Spring Symposium (KVAB) 2025

The Hidden Patterns of Cinematic Meaning-Making

This talk at the Spring Symposium organised by The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts explores the role of dynamic patterns in cinematic storytelling, drawing on Gestalt psychology and embodied cognitive science. Unlike non-temporal art forms such as painting, film poses unique challenges due to its temporal flow and shifting imagery. Through the use of visual diagrams and animated overlays, the presentation highlights how fundamental conceptual structures—such as container, object, and path—organize emotional and narrative dynamics in film scenes. By tracing patterns of inclusion, exclusion, entry, and exit, it reveals how underlying perceptual structures contribute to the viewer’s interpretive experience, offering an innovative, diagrammatic approach to understanding meaning in moving images.