Research

As one of the things I was interested in while creating this video is the subconcious level of concentration people have while driving, I thought it might be useful and interesting to try and do some more theoretical research into this to back up the more visual research i've been doing.

I came across an article which is actually to do with a book by a hypnotherapist where he talks about driving. The opening quote caught my eye really:- "Most people hypnotised while driving their cars". The article also has a quote which is something I've experienced as a driver and I'm sure many others have. "It does not take a hypnotist to induce a hypnotic state of mind. In fact, we are all constantly moving in and out of these fluid hypnotic states as we engage in normal daily activities, such as day dreaming, studying, watching television, and even driving our cars. These transitions are so natural that they usually go undetected, except at times when we are startled to discover that we have driven 50 miles past our destination on the freeway."

I've never driven past my destination, but I have suddenly snapped out of whatever trance I'm in and realised I've driven a lot further than I thought and that my junction is actually the next one, meaning I've gone past many others without actually noticing. Last week, I drove from Kent to Huddersfield in one straight journey which due to various delays took 7 hours. Towards the end, the M1 was becoming a blur and I lost track of the junctions between 30 and the one I needed, 38, nearly missing it until my passenger pointed it out.

The article goes on to say "Let's take that driving example further. Think about it for a moment. When you drive, you are in many ways driving subconsciously. If you were to consciously think about all of the dangers associated with your driving, you would immediately stop the car and leap out of the vehicle! Your heart would be pounding fiercely and you would break out in a cold sweat. Driving is the most dangerous activity we engage in, and yet we do it every day, scarcely giving a second thought to the daring high-speed maneuvers we execute in our attempts to be the first to get where we want to go." The danger aspect is one I hadn't really considered while thinking about this work and making it. It makes a very good point. Sometimes you wonder how there are far less crashes than there are.

While danger isn't exactly something I want to cover in my video, it does raise an interesting point and something I hadn't thought about in my video was putting text either at the beginning, in between clips or at the end. It could be another way to achieve what I want. The video may read differently though, or seem like I'm preaching something instead. However, I could just use more simple text that explains the destinations, the miles covered and then how many of those miles were done subconciously. It gives me something else to think about.

"The subconscious is quite skilled at driving, just as it is at walking, swimming, or riding a bike. Once it knows how to do something, it just does it; it doesn't need to think about it again. When you drive, your subconscious mind handles most of the driving while your conscious mind entertains higher cognitive functions such as contemplating your golf score, anticipating your evening date, or deciding what you will have for dinner." - This particular quote from the article really gave me an idea of something I want to try.

One of the ideas that was raised in a tutorial was perhaps making shorter videos, maybe 5 or 6 videos that are only 30 seconds each, but each explore a different theme. The quote above gave me a very good idea for the subconcious driving one. In a previous video I made, the edits were so quick at the end that they were nearly at the speed for subliminal messaging and this is something to think about. I could still have the 30 seconds of sound and video needed, but in between clips flash up words, thoughts I was having at the time, things that were on my mind. It'd snap the viewer into having to concentrate more and break them out of the subconcious level of viewing which would add to my point.

I plan to edit together a 30 second video that experiments with this tomorrow, so fingers crossed I'll be able to upload it and put it on here tomorrow as well.