light.

[@plocky401]

Joe Prado fluke

[@brokenwave6125]

It wasn't a fluke. It was because you already saw him. You were familiar with him, you knew he just walked by and didn't do anything. The first time you saw him he was a stranger and potential threat.

[@MouseGoat]

@@brokenwave6125 fluke or not, this hole left to right thing is so much bullshit, what about people in land that reads right to left? if this study should hold water you should have tested it with them to, and gotten strong opposite results

[@christopherknight54]

@@MouseGoat he literally says "in Western culture"

[@nix4114]

wait same it seemed like they used to date and he was going over there to apologize but lost his courage or something

[@paulkennedy8701]

I hope the scientific study didn't make all its clips as L-to-R and then flip them to make a R-to-L version. Because it's possible that the unease people feel watching the flipped version is because the flipping makes some familiar elements 'wrong'. For example, the flipped clip you've created here shows a laptop keyboard with the arrow keys on the left, reversed text on the throw over the armchair, a British flag design with the red elements on the wrong side within the white, and (for someone in a part of the world where people drive on the right) cars parked on the wrong side of the street. Even if the viewer isn't conscious of these discrepancies, it's possible that they might register them enough to cause this feeling of wrongness. (This clips avoids showing clothes which button up, fingers with wedding rings, wrists with watches, or clockfaces, but these and lots of other things have a usual way, which could feel right, and an unusual way, which couldfeel wrong.)

[@shacharh5470]

I'd imagine they only showed one version to each participant, dividing participants to two groups

[@bernardomoreira]

@@shacharh5470 That wouldn't make any difference since the group that only saw the reversed clip might have felt uneasy because of what Paul just explained...

[@glanni]

He explained it about 2 years ago, but apart from that..Pretty good points he has..

[@christianjuarez7618]

Very good point.

[@ryansoleim]

I thought the same thing. If they showed both clips, they should have switched which one they showed first regularly.

[@hereitszara1497]

I feel like when he goes from left to right he looks like he’s going somewhere which gives his character confidence and a sense of power which makes him seem like he is at the window for a purpose in perhaps a creepy way, whereas when he goes from right to left we get the impression that he’s is going away from somewhere and that he happened to stumble across the window of someone he knew which allows his character to look less threatening or suspicious

[@AsifMehedi]

It's amazing how many people in the comments have had very similar observations. .

[@ala-lash3710]

Thanks that makes so much sense 🙏

[@RalphLindsen]

The big question though is, do people feel like that because of themselves, or because they've been conditioned by movies using this technique?

[@RalphLindsen]

The should show the same to amish kids or something as a control :P

[@jay_mw]

If you go back far enough, all nonverbal communication is socially conditioned.

[@DrGerbils]

+Ralph Lindsen If it were innate, you would expect to see it in pre-move stage directions. My very small sampling of the plays of G.B. Shaw, a playwright given to voluminous stage directions turned up few instances of it. He seemed to be indifferent as to whether his characters entered stage left or stage right. A larger study of pre-20th century plays is probably in order.

[@timokeeffe8860]

+J wendland that's an interesting theory. Would you have an example please ?

[@RalphLindsen]

DrGerbils Hmm, i'm not sure you can compare a film to a stage in this regard. Because the stage is set, it doesn't move the story through a world as much as a film does. The kind of situations that are comparable is when a stage production is showing travel. For instance a ship or something like that. If the characters are on their way to something, does the ship point to the left or to the right? What if they return from their journey?

[@geoffrey5045]

The first felt stalkerish, and the second felt love for afarish.

[@liquidbraino]

Also the body language was different in each one.

[@purplefire2834]

I thought the opposite. First one seemed mournful, second one seems stalker-y.

[@Alistair]

I felt the same as OP

[@Pyraticalpunk]

I felt the opposite

[@billysinge8977]

ThisIsMyRealName you have a weird sense of humor boy.

[@Ockeroid]

Really interesting video But I was under the impression this feeling is reversed in countries like Japan since the natural reading direction is different. And when looking at Japanese films it seems to be the opposite way around.

