In the 2016 Oscar ceremony, “Writing’s On The Wall” from the 007-movie Spectre won the Best Music (original song). Many people still remember how the British singer Sam Smith made this tune both intimate and epic. This may be the best vocal he’s ever recorded.
Film music, including songs and scores, is an integral part of the film experiences. It can communicate emotions that cannot be conveyed via visual images alone.
Besides vision and hearing, currently we seldom use other senses when watching a movie. This can be a shame because we can feel the world through lots of other sensory and motor experiences.
Now scientists from Queen Mary University of London develop a smart glove that can be wore during watching films. The device, which is called Mood Glove, can enhance mood music via touch and vibrations.
Mood Glove use haptic sensations to control music experiences. Previous studies show that hands are the body regions most sensitive to vibrations. The electronics used in building the gloves include LilyPad Arduino SimpleSnap Board ATmega328, conductive thread, and LilyPad Vibe Boards.
The vibration motors present on the vibe board are 310– 101 10 mm Shaftless Vibration Motor 3.4 mm button type, with a voltage range of 2.5–3.8 V, a rated speed of 12000 rpm, vibration amplitude 0.8G, and weight as little as 1.2 g. On each glove, 5 vibe boards were mounted on the back, and 3 vibe boards were mounted on the palm.
Researchers first selected vibrotactile patterns related to different mood. Then they paired the vibrotactile patterns with 40 movie clips that had various types of mood music. After that, they recruited 21 participants to try the gloves when watching the movie clips.
They found that participants’ emotional arousals were increased when they wore the gloves. Participants reported that the haptic sensations made them have more intense feelings when hearing the music than without the gloves.
Researchers suggest that vibrotactile stimuli played at low intensity and frequency can induce an emotional response or mood of low pleasure and low intensity. On the other hand, vibrotactile stimuli at high frequency and intensity can induce a sense of high and intense pleasure.
In movie cinemas, Mood Glove can be used to enhance mood perception of the film scene. It can also bring feelings of anticipation, tension and calmness, and create better movie experiences.
Citation: Mazzoni A, Bryan-Kinns N. (2016). Mood Glove: A haptic wearable prototype system to enhance mood music in film. Entertainment Computing, 17: 9–17. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2016.06.002.
Figure legend: This Knowridge.com image is credited to Mazzoni A et al.
