Investigating How Film Lighting Techniques Influence Viewers ..., Exams of Psychology

Download Investigating How Film Lighting Techniques Influence Viewers ... and more Exams Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Investigating How Film Lighting Techniques Influence Viewers’ Emotional Arousal, Emotional Valence and State Empathy Yunting Huang Snr 2001810 Anr u113703 Master’s Thesis Communication and Information Sciences Track New Media Design School of Humanities and Digital Sciences Tilburg University, Tilburg Supervisor: dr. K.E. Balint Second reader: dr. A. Kallergi July 2018 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 2 Abstract The present study explores the relationship between film lighting techniques and viewer’s emotional responses. The main focus was to investigate whether viewer’s emotional arousal, emotional valence and their state empathy would increase with higher levels of low-key lighting. Low-key lighting indicates the shadow areas in the film scenes. Higher level represents a higher contrast between the light and shadow areas. A within-subject experiment (N = 75) composed of 15 short film clips from three different genres (action, drama and romance) was designed to examine the effect. Participants were video recorded and their facial emotions during film watching were analysed by FaceReader. A state empathy scale (Shen, 2010) consisting of 12 questions was collected after each film clip. Results showed that viewers were more aroused, and produced more negative emotions when there were higher shadow proportions in the scenes for the drama and romance genres. For the action genre, results indicated the opposite effect, viewer’s arousal and valence decreased with larger shadow areas. Moreover, contrary to the hypothesis, viewers did not empathize more with the film characters with higher levels of low-key film lighting. Both state empathy and associative empathy decreased with higher contrast of light and dark areas in the scenes. No relationship was found between low-key lighting, affective empathy, and cognitive empathy. Together the findings suggest that low-key lighting does not always predict higher emotional responses. Viewer’s emotions and empathy were also influenced by film genres, the content, and individual differences. Keywords: film study, film formal features, film lighting, emotional arousal, emotional valence, state empathy, affective empathy, cognitive empathy, associative empathy FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 5 Film formal features can also have an impact on viewer’s emotional engagement with the characters. Emotional engagement refers to viewer’s emotions towards the characters, in which they feel the character’s emotions (empathy), and feel for them (sympathy) (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009). In film watching, viewer’s empathic engagement is crucial for understanding characters (Vaage, 2010). Previous research indicated that viewers’ emotional engagement increased with larger faces of the characters (Balint, Svanera, Schoft, Benini, & Rooney, submitted for publication). Viewer’s empathy level also increases with the level of understanding and processing of the films (Lang, 2000). Film formal features such as camera perspectives, shot scales, and music all contribute to empathizing with the characters (Boero & Bottoni, 2008; Wang & Cheong, 2006; Vaage, 2010). Therefore, the importance of understanding how viewers empathize with the film characters should not be neglected. Lighting is fundamental to the aesthetics of television programs and films (Zettl, 2011). Lighting in media and visual designs can affect the feelings, perceptions and emotions of audiences directly, dramatic effects in films heavily rely on lighting (Grodal, 2007; Zettl, 2011). Previous research found that changes in the luminance in film scenes has a noticeable impact on viewer’s film watching experience (Brunick, Cutting, & DeLong, 2013). Luminance is a measurement of how much light is present in an image (Brunick, Cutting, & DeLong, 2013). It is not precisely the same as lighting. Lighting is defined as the manipulation of the light and shadow areas on the screen, and is an important formal feature in films (Zettl, 2011). Film lighting is essential for audiences to see actions, build emotions, and guide attentions (Shafiee & Bidin, 2016). There are many lighting techniques in films to establish different scenes, characters and even film genres (Ramaeker, 2014; Zettl, 2011). For instance, high-key lighting and low-key lighting (Wang & Cheong, 2006). Previous research on film lighting showed that it can enhance the plot, set a mood or create an atmosphere for FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 6 the viewers (Poland, 2015; Shafiee & Bidin, 2016). Hence, the relationship between film lighting and viewer’s emotional responses is an interesting topic to be further explored. Although there is a growing body of research focusing on different film formal features and the impact on emotional responses and viewer’s empathy level, there are only limited research on film lighting techniques. Therefore, the connections between film lighting with viewer’s emotional responses will be further investigated in the present study. This paper will attempt to answer the following research question: how do different film lighting techniques impact audience’s emotional arousal, emotional valence, and empathy? FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 7 Theoretical Framework Films and psychology have helped each other in many ways in the past century, as both videos and films are still being widely used in the studies of perception and emotions (Tan, 2011). Narrative information in films are structured in a certain way by the filmmakers to attract viewer’s attention and influence their cognitive and emotional responses (Bordwell, 1985). A good film can lead to many complex emotions: comedies are not only happy, thrillers are not just about anxious feelings, and tragedies are not limited to sadness (Johnson- Laird & Oatley, 2016). Moreover, in a good film, viewers feel empathy and sympathy with the film characters as well (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009; Tan, 2011). Thus, it is interesting to see how emotions and films are tightly related to each other. In order to understand the relationship between film lighting and viewer’s emotions, the use of film formal features will first be discussed, which will be followed by the concept of film lighting. Then, the concepts of emotions such as emotional arousal, emotional valence will be clarified, as well as empathy. Lastly, the relationship between film formal features and emotions, including film lighting and viewer’s emotions and empathy will be further discussed. LC4MP According to the Limited Capacity for Mediated Processing (LC4MP) model (Lang, 2000), video messages consist of both structural information and content. Structural information, also known as formal features, influence viewer’s motivation as well as cognitive and emotional responses (Detenber & Lang, 2010; Lang, 2000). The LC4MP model argues that the formal features of video messages can elicit orienting responses in viewers, and trigger automatic attentional processes of viewers (Lang, 2000). Hence, based on the LC4MP model, it is sensible to conclude that formal features of videos, television and films have an influence on viewer’s cognitive and emotional responses. