The average shot length and the ecological fallacy in Film Studies

Abstract

The ecological fallacy is an error in the interpretation of statistical data when one ascribes to an individual the qualities of the group to which that individual belongs. In this article I show that using the average shot length (ASL) leads film researchers to commit the ecological fallacy due to the skewed nature of shot length distributions. The ecological fallacy can be avoided when analysing motion picture shot length data using methods that assess the stochastic equality of films’ shot lengths.