Film Classification by Trailer Features
Edmund Helmer, Qinghui Ji · 2012
The Matrix, a sci-fi film released in 1999, was famous for telling viewers in its trailer that: “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” And film-goers did, resulting in over $460 Million worldwide box office gross, four Academy Award wins, and an 87% critic approval rate (according to Rotten Tomatoes). The decision to see any film is based on many factors: cast, critical opinion, recommendations of our friends; but often it’s simply because we like the trailer. So we ask the question, what information can a machine extract from trailers? For this paper, we have collected a set of trailers (312 with video, 100 with subtitles), extracted features from the video feeds and the subtitle texts, and attempted to classify the genre and MPAA rating of each film.