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 10 lighting scenarios are joyful, with less tension and a warm atmosphere. They reflect light- heartedness, and uplifting feelings (Poland, 2015; Wang & Cheong, 2006; Zettl, 2011). High- key lighting is mostly employed in commercials, music videos and comedies (McGregor, 2014). On the contrary, low-key lighting is mostly used to reflect sad, frightening or suspense scenes (Wang & Cheong, 2006; Zettl, 2011). Low-key lighting usually creates feelings of sadness, fear, surprise and anxiety (Shafiee & Bidin, 2016; Wang & Cheong, 2006). The use of different lighting techniques help filmmakers tell their stories in an aesthetic way, with film lighting being a powerful tool for inducing and changing feelings and emotions in films (Grodal, 2007). Emotions Emotion is a complex concept and agreeing on a universal definition has been a difficult task for psychologists. Some considered emotions share the same process as motivation while some define emotions as bodily changes, and others explain emotions as subjective feelings that are experienced and reported by the individual (Zimbardo, 1979). Regardless of the complexity that comes with understanding the concepts, emotions occur and influence individuals in their daily life (Izard, 2009; Zimbardo, 1979). Nevertheless, emotion is frequently defined as “a temporary change in affect or feeling state, elicited by an effectively salient situation, that involves coordinated, multiple systems, including physiology, brain activity, behaviour, and conscious experience” (Hamann, 2012, p.458). There have been two main conceptualizations of emotions, the discrete emotions theory, and dimensional theory. The discrete emotions theory proposes that emotions are innate (Izard, 2007; Zimbardo, 1979). There are a small number of basic emotions such as happiness, anger, sadness and complex emotions are made up of basic emotions (Ekman, 1992; Hamann, 2012; Izard, 1977; Izard, 1992). Dimensional theory of emotions states that all emotions can be mapped on to two or more affective dimensions (Osgood, May, & Miron, 1975; Russell, FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 11 1980; Yik, Russell, & Barrett, 1999). There are three commonly known dimensions (Osgood, May, & Miron, 1975): evaluation-pleasantness, potency-control, and activation-arousal. Moreover, the two-dimensional model consists of valence-arousal (Russell, 1980) is widely used in emotion research. Furthermore, there are many components of emotions. For instance, Zimbardo (1979) named three components: the neurophysiological component, the experiential component (i.e., physiology, cognition), and the expressive component (e.g., facial expressions, body movements). A more recent study (Fontaine, Scherer, Roesch, & Ellsworth, 2007) presented six components of emotions: appraisals of events, psycho-physiological changes, motor expressions, action tendencies, subjective experiences, and emotion regulation. Izard (2009, p.3) concluded that emotion feeling is “a phase of neurobiological activity that is experienced as motivational and informational and that influences thought and action, a felt cognition, or action tendency”. Some of the concepts within the discrete emotions theory are very important for the current study in order to understand viewer’s emotional responses to films. More specifically the basic emotions (Ekman, 1992; Hamann, 2012; Izard, 2009) and the universal facial expressions (Ekman, 1970; Ekman, 1972). The theory of basic emotions proposes that “emotion categories are biologically inherited and are basic in the sense that they cannot be broken down into constituent psychological elements” (Hamann, 2012, p.461). The basic emotions consist of joy/happiness, interest, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear (Izard, 2007; Izard, 2009). Emotions are not only sensory perceptions (e.g., visual, auditory perceptions), but also involve nonverbal behaviour such as bodily perceptions (e.g., pain, thirst) (Scarantino, 2016), and facial expressions (Lazarus, 1991). One of the most important components of emotions is emotional expressions. Because of the multi-level perceptions of emotions, such as heart-rate, skin-conductance, and facial expressions they are being widely FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 12 used to measure emotions in communication research (Detenber & Lang, 2010). A commonly used measure for facial expressions is the universal facial expressions which consist of six facial expressions: happy, surprise, sad, fear, disgust, and anger (Ekman, 1970). The concept of universal facial expressions is summarized with the following characteristics: if the same emotions are elicited in different cultures and there is no interference by display rules, then the same facial expressions will occur, because the facial muscle movements are innately determined and universal (Ekman, 1972; Zimbardo, 1979). Emotion feeling also varies from low to high levels of intensity. Russell’s (1980) emotion model (figure 1) is a widely used two-dimensional model to illustrate the emotional arousal and emotional valence. Arousal on the vertical axis represents the intensity of emotion, while valence on the horizontal axis indicates the type of emotion ranging from unpleasant to pleasant (Detenber & Lang, 2010; Mo, Niu, Su, & Das, 2018). Moreover, pleasure and arousal are positively correlated even though they are conceptually different, such as delighted (plus on both pleasure and arousal) or bored (minus on both pleasure and arousal) (Russell, 1980). Valence is a fundamental component of emotional responding (Barrett, 2006), the displeasure-pleasure dimension appears inevitable in the concept of emotion (Russell, 1991). The dimensions of emotional valence and emotional arousal are essential physiological responses of emotions and account for the majority of the variance in emotional responses (Detenber & Lang, 2010). Although the discrete emotions theory and the dimensional emotions theory propose different conceptualizations, they are in fact closely related, and both play an important role in emotion studies. A recent study (Hamann, 2012) showed that different visual stimulus generated different basic emotions. Basic emotions can be mapped on to a two-dimensional framework (figure 2) to create in-depth understanding of emotions (Hamann, 2012). For example, seeing a snake created fear (high arousal and negative valence), while seeing a FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 15 Doicaru, & Tan, 2016), identification with characters (Joffe, 2008; Kim et al., 2009), flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997) and persuasion (Chen, 2015; Joffe, 2008). Viewers who are more transported into the story have higher affective empathy (Johnson, 2012). The outcomes of narrative engagement can affect attitudes (Green et al., 2008; Zwarun & Hall, 2012), beliefs (Green et al., 2008) and behaviours (Kim et al., 2009; Zwarun & Hall, 2012). There are many features of narrative engagement which are in common with the core dimensions of state empathy, and contribute greatly to viewer’s emotional engagement with