Posts Tagged ‘movies’
EEG Monitoring Headband Could Track and Catalog Your Emotional Response to Movies
Films could be indexed by the emotional responses they elicit
In the video below, Robert Oschler of Android Review demonstrates EmoRate, a software program that catalogs his emotions. It captures his reactions to the "Sintel" trailer, from the Durian open-source movie project.
EmoRate uses the Emotiv 14-electrode mind-reading headset, which wirelessly connects to a computer. The EEG reads and tracks your facial expressions, which allows it to track your emotions. This allows the computer to respond to your emotions and lets you affect the computer's actions.
The computer tracks four primary emotions -- happiness, sadness, anger and fear -- and catalogs when they occur. The catalog acts as a "silicon extension" of memory.
Once the catalog is built, you can search by emotion. Like a Mr. Skin for fear, the program will tell you precisely when a fear-inducing scene appears on screen.
The best part: You can search for scenes by emotion, just by remembering the scene and the emotion it conjured.
As Oschler explains, he recalls a fearsome scene in the trailer when a baby dragon is snatched away from the heroine. As he thinks about the moment, the fear meter rises, and the computer searches the catalog for fear-inducing scenes.
Watch the video:
James Cameron Sending 3-D Cameras to Mars with Next NASA Rover
New zoom mast cameras could allow the Curiosity rover to take cinematic video sequences in 3-D
Cameron approached NASA administrator Charles Bolden about including the 3-D camera in January, according to the AP. NASA had originally cut the 3-D camera and zoom lens options back in 2007, for budgetary reasons.
But Cameron's argument that a high-res 3-D camera would boost public interest swayed Bolden to his side. The U.S. space agency recently funded completion of the 3-D and zoom-capable cameras by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc, the company which developed the Mastcams.
Restoring the zoom is not a science issue, although there will be some science benefits," said Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mastcam. "The fixed focal length Mastcams we just delivered will do almost all of the science we originally proposed. But they cannot provide a wide field of view with comparable eye stereo."
That has led to a scramble to build and test the zoom lens cameras before the MSL rover commences final testing in early 2011. The two Mastcams under development would have 15:1 zoom lenses which can image from telephoto (100mm focal length) down to wide-angle (6.5mm focal length).
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover is slated to carry four science cameras mounted on a remote sensing mast, where they can pan or tilt to take images all around the rover out to the horizon. All of the cameras currently have fixed focal lengths.
By contrast, the zoom lenses would allow for "cinematic video sequences in 3-D on the surface of Mars," Malin noted. Given our Hubblegasm review of Hubble 3D, it's safe to say that we're crossing our fingers for Cameron to get his proper filmmaking tools in time for blastoff to Mars.
MIT’s Surround Vision TV Lets You Watch the Action Even After It Moves Offscreen
MIT wants to take your viewing experience outside of the box
A handheld Internet-connected device such as a smartphone could provide a personalized viewing screen, in addition to the main TV. Looking off toward the left or right would cue a new camera angle for the same scene to pop up on the handheld device.
The concept comes courtesy of Santiago Alfaro, who developed the thesis project under MIT Media Lab scientist Michael Bove. They envision the extra video perspectives streaming over the Internet to the handheld devices, so that there's no modification needed for the main TV broadcast or set-top boxes.
Such technology takes advantage of magnetometers built into handheld devices, such as the most recent iPhone. The magnetometers act as compasses that can detect the handheld device's orientation relative to the TV.
Alfaro and Bove already have user studies planned for the spring and summer, and have brought in content partners to experiment with sports, live action shows, cartoons and even studio-like talk shows. People who don't have the technology won't even know they're missing it, but the pilot program could lead to a new level of viewer interaction with their televisions.
[MIT]
Twitter Buzz Predicts Box-Office Success Better Than Hollywood Stock Exchange
Social media predictive power might also extend beyond box office success
Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman of HP Labs kept track of movie mentions on among 2.9 million tweets from 1.2 million users for three months. Their sample focus included 24 movies such as box office king Avatar and Twilight: New Moon.
For opening weekend, their computer model monitored the rate of tweets near a movie's release date and also factored in the number of theaters showing the flick. That allowed the model to predict the opening weekend revenues with 97.3 percent accuracy, compared to the Hollywood Stock Exchange's 96.5 percent accuracy.
For the second weekend, the model examined both tweet rates and the ratio of positive to negative tweets. That different approach reflects second-weekend performance success based on word-of-mouth, rather than opening-weekend performance buzz. Again, the model delivered quite splendidly with 94 percent accuracy.
There's a few caveats to keep in mind, such as the fact that the Twitterati represents a certain self-selecting slice of society. One expert told Fast Company that he suspected Twitter might do better for predicting "upmarket" films aimed at somewhat older audiences, given the social media service's user base.
But there's an exciting possibility for extending Twitter's predictive power beyond movies, the researchers say. A similar model could apply for any number of commercial products beyond Hollywood fare, and might work especially well for products or trends that lack prediction markets such as the Hollywood Stock exchange. Presidential election results, anyone?
Twitter might even go beyond a mere forecasting service for commercial success. Technology Review suggested that the social media service could also allow marketers to directly influence the success of their product by boosting tweet rates -- although we assume that strategy would require more savvy than using obvious Twitter bots.
There's also a good opportunity here for savvy prediction market players, if they can apply a bit of Twitter analysis to how they play the Hollywood Stock Exchange. We hear that HSX has recently transitioned to real money.
[via Fast Company]