[@NickolasLacey]

+Ockeroid even though the Japanese have a culture that is grounded in historical cinema, cinema is dominated by western authority. Even though your idea makes sense, when countries like Japan or any other non-western nation watch cinema, they are stepping into a culture that is dominated by the west. This is just my theory but I'm sure there's a lot of literature out there that examines this idea.

[@Merthalophor]

+Ockeroid Most likely. Even the pages in books have reversed order.

[@cloudkitt]

+Ockeroid Japan's a bit of a wonky example because the way they read changes based on the orientation. If the words are written horizontally, it reads left to right like English. But if the words are written vertically, then the columns are read right to left. So I don't know what that means. Although as he shows, Japanese games like Mario go left to right. I would be interested to see the test performed on speakers of Arabic or Hebrew, though.

[@futurestoryteller]

+Ockeroid I've never gotten that impression frankly, and the video outright denies this anyway. Still it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't slightly more comfortable implementing a "reversed" shot.

[@Merthalophor]

cloudkitt Just checked that. Japan truly is fascinating.

[@seoulting28]

0:37 that particular shot wasn't mirrored, so it was jarring for me, as it cut back after the dude walked past.

[@Robbythegod]

Thank you! I could feel something wrong and it was bugging me

[@cryinglennyc2980]

Same lmao

[@purplefire2834]

Yeah, it made me confused about the whole second sequence

[@screaminghorse8818]

@@dzidmail g the whole shot wasnt mirrored

[@NixLaser]

"A character on the left may seem more sinister" Heh. Heheheh. Latin.

[@foreignpaul]

+NixLaser I don't know any Latin, but in spanish a synonim for right is "diestra" and a synonim for left is "siniestra". Which sucks, cause I'm left-handed.

[@Novenae_CCG]

+Paul Pince Mhuahahah, they'll have to fear us!

[@Pizzacheese10]

"sinistra" "sinister"

[@flyingpenandpaper6119]

On the other 'hand', a character on the right may seem more dextrous.

[@chameleonedm]

It is most likely from the Kentish word "lyft" which meant "weak" - i.e. the weak side of someones body

[@__-cd9ug]

To go further: - In latin based languages, "left" comes from "sinistra" (that's the word they use in Italian), which also gave words like sinister. "Right", however, comes from "destra" (still using the Italian words because they're really close to latin ones), and it appears in words like straight (not in english of course). As a matter of fact, in French, "Droit" means both "straight" and "right". - Lateral movements in cinema can mean more than just going from left to right or right to left separately. If you look at the movie To Be Or Not To Be (that's from Ernst Lubitsch, I highly recommend him), you can see that when the army invades Poland, the corresponding shots show soldiers going either ways. That way, you get the impression of being invaded by those soldiers, as they are "surrounding the camera". - Finally, and that's an interesting point that I believe you didn't bring in the video: going to the left is associated to death, and going to the right means life (most of the time of course). You can see that in many, many films. I don't have an example to think of right now because there are too many. So next time you watch a movie, think about that and you'll start noticing it. *Thanks for the great video, this is really interesting* and sorry for my bad english if there are mistakes.

[@praveensharma9893]

boi dat english so bad my eyes vapourize

[@__-cd9ug]

Praveen Sharma boi im not english but at least i try

[@luckas221a]

Spi Rale you're doing fine with English. Great comment.

[@lnplum]

Based on the idea that it's intrinsic, an obvious reason for right-handed people to feel that way would be that someone passing you towards your right side is easier to defend against than someone passing you towards your left. If someone's in front of you and passes you on the right, you can easily punch them with your dominant hand. If they pass on the left, you need to turn your entire upper body to be able to attack. So if it's a stranger you don't trust, having them pass you to the left would make you feel at least a tiny bit more vulnerable. This also holds up with forced perspectives: if you're led to look to the right, whatever there is is something you can defend against. If you're led to look to the left, you will have to react more quickly if it ends up being something bad. I think the first example of soldiers and the injured was actually a bit silly because of course the injured can't *also* go away from the direction of where the helicopters are, so of course they have to head in the opposite direction if the camera follows the soldiers away from the helicopters. Likewise the example for the experiment was flawed in that there is clearly a wall on the left side of the room and the inside shot isn't reversed, so if that wall marks the end of the building and this is not a fully detached house the stranger moving to the left is likely just walking down the street whereas if he's heading to the right that might be where the entrance of the building is (plus it's "behind" the character so he might have wanted to sneak up on her). Luckily this isn't the actual video from the study and that bias would have worked opposite to the observed effect (left = wall, in front of character, safe, but still seen as negative; right = open, behind character, dangerous, but still seen as positive).