characters. For instance, perspective-taking (cognitive empathy) and identification (associative empathy). More importantly, empathy is a part of identification (Cohen, 2001). Hence, it is of vital importance to understand identification in order to recognise state empathy. Identification involves perspective-taking, and is a core aspect of identification (Balint, Klausch, & Polya, 2016; Van Krieken, Hoeken, & Sanders, 2017). Perspective-taking is the progression that the audience “feels he or she understands the character and the motivations of his or her behaviour” (Cohen, 2001, p.256). Identification is “an imaginary process that entails merging with the character and sharing the character’s knowledge about the narrated events, adopting the character’s goals, and sharing the character’s emotions” (Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010, p.404). Deep narrative absorption, being mentally engaged with a specific character, and to lose self-awareness while watching films, all contribute to an increased identification with the characters (Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010). Previous findings are in line with Shen’s research (2010), there are multiple levels when identifying with a film characters: viewers feel affinity towards the character (affective empathy) (Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010). Then they adopt the character’s goals and point of views (cognitive empathy) (Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010; Hoeken & Fikkers, 2014). Eventually become the character, and experience the narrative world through the character’s eyes (associative empathy) (Cohen, 2001; Tal-Or & Cohen, 2010). Moreover, likeability and credibility of the FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 16 characters also increase identification (Moyer-Gusé, 2008). Involvement, enjoyment and emotional responses increase with strong identification, and result in great impact as well such as persuasion, change in attitude and behaviours (Cohen, 2001; Moyer-Gusé, 2008). Additionally, identification does not only have an impact on viewer’s empathy level, viewers also experience emotions differently depending on the level of identification (Hoeken & Fikkers, 2014). The types of emotions (valence) and intensity of emotions (arousal) from a story are influenced by the extent to which viewers identify with a character, as viewers tend to share similar emotions as the characters they favour (Hoeken & Sinkeldam, 2014). Viewer’s emotional arousal increases with higher immersion (Visch, Tan, & Molenaar, 2010). The emotional valence depends on whether the characters succeed or fail to reach their goal, and the emotional arousal depends on the extent to which the viewers care about a character (Van Krieken, Hoeken, & Sanders, 2017). In summary, emotional engagement in the films can enhance the narrative experience and bring enjoyment to the viewers, especially when viewers develop empathy towards the characters. Film formal features, film lighting with Emotions and Empathy There is a growing body of research suggesting that low-level formal features in films evoke viewer's emotional responses and influence empathy (Balint, Klausch, & Polya, 2016; Deterber & Lang, 2010; Soleymani, Kierkels, Chanel, & Pun, 2009). Emotional arousal can be influenced by different camera perspectives in a film (Cummins, Keene, & Nutting, 2012). For instance, first-person point of view appears to be more engaging and arousing for the viewers than third-person point of view (Krcmar & Farrar, 2009). Shots of close-ups increase arousal (Canini, Benini, & Leonardi, 2011). Motions and fast pacing in films increase emotional arousal as well (Detenber & Lang, 2010; Detenber, Simons, & Bennett, 1998; Tarvainen, Westman, & Oittinen, 2015). Colour also has an effect on arousal, particularly the FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 17 lightness and saturation of colour positively affected the pleasure level. These results are in line with previous research suggesting that the brightness of the colour created strong emotional experience (Detenber, Simons, & Reiss, 2000; Valdez & Mehrabian, 1994). Although viewers might be more aroused with motions and fast pacing, these two low-level formal features have none or only little effect on emotional valence (Detenber & Lang, 2010). Low-level formal features such as brightness, colour saturation and music do appear to influence emotional valence (Detenber, Simons, & Reiss, 2000; Tarvainen, Laaksonen, & Takala, submitted for publication; Tarvainen, Westman, & Oittinen, 2015). The use of different formal features helps filmmakers to achieve the emotional impact on viewers. Viewer’s emotional engagement with characters is influenced by many low-level formal features as well. Camera perspectives, motions and fast pacing influence viewer’s engagement and attention (Cummins, Keene, & Nutting, 2012; Simons, Detenber, Cuthbert, Schwartz, & Reiss, 2003). Different point of view structures in film encourage viewers to engage emphatically by eliciting imagination (Vaage, 2010). Shot scales increase audience’s tendency to mentalize toward the character and evoke empathic responses (Vaage, 2010). To be precise, close-up shots increase viewer’s empathy (Cao, 2016; Wang & Cheong, 2006). Close-ups of sad faces produce more references to viewer's own emotions compared to close- ups of neutral faces and long-shots (Rooney & Balint, 2018). Music appears to be a very powerful feature as well, which has an impact on audience’s emotional responses towards the characters and influence empathy (Boero & Bottoni, 2008). These low-level formal features enable films to elicit powerful and various emotions in a short amount of time, as well as making the viewing experience enjoyable. Nevertheless, compared to other low-level formal features, very little research has been done on the effects of film lighting techniques on reported viewer’s emotions and empathy. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 20 Hypothesis 1: Film lighting techniques will affect emotional arousal, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting is associated with higher level of emotional arousal. Hypothesis 2: Film lighting techniques will affect emotional valence, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting is associated with higher level of negative emotional valence. Hypothesis 3: Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher state empathy. Hypothesis 3a: Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s state empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher affective empathy. Hypothesis 3b: Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s state empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher cognitive empathy. Hypothesis 3c: Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s state empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher associative empathy. Figure 3. Conceptual model of the variables in the study. