Recent film festival reveals the shortcomings of AI-driven filmmaking
An artificial intelligence film festival organized by Runway AI was packed to the brim with uncanny images, such as mud people and oversized grandmothers. And while the festival gave a glimpse into the future of AI filmmaking, humans appear to have the upper hand.
Tech Explore reported that there were nearly 3,000 short films submitted to the festival, but there were only ten films chosen to be featured at the festival. The report stated the filmmakers’ “vivid imaginations” were put on display, with “their stories set in aesthetically stunning universes.”
Runway co-founder and chief technology officer Anastasis Germanidis said there “is a perception of … AI-driven filmmaking and creation as having a very specific style.”
“[S]everal of the films were little more than tangentially related vignettes strung together by narration and a soundtrack.”
However, Germanidis said that each of the ten films selected seemed “very different from the other one.”
Tech Explore noted that many breathtaking films — such as Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” and the Wachowski siblings’ “The Matrix” — came to mind when watching the latest AI short films. However, not everyone was compelled by the spectacle of the AI-generated content.
Tech Crunch reported that there was a substantial amount of “disjointedness” in the films featured at the festival. It went on to say that “several of the films were little more than tangentially related vignettes strung together by narration and a soundtrack.”
The report specifically focused on one film by Carlo De Togni and Elena Sparacino, which “demonstrated just how dull this formula can be, with slideshow-like transitions that would make for a better interactive storybook than film.”
Tech Crunch reported:
Léo Cannone’s “Where Do Grandmas Go When They Get Lost?” falls into the vignettes category as well — but triumphs despite this thanks to a heartfelt script (a child describing what happens to grandmothers after they pass) and an exceptionally strong performance from its child star. The rest of the audience seemed to agree; the film got one of the more spirited rounds of applause of the night.
The report noted that it is plausible for AI to one day have the capacity to re-create slick scenes that make for a movie-like experience, but that the technology is not there yet.
However, not everyone is convinced that AI will ever take over the domain of art.
Author Walter Kirn previously shared with Blaze News that “[AI] doesn’t have to decide what’s worth giving power to” concerning the process of creating a piece of art.
He added that a novelist may take “a year out of their lives, or five or ten because some subject is important to them,” but these micro-decisions do not come into play for generative AI.
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