A new technology will build upon anti-piracy cameras used to monitor people illegally filming movies in theatres. Harnessing 2D and 3D cameras, the project “would be able to measure emotions, groupings and movement to ‘revolutionize market research’ at movie theatres,” the Toronto Star reports.
Led by Dr. Abdul Farooq of the Machine Vision Laboratory at the University of the West of England in Bristol, the technology aims to revamp market research so advertising companies can better learn how audiences react to their spots, for instance.
“Within the cinema industry this tool will feed powerful marketing data that will inform film directors, cinema advertisers and cinemas with useful data about what audiences enjoy and what adverts capture the most attention,” Farooq told the Daily Mail.
The cameras will capture both the facial reactions to what’s being projected on screen and also the audience as a whole, Farooq adds.
Capturing audience reactions to films is just the beginning, the project leaders believe.
“‘It is envisaged that once the technology has been fine-tuned it could be used by market researchers in all kinds of settings, including monitoring reactions to shop window displays,” said Farooq.