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 21 Method Participants A sample of total 75 participants was recruited from the Tilburg University student participant pool, together with convenience sampling. Due to some technical issues, not every session was completed and recorded. Since the stimulus materials and questionnaire were completely in English, it was important that participants’ level of English was proficient for this study. All completed participants reported average, good and excellent English level, hence, no participant was excluded based on this requirement. Thus, in total 71 participants completed the study (24 males, 47 females; M age = 24.44, SD = 4.45, range between 19 and 40 years old) and 66 valid video recordings were collected. Design A within-subject experiment built in Qualtrics software (Qualtrics, n.d.) was conducted with film lighting techniques as the independent variable, and emotional arousal, negative emotional valence, and viewer’s empathy as dependent variables. Each participant watched 15 film clips for a total of 36 minutes. The films clips were of three different film genres: action, drama and romance. The order of the film genres was randomized, on top of that, the films within each genre were also randomized. The randomization was to reduce the chances of the order of film clips or other factors influencing the results. Stimulus material The stimulus set consisted of 15 self-contained film clips lasting between two to four minutes in length, the overview of the stimulus materials can be found in table 1. The films were selected from IMDB with a rating higher than 7.0 between the year 2000 and 2018. The clips belong to three different genres: action, drama and romance. They are all from different films of different directors with different actors/actresses. None of the stimulus materials contain loud background music, all scenes selected were completely in English. There were no subtitles added in the film scenes. Moreover, for each genre, it was attempted to obtain FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 22 equal amount of indoor and outdoor scenes. Each scene contains two to three characters, and the selected scenes present interactions (e.g., dialogue, actions, etc.) between the characters. All film clips were presented in the standard high-definition (HD) display resolution of 1280x720 pixels (720p). The complete stimulus material can be found via the link in Appendix C. Table 1 Overview of the film stimulus material Film Year Director IMDb rating Indoor/ Outdoor Scene starting time Scene ending time Action Baby Driver 2017 Edgar Wright 7.7 Outdoor 00:44:41 00:46:43 Django Unchained 2012 Quentin Tarantino 8.4 Outdoor 00:53:14 00:55:29 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 2003 Gore Verbinski 8.0 Indoor 00:42:24 00:43:32 Kingsman: The Secret Service 2014 Matthew Vaughn 7.7 Mixed 00:17:53 00:19:54 Taken 2008 Pierre Morel 7.8 Indoor 00:13:08 00:15:46 Drama Black Swan 2010 Darren Aronofsky 8.0 Indoor 00:19:26 00:21:48 Memories of a Geisha 2005 Rob Marshall 7.4 Outdoor 00:26:26 00:28:26 The Pursuit of Happyness 2006 Gabriele Muccino 8.0 Outdoor 01:21:30 01:23:30 Shutter Island 2010 Martin Scorsese 8.1 Indoor 01:26:16 01:29:40 The Prestige 2006 Christopher Nolan 8.5 Indoor 01:10:23 01:12:44 Romance Me Before You 2016 Thea Sharrock 7.4 Outdoor 00:40:17 00:42:36 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 25 For the current study, the values of emotional arousal and emotional valence were generated by FaceReader in a number format with 15 frames per second as well. To test the hypotheses, the average value of emotional arousal and negative emotional valence were first calculated per frame for each participant of every film clip. Then the grand average was calculated per frame for every film clip with all valid participants. Finally, two variables containing the aggregated emotional arousal and negative emotional valence were calculated for all the frames from all the films. Empathy. Empathy was measured using the State Empathy scale (Shen, 2010). The State Empathy scale is a self-reported questionnaire consisting of 12 questions, with three subscales. The questions were measured with a 7-point Likert scales (1= strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). The subscales were: affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and associative empathy. The complete scale had good reliability, with each subscale showing good reliability as well (table 2). Participants were asked to fill in the questionnaire after each clip, hence, a total of 15 self-report questionnaires on empathy were collected from each participant. To test the hypothesis, the mean of each subscale was calculated, and the mean of the complete state empathy scale was calculated as well. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 26 Table 2 Reliability of the State empathy scale and the subscales Scale α M SD State Empathy .92 4.67 1.46 Affective Empathy - The character’s emotions are genuine - I experienced the same emotions as the character when watching this film clip - I was in a similar emotional state as the character when watching this clip - I can feel the character’s emotions .82 4.73 1.39 Cognitive Empathy - I can see the character’s point of view - I recognise the character’s situation - I can understand what the character was going through in the clip - The character’s reactions to the situation are understandable .82 5.09 1.37 Associative Empathy - When watching the film clip, I was fully absorbed - I can relate to what the character was going through in the film clip - I can identify with the situation described in the film clip - I can identify with the characters in the film clip .84 4.19 1.63 Procedure Each individual experimental session lasted about 60 minutes and the total length of the film clips was 36 minutes. The study was conducted in a fixed small-size study room at Tilburg University. One fixed laptop was used throughout the data collection period, to avoid the influence of presentation features. There were two mini speakers attached to the experiment computer with set volume. First, participants received information about the study and the experiment. They were informed about the video recording using the built-in web camera on the laptop and that their facial expressions would be recorded throughout the experiment. Video recordings were all done by iMovie. They were asked to sign the consent form (Appendix A) once they agreed to participate in the experiment voluntarily. There was one trial session conducted before the actual experiment to ensure the functionality of the web camera and accurate data collection. