Automatic generation of matter-of-opinion video documentaries

In this paper we describe a model for automatically generating video documentaries. This allows viewers to specify the subject and the point of view of the documentary to be generated. The domain is matter-of-opinion documentaries based on interviews. The model combines rhetorical presentation patterns used by documentary makers with a data-driven approach. Rhetorical presentation patterns provide the viewer with an engaging viewing experience, while a data-driven approach can be applied to growing media repositories. To date, the modeling of rhetoric has been achieved in a top-down manner using closed repositories, while data-driven generation approaches were unable to implement non-trivial rhetorical presentation patterns. We describe an implementation of our model in a system, Vox Populi, and apply it to an online documentary shot by a group of independent amateur documentarists.