[@lnplum]

To double down on the handedness: The word for "destra" you were thinking of is "dexterity", or skillfulness (especially involving the hands). The "evilness" of the left hand also reminds me that boxers specifically train to strike with the left even if they're right-handed because a fighter is more likely to use their dominant hand so an unexpected left-handed blow can be much more damaging even if it is executed with the weaker hand (because it is harder to predict and block).

[@timnovice1998]

Suprised you didn't mention Snowpiercer. Throughout that film there are shots were Chris Evans' character has to go to the right of frame to literally move forward on the train.

[@sonny19931]

+Parallax Tiger I suppose people would have accused him of ripping off Every Frame a Painting if he did that =)

[@NowYouSeeIt]

+sonny19931 in reference to this EFAP video kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmGYhXeppLiaaLs I was partly worried, but really, the topics in each video are different. Tony talks about how the left and right side of the screen can visually convey two choices for a character, while I talk about the thematic difference between choosing to go left and choosing to go right. His video is great, though. I think my video and his video compliment each other very nicely.

[@Frandelicious1337]

+sonny19931 But Tony had a completely different point about that scene, character choice.

[@sonny19931]

I completely agree, these videos are about completely different aspects of lateral movement, this is not derivative of EFAP in any way. However, if there were scenes from snowpiercer here, I bet a lot of people here in the comments would be calling him a rip off, because that's just what people do on youtube.

[@Frandelicious1337]

sonny19931 Yeah, unfortunately.

[@StarlessSupernova]

Yes, a new way to spoil movies! He’s walking right to left, he’s the bad guy

[@Arkatox]

Another way to tell is if he’s the CEO.

[@AA-sn9lz]

Or maybe foreshadowing. These things don't click at once, we realise them on repeat viewings

[@krazyxki]

@@AA-sn9lz True. It's super fun to pick up on subtle things that the filmmakers did to activate your subconsciousness like that.

[@dolphinsoccer4]

So much effort was put into this

[@HypotheticalBees]

I kinda felt the opposite. I felt like the kid walking left to right was more threatening, whereas right to left felt lost. Still in line with power dynamics I guess, but it’s not in line with positive/negative

[@steins-bricks4957]

i think this comes from him looking into frame in the first one and looking out of frame in the second one

[@bloodluster7086]

@@steins-bricks4957 The frame before he walks in going left to right the camera is facing him, so it looks like a direct confrontation from the viewer's perspective thus more threatening. Don't think it had much to do with left to right or right to left.

[@kraven4444]

but what you're saying lines up with the video's point... the progress of left to right meaning that he's going toward something. Like something is going to happen... VS Right to left He's going "backwards" like he's leaving or going back. Your applying the later part of the video where he mentions being on a certain Side of the screen means good or bad... but as far as moving/walking you and the Vid are on the same page.

[@haustreviance]

Your comment actually agrees with the point the video is making, Sam. It's saying right-to-left appears less interesting and left-to-right progresses the story.

[@maryswift5441]

Now we see... your face. Thanks for the video, very interesting!

[@kiarashforooharpak3332]

+mary swift You can actually see him in his 4th wall video too.

[@JimCullen]

+mary swift and his face is... on the right hand side. Clever.

[@maryswift5441]

Jim Cullen haha good one. (btw i play the sax too :D)

[@DeformedLunchbox]

The guy looked like a stalker walking right, and looked like a stalker walking left.

[@DeformedLunchbox]

@Ryan Anders lol I was just making a joke. I dig this channel!

[@Dave.A.R]

Curious fact: Sinister comes from "Sin", which is the latin word for "Left".

[@Boldard]

Which leads to the conclution that Sin isn't right... But wait, we already knew that didn't we?

[@chewnz1127]

I love frank leftatra

[@whereverismia]

Another curious fact: left is considered more of a negative in our culture, weaker, of less, it's translation, as you said, is literally sin. Right is dominate, positive, of power. It's a right handed world, fellow lefties.

