Henry Bacon completed his degree in the University of Helsinki in theatre studies, with musicology as a subsidiary subject. Alongside his studies, Bacon pursued his interests in literature and art. To understand film, it is necessary to study different art forms, because film-making has always co-opted ideas and techniques from other forms of art.  Equally, a considerable grounding in history and society is important for an understanding of the various functions that film can fulfil. All this was necessary when Bacon got down to his first research topic, the films of the Italian aristocrat and cultural figure, Luchino Visconti, who had adopted a Marxist world-view.

It was through Visconti's art that Professor Bacon developed an interest in adaptation: how different forms of art interact with each other and what happens, for example, to a literary work when it is adapted for the cinema. From there on, Bacon began to consider just how a film leads us, the viewers, to create an imaginary world and the story within it. One of the most fascinating dimensions of this process is the actor’s work in building a character and the deliberate cinematic techniques employed to this end.

An essential reference group in Bacon’s research is the international cognitive film researchers' community. Their interest is to find out how observing the world and film interact one with the other. The allure of many films is based on the fact that we are able to watch depictions of events that we wouldn't tolerate in reality. One of Bacon's most challenging projects has been to explain why something as scary and repulsive as violence is so central to our art and entertainment.