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 27 After they signed the consent form, prior to the actual experiment, each participant’s ideal sitting distance to the screen for video recording was adjusted to ensure both participant’s comfort and recording quality. Then, the web camera was turned on and the researcher left the room. During the experiment, participants were asked to first answer some background information questions such as age, gender, education and current English level. The questionnaire ended if the participant reported ‘poor’ and ‘terrible’ as English level, and if age was younger than 18 years old. After that, 15 film clips were displayed one after the other with randomization. An invisible timer which was customized to the length of each film was set up before each film clip. Therefore, participants were required to finish watching each film clip completely in order to continue with the study. After each clip, a questionnaire consisting of 12 questions on empathy had to be completed. Once the experiment was over, a thank you message was displayed and participants could leave their email addresses if they wished to receive future study results. Data collection method Participant’s background information and the empathy scale for each film clip were collected via Qualtrics online. Video recordings through a built-in web camera were used to collect facial expressions of participants. Current study required data concerning viewer’s emotional responses during the actual film watching. To ensure the accuracy of the manual video cutting for data analysis, there was a 3-second “DING” sound with a plain black background incorporated in each film clip, both at the beginning and at end of all film clips. In that way, the researcher could cut the recordings based on each film clip’s sound wave pattern, exactly three seconds after the first “DING”, and right before the second “DING” appeared. All video recordings were cut in the free video editor Shotcut. FaceReader was then used to process all video recordings in order to analyse emotional arousal and emotional valence. FaceReader can recognise six basic facial FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 30 Taken Low-key lighting - 0.59 0.08 Emotional Arousal 62 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 62 0.02 0.01 Black Swan Low-key lighting - 0.67 0.14 Emotional Arousal 63 0.02 0.01 Negative Emotional Valence 63 0.03 0.01 Memories of a Geisha Low-key lighting - 0.97 0.05 Emotional Arousal 58 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 58 0.03 0.00 Pursuit of Happyness Low-key lighting - 0.72 0.11 Emotional Arousal 62 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 62 0.03 0.01 Shutter Island Low-key lighting - 0.71 0.14 Emotional Arousal 59 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 59 0.03 0.01 The Prestige Low-key lighting - 0.86 0.09 Emotional Arousal 60 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 60 0.02 0.00 Me before You Low-key lighting - 0.40 0.09 Emotional Arousal 63 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 63 0.02 0.01 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 31 La La Land Low-key lighting - 0.29 0.08 Emotional Arousal 62 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 62 0.02 0.00 Silver Linings Playbook Low-key lighting - 0.49 0.17 Emotional Arousal 59 0.02 0.01 Negative Emotional Valence 59 0.02 0.01 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Low-key lighting - 0.67 0.13 Emotional Arousal 63 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 63 0.02 0.01 The Light between the Oceans Low-key film lighting - 0.54 0.11 Emotional Arousal 63 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence 63 0.02 0.01 Aggregated Value Low-key lighting across all films - 0.62 0.19 Emotional Arousal across all films 916 0.02 0.00 Negative Emotional Valence across all films 916 0.02 0.00 Empathy Overall State Empathy 71 4.82 1.06 Affective Empathy 71 4.85 1.09 Cognitive Empathy 71 5.17 1.14 Associative Empathy 71 4.44 1.34 Note. N represents the valid sample size for each variable. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 32 Hypothesis 1 & Hypothesis 2: Exploratory correlational analysis To test hypothesis 1, namely that higher level of low-key lighting is associated with higher emotional arousal, and hypothesis 2 that higher level of low-key lighting is associated with higher negative emotional valence. Spearman correlation was first conducted with each film’s low-key lighting, emotional arousal and negative emotional valence. Spearman’s correlation was used because it is a robust test to explore associations between the time series variables. The outcomes of the Spearman correlation are presented in the table 4 for each film, and separated by genres. Action films. Emotional arousal had one positive significant correlation for Baby Driver and one non-significant result for Django Unchained. Emotional arousal had significant negative correlations in three films (Pirates of the Caribbean, Kingsman, and Taken), which indicates that viewers were not more aroused when value of low-key lighting was higher. Negative emotional valence was found to have significant negative correlations with four films (Django Unchained, Pirates of the Caribbean, Kingsman, and Taken). This means that higher level of low-key lighting does not associate with negative emotional valence for these films. In other words, viewers did not produce more negative emotions when there was higher contrast of the light and dark areas in the film scenes. There was one non-significant result for Baby Driver concerning negative emotional valence. Overall, most of the results from action films were significant but contrary to the expectations. Drama films. Emotional arousal had three positive significant correlations for Black Swan, Memories of a Geisha, and The Prestige. Emotional arousal had significant negative correlation in two films (Pursuit of Happyness, and Shutter Island), indicating that viewers were not more aroused when the value of low-key lighting was higher. Negative emotional valence had a significant negative correlation for one film (Pursuit of Happyness). There was one non-significant result for negative emotional valence (Shutter Island), and three positive FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 35 Table 4 Outcome of the Spearman Correlation of the dependent variables r p 95% CI Lower 95% CI Upper Action Emotional Arousal Baby Driver .26 <.001 .22 .31 Negative Emotional Valence Baby Driver .04 .098 - - Emotional Arousal Django Unchained .01 .544 - - Negative Emotional Valence Django Unchained -.07 .001 -.12 -.02 Emotional Arousal Pirates of the Caribbean -.42 <.001 -.46 -.38 Negative Emotional Valence Pirates of the Caribbean -.46 <.001 -.49 -.42 Emotional Arousal Kingsman -.29 <.001 -.33 -.25 Negative Emotional Valence Kingsman -.49 <.001 -.52 -.45 Emotional Arousal Taken -.38 <.001 -.42 -.34 Negative Emotional Valence Taken -.35 <.001 -.39 -.31 Drama Emotional Arousal Black Swan .22 <.001 .17 .26 Negative Emotional Valence Black Swan .13 <.001 .08 .18 Emotional Arousal Memories of Geisha .38 <.001 .34 .42 Negative Emotional Valence Memories of Geisha .38 <.001 .34 .41 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 36 Emotional Arousal Pursuit of Happyness -.05 .047 -.10 .00 Negative Emotional Valence Pursuit of Happyness -.05 .024 -.10 -.01 Emotional Arousal Shutter Island -.05 .004 -.09 -.01 Negative Emotional Valence Shutter Island -.01 .479 - - Emotional Arousal The Prestige .19 <.001 .14 .24 Negative Emotional Valence The Prestige .15 <.001 .10 .20 Romance Emotional Arousal Me before You .07 .002 .02 .11 Negative Emotional Valence Me before You .25 .001 .21 .29 Emotional Arousal La La Land .48 <.001 .44 .52 Negative Emotional Valence La La Land .41 <.001 .37 .46 Emotional Arousal Silver Linings Playbook -.01 .720 - - Negative Emotional Valence Silver Linings Playbook .10 <.001 .06 .13 Emotional Arousal The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -.09 <.001 -.13 -.04 Negative Emotional Valence The Curious Case of Benjamin Button -.20 <.001 -.24 -.16 Emotional Arousal The Light between the Oceans .26 <.001 .21 .30 Negative Emotional Valence The Light between the Oceans .17 <.001 .12 .21 