[@Drewsky-A]

The Latin word for left is literally sinister. Not sin

[@Dave.A.R]

@@Drewsky-A what about "sin, dex, sin, dex", when roman soldiers were marching?

[@HDitzzDH]

Walking to the right made me view the guy as a creepy stalker, and when he walked to the left I viewed him as less harmful, like a shy guy who has a crush on the girl.

[@Logan_Baron]

Same. After he walked by to the right, I felt worried when she went outside, as though she might be attacked. When walking to the left it gave the impression he was a guy wanting to work up the nerve to talk to her and giving up. I even believed it was a different shot altogether, with him showing a different expression, until it was explained that it was just the same shot reversed.

[@liquidbraino]

Also the body language was completely different in each shot.

[@satisfiction]

I perceived the 1st one as him creeping and the 2nd one as him being regretful or submissive.

[@lepmuhangpa]

Submissive? Nah, fam.

[@satisfiction]

@@lepmuhangpa Yes fam. Don't tell me how I perceived something, please. Edit: oh I misread that :p

[@lepmuhangpa]

@@satisfiction Oh no, I'm not saying that; I'm just saying it wasn't like that for me.

[@satisfiction]

@@lepmuhangpa :p my bad. I woke up and was all angry for some reason. Lol. My bad my bad.

[@KoiandDragon]

One of the best channels on KZbin by far.

[@brandoncoover102]

During the first scene you kept describing the dude as suspicious so we were already thinking this dude is suspicious.

[@Logan_Baron]

I was fortunate in that my Bluetooth speaker wasn't working when I first started playing it. I didn't realize it and just thought that there was no dialog yet. I still got a bad vibe from the first shot and an idea that he was shy from the second one. I actually thought it was a different shot altogether with him showing a different expression until I rebooted my speaker and replayed it and found out the shot was simply reversed.

[@Holgast]

"A character on the left is perceived as more sinister" Good pun there.

[@Holgast]

***** It's a Latin joke. Sinister is the Latin word for left.

[@MrTenCigarettes]

ehehe, I notice it aswell. I'm Italian and we say Sinistra to indicate left and Sinistro to indicate sinister but they both come from and actually are the same word

[@johnpark4650]

There's lots of other linguistic examples of left as bad and right as good. In English itself the right side is the "right" side (in terms of right/wrong) and the left side is the "left out" side or the side that "left". Even the English word gauche (which means left in French) means awkward or crude.

[@robertmonk550]

We've got "Recht" for "right" in German, while the directional "rechts" means "right", too.

[@-ahvilable-6654]

-_- waitingDAY 'a little'

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Awesome!

[@naeemnaqvi5444]

You just did an amazing job bro, It's so informative and also nicely done. I'm doing my MS thesis on the same topic" On-screen protagonist and antagonist movement and its impact on audience psychology" Your video really help me. Thanks for doing it & keep doing amazing work.

[@nikobaston8089]

To me both shots felt the same, that the guy taking a shortcut somewhere and then had a "Oh shit a person" moment

[@vsync]

yeah if she's annoyed by people seeing her she shouldn't have her whole wall made of glass on the ground floor LOL

[@BologneyT]

+vsync I wish I could Thumbs-Up your Reply 5 times, LOL. XD

[@terriblyclawed]

I really appreciate that you use animated films in your examples of good usage of the elements you talk about. So many people brush animation as a medium to the side as juvenile and not serious and incapable of the same impact and meaning and grasp on cinema that live action film has. I really enjoy that you deny that by using a good mix of animation AND live action together to demonstrate points about cinematic elements and how they're used in film

[@Kriscoart]

Love your videos man!

[@JoinHolmes]

I love that Kronk from the Emperor's New Groove managed to make it in to this essay.

[@LiamsMusic78]

I didn't even know I liked thinking critically about cinema until videos like yours. Awesome. Subbed.

[@isabellaplachter6355]

this shook me honestly your best video yet

[@laurenjcoates]

Damn, that clip is really amazing. The flip changed the whole Tone of the scene

[@DRose1NBA]

Wow, I never really thought about that. Meticulous analysis with great examples! You're doing a fantastic job, keep it up! BTW this aspect underlines the endless range of filmmaking and its possibilities. The smallest nuances can have an impact on a scene in a subtle way

[@hoganholo99]

Great video! Btw, what's with the Paul Blart 2 poster behind you? lol

[@MrAppleby56]

Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 is one of the greatest movies of our time.

