Using ECPs for Interactive Applications in Virtual Cinematography

Hui-Yin Wu, Tsai-Yen Li, Marc Christie

Abstract: This paper introduces an interactive application of our previous work on the Patterns language as creative assistant for editing cameras in 3D virtual environments. Patterns is a set of vocabulary, which was inspired by professional film practice and textbook terminology. The vocabulary allows one to define recurrent stylistic constraints on a sequence of shots, which we term ''embedded constraint pattern'' (ECP). In our previous work, we proposed a solver that allows us to search for occurrences of ECPs in annotated data, and showed its use in automated analysis of story and emotional elements of film. This work implements a new solver that interactively propose framing compositions from an annotated database of framings that conform to the user-applied ECPs. We envision this work to be incorporated into tools and interfaces for 3D environments in the context of film pre-visualisation, film or digital arts education, video games, and other related applications in film and multimedia.