Feel The Reel
Saatchi & Saatchi's New Directors Showcase 2014
Saatchi & Saatchi - 2016
For XO in collaboration with Prettybird
For the first time ever, the emotional journey of 2,300 people in the Cannes Lions audience was monitored live in an experiment.
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While the crowd was treated to the 19 films of the 18 directors selected to be part of the annual Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase, their real-time emotional response was detected through custom-made wristbands developed by Studio XO and wireless transmitted to a data server.
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Not only was the agency able to directly collect data from the visceral responses of their guests, they were able to show the audience at the Grand Auditorium in Cannes how they felt, as they felt it through real time visualisations created by Digital Artists, Marshmallow Laser Feast.
Services
Creative Direction - Technical Direction - Prototyping - Press and Marketing
Benjamin researched and built the first functional prototype which proved that it was possible to read electro-dermal activity from a wearers wrist. The prototype was used in very early tests at the British Film Institute and the Wheatsheaf pub near London bridge where the data was evaluated to determine the connection between experience and emotional response.
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Benjamin lead a development team of electronic engineers, designers and server software developers to build and deliver the system which consisted of 3000 electrodermal wristbands, 4 base station transducers, a data server and database accessible through a RESTful API.
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He later appeared on the BBC in an interview about the project.