Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Storytelling and the Era of the Empath: Poppy Crum

30/05/2020

By: Adrian Pennington

I am passionate about creating technology that enables us to translate the creator's true intent, technologist and neuroscientist Poppy Crum told the TR-X audience at the 2020 HPA Teach Retreat. For me, there is a truth that the content creator wants me to feel whether that's fear, joy, disgust . But my environment and technology that assumes we all look and react the same doesn't always allow that. That there are better ways of ensuring that the intent reaches every viewer or listener in the richest way possible is, I believe, a goal worth striving for.

Crum is deep into the future of what happens when technology knows more about us than we do, and she believes that although it's easy to jump to unsettling thoughts of the cautionary or dystopian tales of Mission Impossible or 1984, implemented ethically it's not a bad thing. In fact, she feels, it's probably the most empowering opportunity we have to enrich and elevate experiences of storytelling and technology capacity for individuals of all demographics and biological composition.

Today, she says, AI algorithms can detect our slightest facial microexpressions, differentiating between a real smile and a fake one, predicting or diagnosing our mental or physical health from the patterns of our speech, or even knowing whether we may have early signs of illness or are feeling emotions such as joy and suspense solely from the chemical compositions of our breath. Whether we like it or not, we've been sharing a lot about our internal states long before we made it common place to wrap ourselves and our spaces in digital devices that track our every move, exhale, or beat. But now we do, and there is a lot that can do for each of us.

Formerly Research Faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and now Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories and Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, Crum has spent a lot of time studying the circuits of the human brain that create the unique perceptual realities that we all possess.

Each of us hears and sees the world differently as a result of the interaction between our individual biological capacity, and the environment around us, she said. The distributions of colors, contours, sounds we surround ourselves with in our urban or rural environments are vastly different. These shape our unique perceptions, and through neuroplasticity impact the way our brain allocates its resources. For example, if I have spent a lot of my life in a rural desert environment without a lot of difference in hue, fewer sharp edges, and more need for me to identify subtle shifts in shading and contour, my brain will allocate more resources to decoding the more limited set of hues and shifts in contours in order to be effective in that environment. In contrast, years spent in noisy cities will shape how we are each able to react and effectively attend to resolution across a wider color gamut, sharper edges, and the intensity and cacophony of sounds that surround us

Our relationship with technology and, by extension, the context we experience it in also shapes us. For example, someone who has just played their first forty hours of Call of Duty may be forever changed. They can be expected to have heightened visual acuity and faster and more effective probabilistic inference critical to strategic planning.

Any time you build a new way of interacting with content or technology you are affecting human capability, Crum said. The point is that we can do this by design.

This is already happening. Netflix, for example, uses data about its users to tailor film and TV recommendations to individual profiles. Its algorithms even adapt the color of artwork and font size. Audio playback systems can position the sound of an object in space in accord with the creative intent. Emerging technologies like object based broadcasting allow the content of programs to change according to the requirements of each individual audience member. Silicon Valley and Hollywood studios make use of electroencephalograms (EEGs) to understand how our moods affect the content we watch.

But all of this merely scratches the surface of the possible.

At present, Crum contends, most of our technology is built as one size fits all,' geared towards pretty much one demographic - typically a white male. It is not personalizing the way content is perceived at the individual user level in a way that delivers the true intent of the artist or the technology.

I'm not talking about avatars replicating emotions. I am saying that technology is not responsive to my internal state. Even the most intelligent thermostat on the market does not know whether I'm hot or cold, or what I'm trying to do at that moment. If it takes even a small amount of information learned through signatures of combined sensors from the environment or wearable technologies into account then suddenly it is remarkably more effective at facilitating the goal of translating the technology or creator's intent and improving the user's experience

This goal is tantalizingly in reach.

We already record detail about the creative intent in metadata. You can imagine extending that to capture more information about the emotions and feelings intended by a creative scene or effort. In addition to which the ubiquity of sensors and the ability to amalgamate our personal and biometric signals offers a way of closing the loop.

She has been able to show how changes in the density of CO2 in a space - such as movie theaters can correspond with changes in emotion and stress of individuals in the room.