[@hoganholo99]

Ainsley Harriott​ Citizen Kane pioneered intricate cinematography and story-telling... Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 perfected it.

[@COYSMate05]

+Holo The Hogan Johnson Kevin James brought unto us one of the greatest performances our time has seen.

[@tobiasastill-king5108]

I just finished doing my Year 10 depth study, replicating the experiment. Thanks for the inspiration and also for being awesome in general

[@brodhax6148]

My biggest question is who actually opens their blinds? My house is like Batmans cave. Never shall light enter it, nor shall anyone ever seen in

[@JRLB38]

I do. Everyday.

[@cassieh5506]

Nice name, "Englightened Bro". And I do, because I find the light calming at times. We aren't nocturnal

[@annoyingkid48]

Why wouldn’t you open your blinds? Natural light is the shit. Are you a vampire?

[@honeywasp7839]

differently not when the windows on the street haha

[@abe34fizzy]

this channel is going to be huge, love the content!!

[@dolphinsoccer4]

I always love your new videos

[@kane2906]

Aw your little snippet at the end, all the resources you put 💓💓💓 made me sub and fall in love!

[@synsam12345]

I liked the right > left version much better. Just felt more natural.

[@AvantTom]

This could just be because he showed the left to right version first. thus biasing you.

[@Overcrox]

I agree. To me it somehow felt a little more...regretful, as opposed to nervous?

[@gabemerritt3139]

@@AvantTom but the second was more of a love story, while the first was more stalkery

[@linn8487]

Thank you for this! I will surely pay attention to this in the movies I watch from now on.

[@BenjiGamer91]

I'm wondering just one thing... Don't you think the feeling of the small movie not being any good comes from the fact that it's reversed ? The shots and camera movements don't feel natural anymore, it's some sort of uncanny valley... I feel the experiment would be more interesting if the scene was reshot with only the movement of the actors actually changing.

[@Kaiwala]

I thought the whole point of experiments was to remove all factors except the one you are actually testing for

[@desertkil]

@@Kaiwala I guess it's more minimizing the impact other factors have than fully eliminating them as they're not feasible all the time, you're trading one factor for the other in OP's suggestion. One is having the same EXACT movements facial expressions and filming etc so that the difference there doesn't have an impact, and the other factor us the possibility of the mirrored version making people feel.. "worse" about it because mirrored films might not feel natural which might affect the subjects more than the actual movement they're investigating. I saw someone else in the comments suggest that both can be taken away by making an animated video which gives you full control.

[@georgeofhamilton]

That opening bit was incredible. I wasn't expecting to feel a difference at all, but it completely changed my reaction to the clip.

[@gFamWeb]

Does left-handed vs right handed make a difference in this?

[@casparfraser2336]

Noah Gregory No.

[@freakylilg]

Excellent observation

[@roxerg]

villains are usually left-handed in movies

[@MsZsc]

He said no and apparently asian language cultures dont eithet, which im curious about since say japanese books are right to left for example

[@Howesenberg]

I wonder if there is a film which includes all of the techniques of cinema mentioned on this channel? either way it's so inspiring to me, I'm actually considering taking up film studies.

[@illmakeuhowell]

wow i love these

[@AmandaStein-l5w]

This video is very interesting, and it reminded me a lot of Mr Robot. I was always intrigued by their left/right choices. They often frame the character who's looking to the left on the very left end of the screen, and it's very counter-intuitive. This video made me think that maybe the intention is to give the audience mixed feelings about every character, and uncertainty on whether they are good or bad, robbing us of the subtle hints we grew subconsciously accustomed to.

[@Kroban_d4c]

Mr Robot is a fucking piece of art when it comes to framing and filming

[@huuert4470]

Snowpiercer & Oldboy would've made great examples ;)

[@plinkage]

im pretty sure this is simply because right as we are seeing the first shot you preface it with "walks suspiciously past". that alone changes how i see the shot. direction didnt change anything but suggestion changes everything weather intentional or not. i learned in photography to not say why or how we took a photo, or even what the subject is, before showing someone. because it heavily influences the very first, and subsequently all thoughts about said photograph.

