On This Day… 1776 is Darren Aronofsky’s short-form series focusing on key moments from that revolutionary year. The fact-based short films use a “combination of traditional filmmaking tools and emerging AI capabilities,” SAG voice actors and AI visuals, to dramatize scenes from the year’s most pivotal moments. The series draws on Aronofsky’s Primordial Soup’s partnership with Google DeepMind having each episode drop on the 250th anniversary of the event it depicts. — Read More

#vfx

In 2016, the legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki was shown a bizarre AI-generated video of a misshapen human body crawling across a floor.

Miyazaki declared himself “utterly disgusted” by the technology demo, which he considered an “insult to life itself.”

“If you really want to make creepy stuff, you can go ahead and do it,” Miyazaki said. “I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.”

Many fans interpreted Miyazaki’s remarks as rejecting AI-generated video in general.

… But as these models have improved, they have sped up workflows and afforded new opportunities for artistic expression. Artists without AI expertise might soon find themselves losing work. — Read More

Kapwing’s new research shows that 21-33% of YouTube’s feed may consist of AI slop or brainrot videos. But which countries and channels are achieving the greatest reach — and how much money might they make? We analyzed social data to find out.

As the debate over the creative and ethical value of using AI to generate video rages on, users are getting interesting results out of the machine, and artist-led AI content is gaining respect in some areas. Top film schools now offer courses on the use and ethics of AI in film production, and the world’s best-known brands are utilizing AI in their creative process — albeit with mixed results.

Sadly, others are gaming the novelty of AI’s prompt-and-go content, using these engines to churn out vast quantities of AI “slop” — the “spam” of the video-first age. — Read More

Disney’s three-year licensing partnership with OpenAI includes just one of exclusivity, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC. The company signed the partnership with OpenAI last week that will bring its iconic characters to the AI firm’s Sora video generator. Once that exclusive year is up, Disney is free to sign similar deals with other AI companies.

The deal gives OpenAI a high-profile content partner, allowing users to draw on more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars to create content on Sora. For now, it’s the only AI platform that’s legally permitted to do so. — Read More

… [AI] is not a flood, and it’s not even a tsunami. It’s a landslide, and it will not recede.

I have come to two conclusions. First, no matter how great or terrible you think AI may be, engagement is not an option. You will adapt or you will die. How quickly or how slowly is anyone’s guess. This conclusion came through an experience, one I will describe below.

Second, AI will not destroy us. Instead, we will destroy ourselves, as we give up our minds, our agency, and our social institutions to AI control.

The future is not Orwellian; it is Huxleyan. — Read More

Disney has put its chips in on AI.

The Hollywood giant has signed a major deal with OpenAI, investing $1B in the artificial intelligence giant and handing over characters from Frozen and Star Wars to generative AI video app Sora.

It is comfortably the most significant collaboration between a Hollywood studio and an AI company to date, and suggests Disney has taken the view: if you can’t beat them, join them. — Read More

Warner Bros. started with distribution. Just after the turn of the century, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner bought a second-hand projector and started showing short films in Ohio and Pennsylvania mining towns; in 1907 they bought their first permanent theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Around the same time the brothers also began distributing films to other theaters, and in 1908 began producing their own movies in California. In 1923 the brothers formally incorporated as Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., becoming one of the five major Hollywood Studios.

What the brothers realized early on was that distribution just wasn’t a very good business: you had to maintain the theater and find films to show, and your profit was capped by your capacity, which you had to work diligently to fill out; after all, every empty seat in a showing was potential revenue that disappeared forever. What was far more lucrative was making the films shown in those theaters: you could film a movie once and make money on it again and again.

… Netflix, which was founded in 1997, also started with distribution, specifically of DVDs-by-mail; the streaming service that the company is known for today launched in 2007, 100 years after the Warner brothers bought their theater. The differences were profound: because Netflix was on the Internet, it was available literally everywhere; there were no seats to clean or projectors to maintain, and every incremental customer was profit.  — Read More

#vfx

On the evening of Friday, September 26, I had the pleasure of hosting a film screening that showcased works created with artificial intelligence (AI). This was the event I had previously announced in my last posting.

The venue was Tōshunji Temple in Yamaguchi City, a Rinzai Zen temple with a history of around 500–600 years. At the same time, its grounds also host contemporary artworks, a horse, and a pottery studio — functioning almost like a community art center for the present day.

… It was in this city, at Tōshunji, that we hosted the international AI Film Festival organized by OMNI, based in Sydney, Australia. … One of the main goals was to raise literacy around AI.  — Read More