New Research Says How Brain-Computer Interaction Changing Cinema !!

Over the past few years, we have seen the extraordinary development of neural prosthetic technologies that can replace or enhance functions of our central nervous system. For example, devices like brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow the direct communication of the brain with a computer. The most common technique applied in these devices is electroencephalography (EEG), a recording of the electrical activity along the scalp.

These technologies are mainly used in health, but our new research shows how they are changing the future of cinema too.
Interactive Filmmaking
During the same period, the first interactive film was presented. The comedy Kinoautomat (1967), which was created in Czechoslovakia, allowed the audience to vote on what should happen next by pressing buttons. Since then, acclaimed filmmakers like Peter Greenaway have been advocating the new possibilities of interactive technologies in cinema.

More recently, the film industry is showing interest in emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR).

Among the most recent innovations are new wireless brain-computer interfaces, which are now available in the market as low-cost headsets. They are already used in computer games and the arts, but more recently they have been applied in interactive filmmaking as well. For example, Hollywood studios like Universal and 20th-Century Fox have released interactive versions of their films where the spectator can control key moments of the plot with the use of a BCI headset.

Multi-Brain Interaction
Our research sheds new light on how our brains can control a film or live cinema event, not just for home entertainment but also in a cinema theater. And it shows how this can be used to bring to the audience a new, engaging, and collective experience.

For the first time, the technology enabled one performer and two members of the audience to interact simultaneously.
Using their passive brain-activity separately or jointly, they were able to control aspects of the live projected film. Their transition from relaxed to more alert cognitive states was visualized as a shift from colder to warmer tints. This created the constantly changing color of the live projections and set the overall atmosphere of the narrative.