[@EvanSaltare]

The clip with the guy walking past the window right to left seemed better to me. Left to right was more awkward.

[@bonsear4670]

Evan Saltare , I had the exact opposite thought process. Right to left seemed uncomfortable to me.

[@TheGreyVids]

right to left was way more uncomfortable for me

[@trunkulent]

I felt the right to left was more awkward, but I liked it because of that; it felt like this guy was trying to muster up the courage or something, and then decided against it. Less stalker-y, but more regretful.

[@SirStrangefolk]

I felt exactly the same way as The Eloquent Elephant. Weird how that works. I thought it might be the case for me because the first shot of the woman in the chair is not mirrored in the second video, actually making it seem like the guy walked past her "from behind", as it were and only then noticed her instead of confronting her head-on as in the first one. Of course the room is then suddenly mirrored afterwards and the woman is on the other side, but that didn't bother me for some reason.

[@Noone-of-your-Business]

Fascinating. I never even thought about this, but my intuition certainly agrees...

[@Apostate_ofmind]

btw Sinister comes from the word for Left. FYI :)

[@guidotarsia3204]

man I'm learning all kinds of stuff with your videos, thanks a lot!

[@sarcasm-83]

Heh for me the left to right movement felt like the guy had just arrived, while right to left felt like he was just leaving the premise of the house... I've never honestly thought about this. I used to make photoshop edits and had to check if I've subconsciously done the same and one picture shows normal me on the right and edited "evil" me on the left. (Okay that sounds lame as hell described like that) I've also painted a picture where the left side is sunny and bright and the right side is ... well, hell basically - with a tree in the middle. I painted myself sitting at the bottom of the tree as a silhouette, looking to the left, to the sunny, summery view. Now, if right is going forward (the future) and left looking back or in the past, it... describes my life perfectly, as I have recently been afraid of the future and missing the past, like the past was so much better in every way. Maybe it's coincidence... or maybe it was because of this? Either way, it fits perfectly. Very interesting....

[@EskildFors]

As a filmmaker, I've long felt the same way - moving right is more natural. Nice (almost strange) to see it confirmed in this video =)

[@RumanHamdani]

What always is interesting to me is how much we analyze and then interpret from things like this in films (camera/character movement, dialogue etc) and this question comes to my mind that did the director who directed this do it consciously?

[@chameleonedm]

An English teacher once said to me, "Without speaking to the author we cannot know, so we must assume it was all deliberate". I don't necessarily agree, but an interesting thought.

[@adammoore130]

By far your best video.

[@surferboy36O]

Nice video, but the right to left clip seemed more interesting to me.

[@truefilm1556]

Great and insightful video! I also know that geographical factors play a large role. When somebody drives from, say, NYC to L.A. the movement should obviously always be: right to left, even if that doesn't depict progress on an emotional level. I just have some doubt which rule is of priority in the context of continuation. Let's say a good guy meets a bad guy - think film noir, so he is in some trouble and needs to get money - but he is still the good guy) . Good guy drives with his car from left to right, gets out of car walks (always left to right, probably uphill/upstairs because he makes an effort and has to "climb" up to where the more powerful bad guy is). Then he meets the bad guy (say: to do some kind of exchange or business) on a hill. Camera perpendicular, bad guy is already waiting. Now the good guy enters frame from left to right and they meet. Problem: good guy is now on the left side of the frame and bad guy is on the right. One of the rules needs to be given priority. Which one is it? Or do I need to make some kind of "flip" such as a U-turn or curve within the path to explain the change of "sides"? Guess I'll have to do some serious analyzing of good movies by good directors and DP's.... Thanks for the upload!

[@tiredcerulean]

The first clip seemed more stalker-ish and gave off a more anxious atmosphere while the second clip seemed romantic (ex’s maybe) like the guy wanted to say something but left

[@genrationcommunity12]

This is great work, dude. Glad it showed up in my recommended

[@dystant1658]

I wonder if this would be reversed in Middle Eastern cinema, where culturally left to right is more the norm.

