The key idea addressed by our studio ‘Automatic for the People’ is the integration of AI and human design thinking in media production. It unlocks possibilities of media formats and changes the way we view the world. Both media world paves a refreshing look for the traditional media formats, greater than the extent of innovative techniques.
There are two media works that infer this insight: What Lies in the Shadow and Screen Trapped. In the first work, the group creates a user-interactive website to draw attention to the heavy dramatic journey of a fictional character. With a story influenced by the vampire classic “Twilight”, they write an enticing narrative of a vampire who always has been on the run from hunters for several decades. The critical point is their website use, rather than other feasible media formats such as diary books, or audio programs. First and foremost, the websites help organize single pieces of information into a unanimous location. The audience expands multiple perspectives to view the story, regardless of the single format’s limitations. In addition, there is an excellent AI factor in the work. Evidently, the portrait images on the bulletin board show harmonious design. Conversely, the minimal details (the faded color, the background scenes, and the character’s uniform) are intricate condiments to the flavorful story. In excess, they put their best effort into creating attachment artifacts, in this case, the AI-generated interview with the neighbor. This successful feature is credited to the elaborate specifications in the text description and manual for AI. Simultaneously, it is also a great challenge to align the human-involved artifacts with AI-generated crafts. In general, each artifact is a pleasing journey that spirals into the innermost thoughts but overall creates a unifying depiction of the character. I can not state how amazing the painting ‘Somber Figure’ looks, I did not think it was an AI work at first glance.
In the second work ‘Screen Trapped’, they pursue a different interactive approach, by making a short film. The title encapsulates a captivating idea – what would happen if humans grew addicted to AI technology? Anchoring on the insight, the film shows bilateral universes- the real world and the artificial realm. In the real-world scenes, they distinguish with a relatable depiction of smartphone addiction. The story is about a girl who can not drift her attention off her smartphone. Particularly, her daily activity involves the phone, from waking up in the morning to getting to bed late at night. At every touchpoint, her interaction with the phone accompanies AI. Essentially, the frequency of AI visuals is greater throughout the timeline, peaking at two particular scenes. It is when she is standing in the swamp of people and when she is relaxing on the couch. The climax happens when the scene is filled with AI imaginary visuals. It sparks the reclusion from the real world as she fully immerses herself in the digital world. Personally, all AI visual choices are in the calculation. The psychedelic look, reflecting upon the seemingly unreal objects, signifies the threshold to the digital world. AI-generated music is complementary to the visual. The subtle fading variation in soundscapes divides a boundary to distinguish between these two worlds. The sound switch from sweet guitar is iconic for real-world scenes. Whereas, the glitchy sparking noise and distorted group voice resemble the magnetic characteristic of a digital world, where machine and AI crowns.
In the end, it is not only the wonderful advances that AI generators bring about success for the project. Moreover, it changes our perception of media-making by turning what used to be impossible, whether the aspect is soundscape, visual, or text, into reality.
I have watched the short film “Tare” made by Spring Li, Danielle Atherton, Mark Cheng, and Nam Tran in the Synthetic Video class. This studio prompts rethinking the notion of long-form cinema in the sunset of artificially generated content. Discussing the cinematic aspects, “Tare” tells a heart-soothing love story of a girl who is battling with internal fragmented identities after the break-up with a sympathetic boyfriend. The latter half observes her voyage of self-recovery and reconciliation. The crew understands the tasks of cinematic film. Every element (composition, camera angle, film look, setting) indicates great pre-production planning. For instance, the lead protagonist’s position is in the center, except when she is in dialogue with her boyfriend. In this way, she is the central of the fierce arguments between her fragmented selves. On the other hand, she is not single in the frame when she is with her boyfriend. It indicates the embracing of love and acceptance from her lover’s side. Moreover, the color grading is perfect. It is the light blueish with white gradients to spark the sorrow in the first half – most of it is argument. In contrast, it is a yellowish-warm color in the second half to replicate the positive feeling rising in the heart of the lead character. In addition, the soundscape in this scene plays an important role in magnifying the effect. I am quite convinced that they effectively use AI editing to replicate the background glitchy sound and vocals. In this film, I am not sure how they incorporate the artificially generated technology. However, I am satisfied with the experience and hope there is a production breakdown of “Tare” in the future.