The Multisensory Film Experience: A Cognitive Model of Experiential Film Aesthetics

This thesis introduces the concept of the multisensory film experience through a cognitive model of experiential film aesthetics in which we argue in favour of the idea that spectators can have perceptual experiences of film in the realm of thermoception, nociception and the vestibular sense-all of which are senses outside of the classic senses of sight and hearing examined in the context of film studies. We examine each of these senses in relation to the work of three contemporary film directors who have taken stylistic and experiential advantage of these senses to build their own authorial voices, namely, Gus Van Sant, Ki- duk Kim and Knut Erik Jensen.

We employ a combination of arguments from the field of multisensory studies (neuroscience) and cognitive film theory and from our own analysis of the stylistic elements of film. We call this a model of 'experiential film aesthetics' because of the intersection between stylistic elements and spectators' own perceptual mechanisms. Experiential film aesthetics are, therefore, a film experience that involves not the conventional idea of watching film in a perceptually detached manner but rather the idea of perceptually participating with senses that have no direct stimulation but rather indirect stimulation through visual and aural information. In this sense, we explore our proposed viewpoint, which is characterised by the apparent paradox that the film medium in its conventional audio-visual form is a sensory gateway to a multisensory experience. These experiential film aesthetics can serve as a useful introduction to further investigations of the experiential nature of film and across sensory modalities that have not yet been examined in film studies.