New software assigns appropriate melodies for pictures

Scientists have developed a new software called Picasso that can help users in assigning appropriate background music for pictures in an instant, by utilizing the technical skills of movie directors. Sebastian Michel, head of a junior research group at the Cluster of Excellence at the Saarland University, designed the software together with Ph.D. student Aleksander Stupar. "Usually, directors select consistent melodies for a particular movie scene," said Michel. The program utilizes the expertise of movie producers in assigning appropriate background music for pictures, enabling users to select music that will harmonize with their impressions of their last summer vacation without putting in an extraordinary amount of effort. A three-level algorithm carries out the elaborate process. First, the picture the user has chosen is compared with a huge database of movie scenes and their corresponding soundtracks. The software creates a ranking of the scenes that look most similar to the user's picture. This database was compiled by Michel and Stupar by splitting 50 movies into screenshots and their accompanying soundtracks. In the next step, the software creates a list of the selected tracks. And finally, the total number of tracks gets reduced to a few selections through a mathematical calculation; these are at last proposed to the user. Here, a list of suggestions makes sense because particular pictures bring up different associations for different users, according to Michel. "Some people might connect a picture of a little house surrounded by an idyllic landscape with a romantic weekend for two, while others might think about loneliness," Michel explained. Interested people can experience the software on the demo website and get an idea of Picasso's hit rate. Or they can use the free smartphone app "PicasSound," which is programmed to pick out an appropriate soundtrack using the music, which is already saved on the smartphone. It is free available for the mobile operating systems iOSX and Android. Next, Michel and Stupar will try to expand the software system to support automatic sound recording of audiobooks on a textual basis. Furthermore, the researchers are planning to integrate a function inside the system that will take the individual preferences of the users into account.