Researchers at the University of Sussex are exploring techniques which will allow viewers to sense "raindrops" on their hands or wind on their face, using ultrasound beams and airflows, to heighten the emotional impact of scenes they are watching on television.
We conclude by offering some findings based on our testing of propositions about the factors that give rise to scenes and about the impact of scenes.
The impact of scenes is heightened by alternating between objective and subjective perspectives, the warm face of the Earth and the depths of dark space, the chaos and predictability of the debris field, and silence of the vacuum of space with the background score giving the desired effect.
Excited by the impact of that scene, which was guided heavily — as all of the fight and action sequences are — by Mr. Liman, the network backed up calls for more with their biggest budget yet.
But, frankly, I think a stony-faced Gandalf, subtly whispering "you shall not pass" to a demon made of fire, may have detracted from the impact of the scene.
Ms. Taymor's stage imagery often undercuts the musical impact of a scene, for example when two armed men guarding the entrance to Sarastro's Temple of Wisdom sing a stern duet, evocative of grim and sturdy Baroque counterpoint.
The fact that Javert does not cast himself into the Seine when he realizes his error (this is family entertainment, after all) does not lessen the impact of the scene.
"The sharpest reactions are to the things that aren't working, the lulls that undermine the impact of a scene, or the characters that don't make an impact, or the words and phrases that don't grab people," said Mr. Luntz, who has also done dial-testing for many television shows, which he declined to name.
An explication of this startling imagery will come in time, but Fuller is more interested in the visceral impact of the scene rather than any sense it may possess, and "The Naked Kiss" unfurls with the force of a vivid nightmare that never quite reveals its roots and causes.
