Thinking Anthropologically about Media: Pace and Information Density
Johannes Merz
2025.10
Date:
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Thinking Anthropologically about Media: Pace and Information Density
Johannes Merz
Have you ever felt bored when you watched an old movie? One reason for this might be that the movie simply had a slow pace. Sometimes it seems that the scenes of old movies are long and drawn out. Not much happens; there are few cuts. Newer movies are often faster paced and recent movies for younger people can sometimes feel breathtaking. A higher pace often comes with higher information density. Action follows action in quick succession and many words can be uttered in a short time.
Thinking anthropologically about the pace and information density of movies means to pay attention to what people are used to and what they expect. Not everybody copes equally well with current Hollywood conventions. Nollywood, the West African film industry centered on Nigeria, for example, has developed its own preference for pace and information density, which is often slower than Hollywood. One reason for this is that when people watch Nollywood films, they prefer to see where actors come from and where they go to, even if this means watching them walk along a path or out of frame. Fast cuts that raise a movie’s pace seem to be less appreciated. This means that people used to Nollywood movies often find it hard to follow fast-paced movies and to absorb lots of information in a short time.
Jesus films tend to have a relatively high information density, since they typically pack a whole gospel into one movie. I wouldn’t consider The Jesus Film (1979, John Heyman) particularly fast-paced, but when I showed it to people used to Nollywood conventions, many struggled. This was particularly a problem for people who didn’t know much about who Jesus was. I found that such people were not able to absorb the whole plot. Most of them liked the film, though, and they appreciated Jesus for what he did. A common comment I received was that Jesus was a good man and he did many things.
When we create or adapt media content for specific audiences, it’s good to have the question of pace and information density in mind. What do you think people would appreciate? Will they be able to watch a whole movie in one sitting, or is it better broken down into chunks? What prior knowledge should viewers have in order to benefit most from a specific movie? One way to get a feel about people’s preference for pace and information density is to watch some of their favorite movies and TV shows, preferably with them. You don’t want people to fall asleep while watching a movie; nor do you want them to be overwhelmed and miss what a movie is all about.
Image from pixabay.com, public domain.
Johannes Merz is a senior anthropology consultant with SIL Global and trainer for International Media Services. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and lectures at Moorlands College in the U.K. He and his wife, Sharon, have been based in Benin, West Africa, since 2002. You can contact him at johannes_merz@sil.org.
Enhance Speech
By Ian Nesbitt
I've been working on editing an audio Bible from the field. The first batch of recordings were acceptable, but the latest batch suffered from significant background noise. White noise, humming, whistling, rumbling–you name it, every kind of noise was represented. I had to edit almost every audio clip, and at one point I inquired about the feasibility of the field team re-recording.
In search of a better solution, I investigated AI-based enhancement platforms and discovered Adobe Enhance Speech, a free service designed to improve speech quality. The interface is simple, it has two controls: Speech and Background. The default settings work great at taking out background noise, and it also applies a pleasing podcast-style EQ which makes the narrator's voice sound richer. It should be noted that the software does not eliminate clicks or pops–a potentially beneficial limitation, as certain languages naturally incorporate sounds such as mouth clicks.
Ideally, a field recordist shoots for a high-quality initial recording, but tools like Adobe Enhance provide some help in recovering poor audio. In more severe cases (or in cases where voice disguise is needed), voice re-synthesis technologies, such as those offered by Eleven Labs, provide an alternative by generating a fully reconstructed voice track based on the original source.
https://podcast.adobe.com/en/enhance
Join us and spread the word! Our November IMS Community of Practice will be excellent! The Jesus Film Project will provide an overview about what the Animated Story of Jesus is, how they plan to release it in all of their Jesus Film languages and the present stage of production.
Interested in attending? Email Margaret Doll at margaret_doll@sil.org expressing your interest, and she will add you to the CoP contact list for this one and all future IMN CoPs. See you there!
This one-week online course gives you an overview of how media has shaped Christian ministry and holistic development both from a secular and historic perspective, as well as in terms of new trends. Its main emphasis is on audience research. Through personal research projects, participants will learn to use qualitative and quantitate research methods to better understand the communication needs and media habits of the people group they serve, in order to develop appropriate media strategies for effective engagement. An important aspect of projects will also be understanding the specific behaviour and needs of subgroups (niche audiences).
Taught by: Andreas Ernst, Margaret Doll and Johannes Merz
*** REQUIRED FOR NEW IMS STAFF ***
Contact Andreas Ernst at ims_training@sil.org for more info & registration.
https://www.internationalmediaservices.org/role-of-media-training