DiCaprio as Hugh Glass in “The Revenant” by Alejandro Inarritu.
Before you saw the film (if you did), others had already seen it. The production company, 20th Century Fox, held a test screening for “experimental” viewers before its official release. Over 100 people watched the movie while wearing high-tech bracelets that recorded their heart rates, skin moisture, movements in their seats, and reactions to the sound. The results showed that in 14 scenes the viewers/test subjects’ hearts raced, while in 15 they exhibited panic reactions (this after the data was processed). The audience sample also remained without strong emotional reactions for roughly half the running time.
Although such biometric recordings have been carried out for a decade on behalf of advertising agencies (and their clients), the case of “The Revenant” is the first publicly known one involving cinema. Until now, similar research in cinemas was conducted with smaller (numerically) audiences, and through post-screening interviews to gather viewers’ opinions. Pen and paper, tape recorders… The wearable gadgets are cheaper now and provide the ability for just-in-time (and “objective”) measurements of reactions, on much larger samples.
Director Inarritu also saw, quite naturally, the results of the research. The not-arbitrary predictions claim that portable sensors of this kind will soon become commonplace, mainly in the face of alternative versions (edits) of films, through collaboration between directors and companies. The goal? To “mark” each target group more effectively regarding their emotions.
A century has passed since Eisenstein’s “montage of attractions”… What progress, huh?