I've been experimenting with using AI generated imagery to make short films. AI is controversial but I think it's a very useful tool in a creative's toolbox.  We shouldn't fear it taking over, rather utilize it to make our creative processes even better.

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The process is already being used for music videos and would be a great asset for title sequences and stylized graphics etc.  I can also see it working very well in the documentary field as visual descriptions of events impossible to cover or film. It lends itself very well to stylized recreations of past events so would have also have  home in the true crime genre. 

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Quality wise the stills images are almost indistinguishable from photos, but video still has a way to go. Once stills are converted to video  they take on a much more animated feel, it also highlights the shortcomings of AI, it hasn't really mastered movement yet but its improving exponentially and it will be fascinating to see where it is in the next few years 

The films here were made using an app called Midjourney to create the base image. This is done by prompting it with detailed descriptions of what you would like it to create and then editing and adjusting the output until you are happy with the results. Then I increased the resolution using a site called Clip Drop before exporting them to an application called Runway which converts them to 4 second long videos. Each of these apps has different controls to adjust the footage and images to your liking.  

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Sometimes the AI does some strange things, images warp and transform. I embrace these moments, its a reminder its not real and that this all comes from an algorithm using machine learning on huge databases of imagery to create what it thinks matches your prompt. Its fascinating and will only become more so, I hope you enjoy the films below.

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FEVER DREAM is a documentary short film, I was excited about using AI to tell a real story, in this case the traumatic journey undertaken

by migrant children from Central America attempting to cross the US Border. Of course this has been told in traditional documentaries

but this medium allows an almost hallucinogenic fever dream nightmare take on this story, hence the title.  

HERE BE MONSTERS  was an experiment on using AI imagery as visual wallpaper for True Crime recreations, something I do a lot of in the real world. It's certainly an interesting way of showing events and creating a stylized viewpoint on past events. Its the fictional story of the hunt for a serial killer in a nameless American city

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THE HAIKU series is a visual rendering of famous Haiku poems, fun to make and AI allows you to seamlessly slip between reality and fantasy....enjoy!