The 2nd Annual International AI Film Festival (AIFF)which took place on May 1 in downtown Los Angeles, marked a pivotal moment for Hollywood's integration of generative AI.
The showcase, produced by New York-based generative AI video startup Runway, also included partnership support from the established Tribeca Film Festival and the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF).
More than 400 producers, animators, actors and directors gathered on the invitation-only premiere on the Orpheum Theater not in protest, but to totally embrace what their colleagues were doing with the AI models (Gen-1 and Gen-2 ) created by Runway and other AI tools, in addition to more traditional filmmaking techniques. The collective experience left the gang gasping in awe at times – and it was clear that this was paying homage to a defining moment in cinema.
“We received almost 300 entries last 12 months (for the festival). This 12 months we reached 3,000 and that could be a sign of the times,” said Cristóbal Valenzuela, CEO and co-founder of Runway, as he addressed the audience before the screening of the ten finalists’ movies.
It was just a couple of months ago once I attended a premiere of a bunch of Hollywood filmmakers producing Our T2 remake – the primary feature-length film created entirely with generative AI.
While that parody practically celebrated the various shortcomings of generative AI, this 12 months's AIFF movies showed just how far the technology has advanced.
A successful AI and film formula
In a note on LinkedIn, Director and AIFF Judge Paul Trillo wrote that participants were asked to list all AI tools and their uses of their posts.
He noted that even among the many high-fidelity concepts on display, none included Open AI's highly prized latest text-to-video Sora mode.
While the featured movies varied in theme and elegance, and a few featured more obvious AI visualizations than others, the highest performers demonstrated compelling narrative foundations with well-integrated AI resources.
The top Grand Prix winning short film, featured a mix of emotional live-action human footage and intelligent AI visual effects.
“We used three tools to make the film. This included using Luma AI to recreate and capture 3D environments, using Runway's video-to-video tool as an overlay to spice things up, and using ComfyUI to reskin certainly one of our actors with AI so he could “Looks prefer it’s all muscle,” filmmaker Daniel Antebi said in an email.
When it got here to coping with the shortcomings of AI, Antebi preferred repetition and was liable to hallucinations. Just as improvisation happens in live sets, Antebi admits, “We didn’t even worry in regards to the final aesthetic, nevertheless it was certainly one of our bizarre tests.”
was an example of a veteran LA producer's opinion Joel Kuwahara, best known for his long-standing post-production work on The Simpsons. During the pre-showcase panel, he said, “I don't want the AI to take the main target away from the character or the story… I'm attempting to see if I can blur the lines and make them invisible.”
Hollywood's evolved AI perspective
Many different ideas emerged on the AIFF about how AI will drive the longer term of cinema.
Trillo, who recently released videos created by Sora for TED in addition to the primary business AI music video, cited that big industry names will help solidify the discourse. “Once an even bigger filmmaker uses a brand new technology, it in some way becomes more palatable – and that’s what’s going to occur.”
AI can also be used at well-known festivals. Caleb Ward, who leads the best-known AI filmmaker course, Curious refugeannounced on the premiere that it would anchor a major AI film presence on the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in France (May 14-25).
In an interview before the show, Anastasis Germanidis, Runway's CTO and co-founder, said he plans to proceed developing tools that “provide users with more control over artistic direction.”
The company's CDO and co-founder Alejandro Matamala said that through the use of these tools, we’ll proceed to see creatives improve their skills – “writers turn into animators, animators turn into filmmakers, and more.”
Finally, Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela watches AI movies along two planes. He believes we’ll eliminate AI skills because the technology becomes commonplace. “You never go and watch a movie because back then the camera was used,” he said on stage.
He also sees AI as the beginning of a totally latest medium that has yet to be named. “At some point it (AI) will create a brand new art form and a brand new variety of media that we simply don’t have the words to explain yet.”