[@slipknotsick6661]

I will never watch movies the same way again. You've added something more to focus on. Thanks a lot. Great video and explanation!

[@3OHT.]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeh... it's _one_ study with 101 subjects. Although the margin of error is only 10%, I'm still not convinced it matters that much.

[@futurestoryteller]

+г-н зонт Good catch.

[@kviskva]

+г-н зонт Given the historical use of r-l in films before the study, I'm also wondering if this isn't a way we, the audience, have been taught to experience films.

[@lnplum]

Depends. If the participants were film students, the study is obviously invalid, yes.

[@Arkylie]

Yeah, they would need to pick random people, not people trained a specific way.

[@srj34]

@@Arkylie Their responses sounded like a bunch of normie responses, not film nerds.

[@KarasevStudio]

Great video! There may be a small logistical issue with respect to the subject on the left side of the screen being perceived more negatively vs the right side. The issue has to do with nose room. If the protagonist is moving left to right (or is poised to make that move or even just looks in that direction) normally they'll have more screen space in the direction they're facing, hence placing them on the other side of the screen. If the subject is in the left half and is looking off-frame or is directly facing down the viewer, I could see how they might be perceived more negatively. However, if they're moving left to right, or are poised to do so, or perhaps are merely facing that direction, the positivity of such left-to-right dynamic obliterates any possible negativity of their placement in the left half of the screen, in my opinion.

[@meunomejaestavaemuso]

I think this is due to conditioning. We are so used to seeing cinema with those being used that way. It all stared with Griffith and how he structured the film industry and continued to this day with directors and editors reinforcing several aspects.

[@zachdurocher1166]

Thank you for the new thing I can't get out of my head whenever I watch something

[@AlejandroRamos-dz5xb]

this video was super interesting, this is the content I sell my private data to google for !!!

[@heath2694]

Aha! Brilliant. I want to rewatch so many things right now to observe this technique.

[@WitheringAurora]

She was on a laptop, she would have never noticed the guy walking past her window. Speaking from experience.

[@frankb2659]

Oof

[@Omellykim]

Pretty sure you have a thing called peripheral vision seeing person walking past would be easy to see

[@elkereali2456]

Unless she was expecting him...

[@brain_apostrophe_t]

I wrote a long ass essay on The Shining back at uni and I still remember the lateral tracking shots really well and this really applies

[@Dancing401]

This lateral movement could also be related to Spector's expectations of the on screen. If this trope has been used since the 1930s. It's become a part of the film language the audience read during the viewing. Just like high or low angles or black=bad and white=good. If left has always been good and right bad. Then there is an unconscious expectation of the same language will be used. It would also be interesting if other cultures view it the same way. E.g. Chinese cinema may not have used this trope like American/western cinema, so does that effect the lateral understanding? Or if the culture doesn't write right to left, e.g. asian cultures, arabic. Does that have effect?

[@basicallybluesky]

I watched this video three years ago and I'm back again because i remembered how good of a video it was

[@MrTurnip1000]

Was your little message at the end of the video mirrored in order to be inkeeping with the theme of the whole video or was it just so it'd be more difficult to see how hideously embarrassing it is that a person with a channel dedicated to the art of film owns THAT fucking poster

[@NowYouSeeIt]

My philosophy has always been to never take movies too seriously (hence my silly twitter handle and posters).

[@MrTurnip1000]

I gathered that much lol, makes sense that if you spend so much time and effort analysing movies with such impeccable detail you'd throw a lil bit of meme in here and there

[@MrTurnip1000]

Btw it's crazy that you replied, fucking love your channel dude

[@FrancisXLord]

Thought you meant Racquel, was going to say. It does send out the contrary signals. If people saw that first they might think, 'WTF does he know?'

[@MrTurnip1000]

About my boy Baul Plart Call Mop

[@splish8869]

something else I find interesting is while a character or a focal point moving right for a positive reaction and left for negative, it seems the reverse may be true for a background or scene without characters in the shot. like you and many others have said we read from left to right jumping from one word to the next leaving the last word to our left. we like to see characters move to the right but it wouldn't make sense for the background to move in the same direction with them, (unless it is also moving forward) instead it moves in the opposite direction the character is moving, just like how if we are looking a shot in 1 point perspective (switching off lateral movement to depth), it is more pleasing to get closer to the vanishing point with the surroundings moving backward than to move further away with the surroundings moving forward anyway, great video

[@DemonFox369]

The first time we see him, we suspect something. The second time, we already know he doesn't. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Don't think it has to do with direction.