One demonstration involved a screening of National Geographic's Oscar winning rock climbing documentary Free Solo. From special tubes installed throughout the theater, scientists in
LINK: https://hpaonline.com/headline-storytelling-and-the-era-of-the-empath-...
See more stories from hpa

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

09/10/2026

Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026

September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026 New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

30/09/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Jacquelynn Dupree, Clark Atlanta University

Drawn to the many moving pieces of a live broadcast, this Los Angeles native is building a path in production management and technical operations...

30/09/2026

NHL on TNT Opens New Season in 1080p HDR With Stanley Cup Final on the Horizon

TNT Sports goes big for its season opener in Philadelphia, and REMI workflows at Techwood will again anchor much of regular-season production...

30/09/2026

Katlyn Alexander Named CEO of Qvest North America

Qvest has appointed Katlyn Alexander as CEO of Qvest in North America, effective August 16, 2026. Alexander, who previously served as COO of Qvest US, succeeds ...

30/09/2026

AAPB Wraps 2026 Season with Record Viewership and Expanded Broadcast Footprint

The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has wrapped its 2026 season, with leaguewide attendance surpassing 1.4 million for the fifth consecutiv...

30/09/2026

Veritone Partners with ATP Media to License Tennis Archive in North America

Veritone has announced a multi-year content licensing agreement with ATP Media, the broadcast production and distribution arm of the ATP Tour, making ATP's ...

30/09/2026

Netflix To Stream WWE Exclusively in Japan Beginning October 1

Netflix has announced it will become the exclusive home for WWE programming in Japan beginning October 1, 2026. The lineup includes Raw, SmackDown, NXT, Premium...

30/09/2026

SES and Sky Extend Satellite Capacity Agreement for UK and Ireland

SES and Sky have announced a new multi-year agreement for direct-to-home satellite services across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, running into the ...

30/09/2026

Big Blue Marble Adds Live Multiview Channels to Cloud Video Kit via AWS Elemental Dynamic Multiview

Big Blue Marble has announced the addition of live multiview channels to its Clo...

30/09/2026

NHRA Announces Multi-Year Media Rights Deals With FOX Sports, The CW, and FloSports

The NHRA has announced multi-year media rights agreements with FOX Sports, The C...

30/09/2026

FOX 5 Atlanta to Broadcast Nashville Predators Games in 2026-27 Season

FOX 5 Atlanta (WAGA-TV) will carry Nashville Predators games during the 2026-27 season as part of Scripps Sports' regional broadcast network for the team. G...

30/09/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Brahma AIs Patrio Cummins on the Possibilities of AI (and the Misconceptions)

AI was a big buzz on the IBC show floor but there weren't a ton of companies...

30/09/2026

PGA TOUR Names Ryan Holcomb Senior Vice President and Head of Original Content

The PGA TOUR has announced the appointment ofRyan Holcomb as Senior Vice President and Head of Original Content, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Holcomb wi...

30/09/2026

ESPN Drops the Puck on Enhanced Audio for the New NHL Season

The sound will be more immersive, with improved design and more mikes on the ice and the players The National Hockey League's season opener on Tuesday nigh...

30/09/2026

TNT Sports' Chris Brown, Lee Mabry on Beginning 2026-27 NHL Season With an Onsite Effort in Philly

TNT Sports is dropping the puck on the 2026-27 NHL season in a big way in Philad...

30/09/2026

International Swimming League Names Gravity Media as Production Partner

The International Swimming League ( ISL ) today announced the appointment of Gravity Media, global leader in live production and content and media services and ...

30/09/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Amir Bar-Lev, the Director of The Last First: Winter K2

By Ramona Flume One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festiva...

30/09/2026

Sync Audio release MegaMorph

Add an envelope generator to any plug-in Sync Audio's latest creation is a handy utility plug-in that can be used to combine and modulate other effects ...

30/09/2026

Strymon launch the La Brea

All-analogue tape-style drive joins Series A Strymon's reputation was built on their digital knowhow, so many were surprised (and intrigued) when they a...

30/09/2026

Sonuscore The Pulse: Synth Wave & Epic Atmospheres

Two new expansion packs released Sonuscore have just introduced two new expansion packs for The Pulse, its production engine instrument for modern cinematic...

30/09/2026

Clear-Com's Arcadia Central Station Brings Professional Production Communications to...

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...

