New Sci Fi Movie Uses A.I. to Depict Dystopian A.I. Future
March 23, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
What do you do when artificial intelligence starts taking over your life? Should you fear these new technologies, or should you embrace them? With the rise of ChatGPT, MidJourney and their cousins, it can feel like A.I. is taking over the world. What place is there still for the human creative spark? And can we learn to live with, or must we fight against these new creations?
With more questions than answers, the creative team of award-winning writer Lavie Tidhar (Central Station, Neom) and animator Nir Yaniv (LiftOff, The Voice Remains) decided to tackle the question by making a movie about A.I. while using it. Because what if the new machines just want to help? What could possibly go wrong?
Welcome to your A.I. future!
Main Page: https://www.nirtoons.com/ai
View on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99_kp4Jq_14
Written by Lavie Tidhar. Directed by Nir Yaniv. Produced in the US, 2023. Language: English. Length: 5:30min. Type: animated, dystopian sci fi.
The team has been working on a series of hand-made animation projects, including the forthcoming web science fiction series Mars Machines starring Digger Mesch and Russell Wilcox, and Loontown, a film noir starring Mesch and Anne Wittman, when they became curious about the new technology.
Tidhar said, “We’ve been very focused on a human-centric, do-it-yourself creation process. So we were intrigued by the A.I., but also very conscious of the discourse around it right now. We wondered how we could play with these new toys while addressing what they represent. Nir was inspired by the classic French film La Jetée, and called me up to ask if we could do something like that with MidJourney. I immediately said we could only do it if the film we made was about the A.I. – and something sparked. The result, I think, is quite unsettling. The rabbits really freak me out, and I’m the one who wrote them in!”
The creative process was far from automated, as director Yaniv explains: “I generated around 1800 images, not counting permutations and bizarre tricks needed to convince Midjourney to give me the required result. I added a lot of visual interference, numerous sound effects. Early in the process I reached the conclusion that current music generators won’t give me what I needed. As a composer, being also the director and editor of the film can be a huge advantage. I had most of the soundtrack done at about the midpoint of the editing process. To add creepiness to the A.I. voiceover, I actually created two versions, one male and one female. What you hear in the film is a combination – imagine shouting and have that echo return to you in a different voice!”
Opting to release Welcome To Your A.I. Future online, the team has no further plans to use A.I. again. Tidhar’s next novel, The Circumference of the World, will be out this fall while Yaniv’s own The Good Soldier is scheduled for late 2023 release. They are currently at work on The Radio, a hand-made children’s animation film, with numerous (human) musicians involved in the production.
For more information, visit https://www.nirtoons.com/ai
Lavie Tidhar 