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 37 Table 5 Conversions of Fisher-Z and correlation r for each film genre Fisher-Z r Action Aggregated Emotional Arousal -.174 -.172 Aggregated Negative Emotional Valence -.286 -.278 Drama Aggregated Emotional Arousal .143 .142 Aggregated Negative Emotional Valence .124 .123 Romance Aggregated Emotional Arousal .152 .151 Aggregated Negative Emotional Valence .152 .151 Note. r effect size, ±.1 small effect; ±.3 medium effect; ±.5 large effect (Field, 2014, p.270). Hypothesis 3, 3a, 3b, 3c: Linear regression analysis In order to test hypothesis 3, namely that lighting technique will impact viewer’s empathy, in a way that low-key lighting predicts higher state empathy, linear regression tests were conducted. Different from the correlational analysis where the low-key lighting of each film was used for testing, the value of aggregated low-key lighting of the 15 films was calculated and used as the predictor of the linear regression tests. Firstly, to investigate the relationship between film lighting and overall audience’s state empathy, a regression analysis with low-key lighting as predictor and overall state empathy scale as outcome was performed. The regression analysis showed that state empathy and low-key lighting is negatively related, b = -.50, β = -.09, t (46) = -2.94, p = .009, 95% CI [-.85, -.16]. The model explains 0.8% of the variance in audience’s empathy, R2 = .09, F (1, 1063) = 8.62, p = .003. The negatively related finding indicates that viewer’s empathy level was lower when the value of the low-key lighting is higher. In other words, viewers were FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 40 Discussion This study investigated whether low-key lighting has an impact on audience’s emotional arousal and negative emotional valence in films. Moreover, it also investigated whether low-key lighting influences viewer’s empathy level. The findings partially supported hypothesis 1 and 2, that low-key lighting evokes higher emotional arousal and higher negative emotional valence. Low-key lighting significantly affected the overall state empathy, and associative empathy, however, the direction of effect was opposite to what was predicted. Namely, higher level of low-key lighting was associated with lower state empathy and lower associative empathy. Therefore, together with the non-significant results for affective empathy and cognitive empathy, the present study did not find evidence to support the idea that higher levels of low-key lighting increase viewer’s empathy level. Film lighting, Emotional arousal and Emotional valence (H1 & 2) The value of low-key lighting in the present study indicates the shadow area in the scene, higher value represents larger areas of shadow, and it indicates higher contrast on the light and dark areas in the film scenes. Hypothesis 1 investigated whether higher level of low- key lighting is associated with higher emotional arousal. For the action film genre, with the exception of one positive significant result, most of the results were significant in the opposite direction. This means that viewers were not more aroused with higher contrast of light and shadows in the film scenes. From the drama and romance genres, data from six films supported the hypothesis. Positive correlations were found between higher level of low- key lighting and higher emotional arousal. This means that higher contrast between the light and dark evoked higher emotional arousal in the films. Overall, because of the opposite significant results than expectation, hypothesis 1 was partially supported. The effect sizes of the positive correlations were small. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 41 Hypothesis 2 predicted that higher level of low-key lighting increases emotional valence. It was partially supported by data as well. The effect size of the correlation for action films was small to medium size. However, contrary to the hypothesis, scenes with higher contrast of light and shadow did not evoke higher negative emotional valence. On the other hand, for the drama and romance genres, data from seven films supported the hypothesis. The positive correlations had small effect sizes. That means higher contrast of light and dark areas in the scenes for drama and romance films did evoke higher negative emotional valence. In summary, the outcomes are not fully in line with previous study on film lighting and emotions. Low-key lighting in videos evoked high levels of negative emotions and higher level of overall emotional responses (Poland, 2015). The majority of the drama and romance films supported hypothesis 1 and 2. Larger shadow areas in the film scenes were associated with higher emotion intensity, and more negative emotions. However, there was hardly any increase in emotional arousal and negative emotional valence when there were larger shadow areas in the action films. Viewers often experience positive emotions (e.g., happy, joy) if the outcome of a story is in line with the same expectations as theirs. Otherwise, they would experience negative emotions (e.g., sad, anger) because the story is not in line with the expectations, such as criminals do not get punished or good people do not receive rewards (Hoeken & Sinkeldam, 2014; Raney, 2004). Emotional valence is about the type of emotion ranging from unpleasant to pleasant (Detenber & Lang, 2010). Negative emotional valence is focused on the negative emotions (sad, fear, disgusted, scared) in the current study. This could serve as a possible explanation for the contrary outcome of the action films. The stories of the action films could be in line with viewer’s expectations so that they did not produce unpleasant emotions. Nevertheless, this is only an assumption, more attention should be focused on the differences between film genres. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 42 Audiences react to film lighting differently with genres. Poland (2015) indicated that audiences react to film lighting style and plot consistently. In the same study, results showed that viewers associate genre based on lighting style regardless of the plot. Many participants in Poland’s study (2015) identified the film by lighting style over plot, where participants identified high-key lighting with comedy, and low-key lighting to film noir. Participants in the current study were not informed of film genres at any point. All selected film scenes were rather similar. Due to the similarity of the film clips, action films did not contain intense actions, the particular genre might not seem obvious to the viewers. Thus, the film scenes could have led them to relate the film lighting to another genre. Previous studies (Oliver, 2008; Visch & Tan, 2009) found significant results supporting that genres correlated with specific emotions and feelings. For example, drama related with sadness, comedy is happy, and action related with impressive feelings (Oliver, 2008; Visch & Tan, 2009). This could be a possible interpretation for the opposite effect of the action films. Viewers in the present study may not experience the specific emotions related to the genre. Hence, they did not have the expected emotional changes. Having said this, film lighting is not the only parameter for viewers to identify genres. There are three cognitive