30/09/2026

AWARN Alliance Urges FCC to Let Broadcasters Tap Full 3.0 Capabilities

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/09/2026

Senator Asks If All-GOP FCC Would Violate Federal Law

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/09/2026

Marshall PTZ Cameras Bring Legendary Progressive Rock Exp...

The An Evening with Emerson, Lake and Palmer tour brings one of rock's most iconic bands back to the stage. These performances seamlessly blend live foota...

30/09/2026

Schibsted Media Chooses DHD RX2 and TX2 Mixers for Remote...

Schibsted Media, one of Norways largest and most influential digital media publishers and content producers, has invested in mixers and digital signal processor...

30/09/2026

Big Blue Marble adds live multiview channels to its video...

Big Blue Marble announces the addition of live multiview channels to Cloud Video Kit, its broadcast-grade video processing platform. The feature is powered by A...

30/09/2026

Telekom Slovenije brings local advertising to internation...

Leading video software provider Synamedia today announced that Telekom Slovenije, Slovenia's largest provider of telecommunications and TV services, is open...

30/09/2026

PODCAST EXPO 2026 Recorded Using Blackmagic Design Workflow

PODCAST EXPO 2026 Recorded Using Blackmagic Design Workflow Brie Clayton September 29, 2026 0 Comments Conference featuring 24 sessions over two days ...

30/09/2026

IBC2026 Show Report

IBC2026 Show Report David Kirk September 29, 2026 0 Comments The International Broadcasting Convention has long been Europe's equivalent of the US...

30/09/2026

SGO Unveils Workflows Slate To Enable Automated Burn-ins, Slates

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/09/2026

Public Advocacy Group Urges Broadcasters to Stop Airing Trump Taxpayer Funded Ad

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/09/2026

Qvest Promotes Katlyn Alexander to CEO, North America

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/09/2026

Mavis Camera 8-2 adds iPhone 18 Pro Support with Variable...

Mavis has launched Mavis Camera 8.2, the latest release of its professional camera app for the iPhone and iPad. This update brings support for iPhone 18 Pro and...

30/09/2026

Tribeca Festival Announces 2027 Dates And Calls For Submissions

September 30th, 2026 TRIBECA FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2027 DATES AND CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS Following a Record Box Office Year, the 26th Edition, Presented by OKX,...

30/09/2026

Harmonic Launches Recon Product Family Developed in Partnership with Comcast

New Solution Expands Harmonic's Network Intelligence Portfolio and Brings Comcast-Developed Fiber Monitoring Technology to Broadband Operators, Providing Re...

30/09/2026

A Look Back at (My) 524 Months with Broadcast Cameras

Thank you to Film-TV Video for the original article - you can view it here It was early 1983. I had just turned 21 when I joined Hitachi Denshi's European...

30/09/2026

Claire Brock and Sophie Morris discover how consumers can shop smarter in new RT documentary series

How to Shop Well Now starts Monday at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player On the...

30/09/2026

From Training to Production, NVIDIA and CoreWeave Close the Loop on Agentic AI

Building on nearly a decade of co-engineering, CoreWeave has built NVIDIA compute, networking and software into a cloud purpose-built for AI that's still re...

29/09/2026

Oak View Group Names Cisco as Official Technology Partner

Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...

29/09/2026

SportsNet Pittsburgh Wins Three Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards

SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards. Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...

29/09/2026

CBC, PWHL Revive Hockey Night in Canada' on Saturdays

The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...

29/09/2026

Manifold Technologies Recognized as MXL Contributor Following IBC Innovation Award

Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...

29/09/2026

Fubo Launches My Local Sports RSN Add-On Package

FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...

29/09/2026

ANI Deploys Grass Valley AMPP and Framelight X for News Operations

Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...

29/09/2026

SABC Deploys Ikegami UHK-X600 Cameras for IP-Based Production

South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...

29/09/2026

Busy in Bristol: ESPN Headquarters Come Alive With New Studio W, Remote-Production Workflows

REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...

29/09/2026

NASCAR Productions' Keith D'Alessandro on the Continued Evolution of Its Centralized Production Hub

Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...

29/09/2026

NBC Sports Brings Robust Sunday Night Baseball Production Playbook to MLB Wild Card Round

NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...