FP6 project technology contributes to Christmas TV viewing
Romantic comedies are given plenty of air time around Christmas in Europe. But 'Accidental Lovers', screened on 27 December in Finland, is likely to be the only one using text message moderation, a realisation engine and a playout system to allow viewers to influence the plot. The technology was developed within the NM2 (New millennium, new media) project, funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). It enabled people at home to encourage or blight a possible affair between unlikely lovers Roope and Juulia. On screen, viewers were able to see their SMS messages and hear the characters respond to their texts. A glowing heart showed when text messages were warming the hearts of Roope and Juulia, and when they were having the opposite effect. The concept has been named ShapeShifted TV. 'The introduction of interactive TV changed the way viewers consume television programmes,' believes Doug Williams, NM2 project director at consortium partner BT. 'Looking to the future, production companies need to seek new and more innovative ways to personalise the programmes they create. ShapeShiftedTV is the ultimate in personalisation, and NM2 is the driving force making it happen.' According to NM2, traditional television dramas are told in a linear fashion, whereas ShapeShiftedTV stories are described by a story world. 'The story world encapsulates the different ShapeShifted TV stories that can be told from the overall narrative, and NM2 describes the story world using a new computationally-supported language of narrative, represented on a screen using a 'narrative canvas' and simple graphical elements.' In order to make the plot flexible, a large database of video and audio clips of improvised scenes was available. The partners have ensured that the storyline is always sustainable, with flexible video, audio and text content alongside algorithmically directed databases. Associative and metaphorical script writing are also involved. Three tools enable viewers to change the story through text messages: - Text message moderation - a production team moderates and processes text messages using a tool linked to a dynamic model of the drama's narrative structure. - Realisation engine - this component holds a detailed representation of the 'Accidental Lovers' story world as defined by the production team. It continuously analyses incoming text messages and directs the mood and pace of the narrative accordingly. This tool also selects how the video, audio and graphics layers should be assembled, delivering these as a continuous stream of instructions to the playout system. - Playout system - this is the hardware that renders a broadcast-quality MPEG-2 video stream, via a fibre optic link, to the television studios. Anyone who missed the showing on 27 December, or anyone not happy with the first storyline, can tune into Finnish channel YLE TV1 on 29 December, 3 January or 5 January. Each showing will be different!
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Finland