The computer can tell what's exciting: Choosing videos: emotion curve replaces storyline
C. Victor Jongeneel · Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) · 2002
As many viewers will know from experience, the thrilling description on a video cover offers no guarantee of suspense in the video itself. The exciting bits may add up to only a few minutes of the 90 minutes or so running time, and that is something you would have liked to have known in advance. Dr. Alan Hanjalic at the Information Technology and Systems (its) faculty of Delft University of Technology has collaborated with Dr. Li-Qun Xu of British Telecom to develop a method that will let a computer analyse the video content for suspense, melancholy, mirth, or any mix of these emotions.On top of this the Delft researcher has been working on a system that will automate access to video archives. Over the years, film and television companies have built up enormous archives. The Dutch Audiovisual Archive alone contains some 900,000 hours of analogue audiovisual material. The only way to make this material accessible is to look at the video frames, make a record of what you see, and store the record in a computer. Hanjalics system can classify video stills as well as moving video frames. It can pick Editors always have to dig into the image archives to put together documentaries, or to illustrate television news stories. Television companies have masses of video material at their disposal. The archives keep on growing so that locating the right bit of footage on people who are not in the news daily is becoming more and more difficult. It can pick out the goals in a soccer match with no trouble at all. News broadcasts are automatically cut into sections and arranged according to subject.