A matter of Mynd over movies!

A matter of Mynd over movies –  http://tinyurl.com/3le8bh3 Sorry about the Variety Paywall if you get hit with it.

Clearly reading brainwaves is getting a lot more advanced than I otherwise would have thought. This project reads “something” from the collective minds of the audience to influence story.

Take watching a horror film, for example. The more frightened a headsetted viewer becomes during a film, the scarier the ending will be. Though they can’t control each characters’ precise actions, with Mynd-Play, viewers can train their brains to better control a movie with each viewing.

Content is produced specifically for the system, with films up to 20 minutes long, although a feature-length zombie pic is in the works. Films are live-action, since, as MyndPlay CEO Tre Azam notes, “Live action is how you get the best emotional response out of someone.”

Fascinating. The article goes on to describe how content needs to be written for the format (no surprise) and how directors feel about it.

But it reminds me of a TED talk Tan Le gave in 2010: A headset that reads your brainwaves. How quickly will we get to being able to “control software” by imagining the outcome we want? Tan Lee’s research senses actions; the Mynd project seems to be sensing emotion. These two teams should meet up!

Now, seriously, if we get to the point of being able to control a 3D  program by imagining the result, then is that “dumbing down” the software?