[@teejaykaye]

Interesting counterpoint: in Disney's Moana, at the final climactic scene, Moana walks right to left in a slow shot, and yet this choice makes the entire scene all the more memorable. She finds that the thing she has been looking for wasn't where she thought it was, and she has to turn back to reach it. Not only that, right-to-left is usually framed as the weaker power, but in this case, she is the stronger character. It was a fascinating reversal of the usual right-left rhythm.

[@kingjamestres]

Its funny because I viewed the left to right shot more positively.

[@jloren4647]

Whether it is film expectations or the fact that I am right handed and lived this way... it is WAAAY different left vs right. Great vid! I wonder if a study using left vs right handed people would reveal something... guess u are gonna explain that but I have to comment before video moved on.

[@ShauryamAkhoury]

But that's just a theory A Film Theory Aaaannndd cut

[@epictreasure]

Loved this. Thank you

[@animationlife_]

So u are a huge filmaniac, but you have a Paull Blart a Mall Cop 2 movie poster behind you? Thats a good troll mate :D

[@AHHHHHHHHHHHHl]

People can enjoy any movie, even if it's a bad one.

[@yesmaybeso1022]

This was such an interesting video; might try and apply some of it to my devising class. Although in Pantomime's, the 'goodies' come from stage right (audience left) and the 'baddies' come from stage left (audience right)... I wish I studied film more. Keep up the good work! :)

[@ssjbargainsale]

Paul Blart 2 poster on the wall?

[@antoniocuevas6855]

Brilliant video! It really changes the way you watch movies

[@felphero]

I just clicked because of the pretty girl

[@discordant8543]

FelpHero I didn't even notice when I was clicking

[@mrvulture8981]

@@discordant8543 #idontseewomen

[@discordant8543]

@@mrvulture8981 I wish they'd share their invisibility cloaks :-[

[@ndescruzur4378]

@@discordant8543 that's sad

[@NatsuDragn33I]

This is positively fascinating!

[@vwyd]

But... Who's the girl in the thumbnail ?

[@alejandronieto576]

Thanks for another great video. From Buenos Aires.

[@Quaz-jinx]

Him: IT depends on our language, in the English culture we read left to right So like in Japanese the read right to left so its opposite **Shows Mario moving left to right** Me: Wait a sec...

[@aliciavivi2147]

I'm pretty sure they read left to right or top to bottom.

[@gabemerritt3139]

Nintendo was largely marketed to a western audience, maybe they took that into account

[@YaBoiGabe31]

I love how in that last few seconds you have the Raquel Welch poster from the Shawshank Redemption!

[@AHHHHHHHHHHHHl]

The right-to-left guy looks like he's trying to get away from the girl, the left-to-right guy looks like he's about to break into her house.

[@LudicrouslyLiam]

+Akaaraq Hansen yeah the first one just looked like a nervous guy, the second shot made him look somehow more sinister, funny :)

[@rambard5599]

+Akaaraq Hansen Funny, I saw it the other way around. I saw the guy going from the right to the left as going towards some entrance of the house.

[@TobiasKoerbin]

Good video. I remember reading somewhere that the director of the Clone Wars TV show, Dave Filoni played with these ideas. although the clone troopers are portrayed as the good guys, he had them progress from right to left in battles to foreshadow the empire's takeover later in the timeline.

[@Deception975]

I don't think I've ever had to pay more attention in a video then when he says, "left to right" and "right to left."

[@stuartschrader]

excellent, informative, and enlightening video.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

If you'll excuse me I have some scenes I made that need flipping.

[@kilroy987]

That's a good point. The video game Inside for the most part has you moving from the left to the right. And I can't recall any game that has you traveling from the right to the left to get anywhere, only to return to a place you came from previously.

[@jordanalwan82]

Is this why in endgame the avengers went left to right while thanos and his army went right to left?! Yooo

[@azaldie]

That is actually very interesting information! Good video.