On the influence of low-level visual features in film classification

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 2; p. e0211406
• Main Authors: Álvarez, Federico, Sánchez, Faustino, Hernández-Peñaloza, Gustavo, Jiménez, David, Menéndez, José Manuel, Cisneros, Guillermo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 22-02-2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Analysis; Automatic classification; Biology and Life Sciences; Cisneros, Guillermo; Classification; Cluster Analysis; Clustering; Collaboration; Computer and Information Sciences; Databases, Factual; Deep Learning; Engineering and Technology; Esthetics; Film theory; Genre; Humans; Isolation; Learning algorithms; Levels; Machine Learning; Model accuracy; Model testing; Models, Theoretical; Motion pictures; Motion Pictures - classification; Motion Pictures - statistics & numerical data; Semantics; Social Sciences; Sound; Video data; Visual Perception; Spain
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211406

In this paper we present a model of parameters to aesthetically characterize films using a multi-disciplinary approach: by combining film theory, visual low-level video descriptors (modeled in order to supply aesthetic information) and classification techniques using machine and deep learning.
Four different tests have been developed, each for a different application, proving the model's usefulness. These applications are: aesthetic style clustering, prediction of production year, genre detection and influence on film popularity.
The results are compared against high-level information to determine the accuracy of the model to classify films without knowing such information previously. The main difference with other film characterization approaches is that we are able to isolate the influence of high-level descriptors to really understand the relevance of low-level features and, accordingly propose a useful set of low-level visual descriptors for that purpose. This model has been tested with a representative number of films to prove that it can be used for different applications.