processes that help viewers to identify film genres: animacy attribution, emotional responses, and the amount of deviation from reality (Visch & Tan, 2009). Moreover, the actual story or even elements from other formal features could have also influenced viewers’ emotions. Formal features and plot are closely related in films, they help each other in delivering the story. Plot is one of the key ingredients in a story. If characters are the driving force of the story, the plot represents a sequence of actions which guides the story (Hart, 2011). Even though film lighting is a powerful tool to manipulate emotions in film, it does not stand alone from the plot (Poland, 2015). More importantly, film FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 45 Furthermore, additional test showed there was no relationship between gender and state empathy. This is contrary to previous findings where women reported higher empathy compared to men (Mehrabian, Young, & Sato, 1988; Rueckert & Naybar, 2008; Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). Additionally, accurate recognition of facial expressions is important for empathic responding (Besel & Yuille, 2010). Women were more accurate than men when recognising subtle facial emotions (Hoffmann, Kessler, Eppel, Rukavina, & Traue, 2010). On the other hand, age did influence viewer’s state empathy in the present study as state empathy increased with age. This is also contrary to previous finding showing that self- reported empathy was lower for older people (Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). The reason for lower self-reported empathy in older adults, is that older adults have lower emotional arousability and are less concerned with social approval (Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). On the other hand, gender and age influences each other on empathy, gender differences in self- reported empathy are smaller for older people than younger ones (Schieman & Van Gundy, 2000). All in all, gender and age play a role in influencing empathy under diverse settings. In summary, the current study did not find evidence which were fully in line with Poland’s study (2015) on film lighting and emotions. Nonetheless, it still shed light on how film lighting affect viewer’s emotions and empathy. Summary of the hypothesis test results can be found in table 6. The manipulations of lighting, contrasts between light and dark areas in the film scenes, is a complex technique to evoke the corresponding emotions. Low-key lighting did not always trigger strong emotions and empathy. Viewers tend to empathize more with the film characters when the contrast between light and shadow is lower. Film lighting techniques should be closely connected to the story in order to create an effect on emotions and empathy. Moreover, there are other factors influencing viewer’s emotional responses as well, such as film genres, story transportation and immersion experience, individual differences (e.g., age, gender, transportability) and personal preferences. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 46 Table 6 Summary of Hypothesis Test Results Hypothesis Findings H1 Film lighting techniques will affect emotional arousal, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting is associated with higher level of emotional arousal. Partially supported H2 Film lighting techniques will affect emotional arousal, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting is associated with higher level of emotional valence. Partially supported H3 Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher state empathy. Significant in the opposite direction H3a Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s state empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher affective empathy. Not supported H3b Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s state empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher cognitive empathy. Not supported H3c Film lighting techniques will impact viewer’s state empathy, in a way that higher level of low-key lighting predicts higher associative empathy. Significant in the opposite direction Implications for New Media Design Even though not all hypotheses were fully supported, findings of this study are still relevant for new media designers who want to engage audiences by using videos or moving images. Lighting being the essential element in modern films and videos, may not be the only powerful tool to evoke strong emotions and empathy in films (Poland, 2015). The combination of other low level formal features together with the actual narrative creates a consistent viewing experience which may trigger stronger emotional responses. Furthermore, media messages are able to evoke a wide range of emotions, when done properly, media messages are able to change one’s attitude, beliefs and behaviour (Nabi, 2009). In other words, the actual content remains very important as well as the storytelling techniques, where formal features are carefully incorporating in moving images. Therefore, understanding the relationships of formal features, emotions and empathetic reactions is not only helpful for film and video producing, it is also useful for media messages in general. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 47 Limitations and Future Research Although the current study had many control variables to ensure the quality of the data, it is not without limitations. This study used a fixed room to carry out the experiment, everything was kept the same way in the room throughout the data collection period. However, there were uncontrollable environmental factors such as external noises which might have influenced viewers’ concentration level. Moreover, the lights in the room was of sustainable design which turn on by motion detection, with quietly sitting viewers, the lights in the room were constantly turned on and off automatically. This might have influenced viewers’ concentration as well. Overall, being interrupted or distracted might have influenced the film watching experience. Hence, the external environmental factors may have influenced the identification as well which decreased the empathy level. Secondly, due to some technical difficulties, not every participant’s video recording was collected successfully. A total of 66 full video recordings were collected from 75 participants. On top of that, even though clear instructions were given to all participants, there were still some video recordings which could not be analysed by FaceReader due to issues such as covered faces, tilted head, sitting distance too far from the screen, etc. Furthermore, there might be some human errors in the video recordings data. The current study was not able to build the complete experiment in FaceReader due to product license restrictions. Therefore, all video recordings were first recorded by the built-in webcam of the experiment laptop, then the researcher manually cut all video recordings from all participants, only the parts containing the actual film viewing were kept. All edited video recordings were grouped by films and then imported to FaceReader for analysis. Even though this study tried to be as accurate as possible with all video recordings, there still might be deviations of edited recording in terms of quality and length. On top of the above