Techniques for detecting an active area of interest within video data are disclosed. A videoconferencing system may include a sensor configured to capture sequential frames of video image data during a videoconference, and a processing subsystem. The processing subsystem may be configured to, for a given frame, apply filter(s) to individual pixels of the given frame to identify one or more pixels of interest within the given frame, where the filter(s) include a motion detection filter. The processing subsystem may further apply a multidimensional filter to the one or more pixels of interest, the multidimensional filter specifying one or more programmable density thresholds. The processing subsystem may further designate at least one group of pixels of interest that satisfies the one or more programmable density thresholds as an active area of interest; and control an aspect of the videoconference based at least in part upon the active area of interest.