Disney hopes new face-reading tech will tell them what the audience wants

‘Facial recognition technology has been tested by the Walt Disney Company to determine whether audience members are enjoying a film or thinking about walking out.
Disney, the makers of the latest episodes of Star Wars and hit franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean, are gearing up to better understand what their audience wants by monitoring facial expressions while they watch the screen.
Known as factorized variational autoencoders (FVAEs), the method involves the use of four infrared cameras placed in a theatre and an algorithm that can recognize a variety of facial expressions.
The technology was put to the test during multiple showings of 2015 blockbuster films, including ‘Ant Man’, ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’.’
Read more: Disney hopes new face-reading tech will tell them what the audience wants