mentioned, the incorporated “DING” sound in the film clips of present study might have distracted some FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 50 Conclusion Although not all hypotheses of current study were fully supported, it still contributes to deepen the understanding of the impact of film lighting on viewer’s emotional arousal, negative emotional valence and empathy. Findings of the present study indicate that film lighting as one of the formal features is closely connected with film genres. Moreover, lighting should be tightly employed with the actual plot to create a greater impact on emotions. Facial expression is one of the many ways to investigate emotions, and FaceReader was a good tool to measure continuous emotions. Narrative immersion and identification with characters are key elements to increase viewer’s empathy level. The relationship between film formal features, emotions, and empathy are complex. Therefore, future study should focus on more than one aspect of the relationship to provide more in-depth knowledge. In conclusion, using the correct storytelling techniques to tell a story is crucial for new media designers to create emotional impact. FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 51 Reference Balint, K.E., Hakemulder, F., Kuijpers, M., Doicaru, M., & Tan, E. S. (2016). 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Media Psychology, 15(3), 327- 355. doi: 10.1080/15213269.2012.700592 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 61 Appendix A: Consent form Informed consent form Investigating how viewers respond to films and characters Researcher: Yunting Huang Supervisor: Dr. K.E. Balint To be signed by the participant. Purpose of research In this research, we are interested in investigating the impact of films on viewer’s emotional responses and emotional engagement towards the film characters. Specific procedure to be used This research will be conducted with 15 short film clips, participant’s emotional responses while watching the film clips will be recorded by the web camera. The emotional engagement subscale will assess the emotional engagement towards the film characters after each clip. Please note: Your facial movements will be recorded throughout the experiment. Duration of participation The experiment will take approximately 45 to 60 minutes. Anonymity and confidentiality Your data and results of the study will only be published in aggregated format in a master thesis, at conferences and journals, anonymously and confidentially. Strict confidentiality of the data will be upheld. Your responses will not be associated with any identifying information. Your anonymous data will be kept for this project only, no other individuals except the researcher and the supervisor will have access to the data. Publications will present aggregated results only, no visual recording of participants’ faces. Visual data will not be shared for secondary data analysis. Voluntary nature of participation You have the right to terminate the experiment at any point, without any reason given, should you feel uncomfortable with the experiment procedure. Data gathered in case of termination will be discarded. No penalty will be applied in case of termination. You also have the right to get your results deleted from the database after completing the experiment. You need to request it in the following one week. Contact information If you have any questions about this research project, you can contact the researcher via email: Yunting Huang 62 FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES You can leave your email address at the end of the experiment for the general results and main findings. After successfully complete the study, you will receive 1 point from the human subject pool automatically. Complaints If you have any complaints about this research, please direct them to the secretary of the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Humanities and Digital Sciences of the University of Tilburg, dr. J.M.N.E. Jans, room D256, P.O. Box 90153, 5000LE, Tilburg, . Documentation of informed consent I have had the opportunity to read this consent form and have the research study explained. I have had the opportunity to ask questions about the research project and my questions have been answered. I understand that collected information and video content will be used only for this analysis and/or scientific presentations. I am hereby informed that all data collected will be securely stored and encrypted by the researcher. I am prepared to voluntarily participate in the experiment described above. Participant’s signature: Date: To be signed by the researcher. I have provided explanatory notes about the research. I declare myself willing to answer to the best of my ability any questions which may still arise about the research. I declare that the data and results of the study will only be published anonymously and confidentially to third parties. Name researcher: Signature: Date: FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 65 In the next section of this study, 15 short film clips will be displayed. After each film clip, we would like you to answer some questions about your experience with the film. Randomized films The following statements are about your experience DURING the film scene. Some of the items refer to the character, please think about the character which you identified more in the film clip when rating your agreement. There are no right or wrong answers. Strongly disagree Disagree Somewhat disagree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat agree Agree Strongly agree The character's emotions are genuine. o o o o o o o I experienced the same emotions as the character when watching this film clip. o o o o o o o I was in a similar emotional state as the character when watching this film o o o o o o o FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 66 clip. I can feel the character's emotions. o o o o o o o I can see the character's point of view. o o o o o o o I recognise the character's situation. o o o o o o o I can understand what the character was going through in the film clip. o o o o o o o The character's reactions to the situation are understandable. o o o o o o o When watching the film clip, I was fully absorbed. o o o o o o o I can relate to what o o o o o o o FILM LIGHTING TECHNIQUES INFLUENCE VIEWER’S EMOTIONAL RESPONSES 67 the character was going through in the film clip. I can identify with the situation described in the film clip. o o o o o o o I can identify with the characters in the film clip. o o o o o o o Debriefing: Thank you for your participation! This study has a focus on cinematic techniques, such as colour, cut-rate, lighting. We are interested to see whether these features impact the viewer’s emotional responses and emotional engagement towards the film characters. Your facial expressions have been recorded to analyse the emotional responses. The short survey you filled in after each clip will be used to excess the emotional engagement towards the film characters. If you wish to receive the study results of this project, please leave your email address on the separate sheet provided by the researcher. Please remember that your results are confidential and you can choose to withdraw your results within the following one week.