Generative AI and The Future of Filmmaking
“A director is a kind of idea and taste machine; a movie is a series of creative and technical decisions; and it’s the director’s job to make the right decisions as frequently as possible.” — Stanley Kubrick
The Director’s Chair and AI
Kubrick’s quote sheds light on the role of a director as the driving force behind a movie, as an orchestrator of ideas, tastes, and decisions for the purpose of directing labor appropriately. His assertion finds an interesting parallel in the concept of generative AI, where the human subject issuing prompts can be seen as a ‘director’ of sorts, only the director’s collaborator, instead of a cast and crew of human beings, is an intricate system of algorithms and artificial intelligence trained to generate new content based on patterns it recognizes.
The application of this kind of AI in filmmaking is already a reality in its early stages, but its future potential is truly remarkable. Recently, AI researcher Joscha Bach shared some prophetic tweets, stating:
and
“Expect a war of Big PrimitiveLinearHandMadeMovie against AI models.”
The AI Renaissance for Auteur Directors
The most exciting prospect of the generative AI revolution, to me personally, is the possibility of the revival of the auteur theory of filmmaking, an ethos largely lost in the current corporate-dominated spectre of Hollywood.
Generative AI offers opportunities for those auteur-minded directors who, due to lack of funding, social constraints, and/or unpopular sensibilities, have been unable to achieve their visions. Today’s generative AI, though limited, with a little creativity is advanced enough to help translate their unique ideas into a virtual canvas, without the need for large production teams or immense capital.
With the help of AI, directors can turn into ‘idea and taste machines’, just like Kubrick envisioned. They can focus on the creative decisions, the story, the aesthetics, and the emotional tone, while the AI takes care of the technical aspects. This eliminates many barriers to entry and democratizes the filmmaking process.
Embracing the Uncanny: My Journey with AI and Horror
I have been fortunate to have had the chance to explore this new frontier of filmmaking myself. My work has focused on horror-themed content, a genre that can exploit the current pitfalls of generative AI. The uncanny valley, disfigurement, surrealism — features of horror, not bugs — aligns well with the current state of AI-generated content.
Creating horror content using AI has been an interesting experiment. Here is just a sample of the many of the short works I’ve used generative AI to create (to varying degrees) over the last few months:
The AI Director’s Chair of the Future
Looking forward, we can envision that one day there will emerge an AI assistant capable of collaborating with a human director to create feature films in minute frame-by-frame detail. This AI would handle all the technical and labor-intensive aspects, while the human director focuses on being the ‘idea and taste machine’. This ideal AI assistant becomes the ultimate collaborator in every area of production, transforming the director’s vision into reality, at the cost of electricity and AI tools. One’s imagination, at this point, is truly the only limit.
In this scenario, Kubrick’s words and the auteur theory of filmmaking will hold truer than ever. The director will be responsible for making creative decisions, while the AI translates those decisions into a film. The process will be more efficient, more accessible, and potentially more innovative than traditional filmmaking.
AI and Human Collaboration: Blessing or Curse?
Alluding to Joscha Bach’s ealrier tweets, it’s clear that generative AI is a clear and present danger to the Mordor machine of Hollywood. For the death of Hollywood on the business and capital side, I for one am one of the biggest advocates. That said, it’s not to be taken lightly that many people who have perfected their craft over decades might soon be made obsolete. For them, I am sorry. Those of us, like myself, that benefit from this new technology should not be glib and insensitive to just how terrible this tech will be for the many people who have spent years of their lives only to be replaced by a machine.
Another downside is that it will inevitaly create a massive sea of “content” that’s just lazily produced nonsense which might make the noise-to-signal ratio extremely hard to navigate. The good news is, those who want to be true signals in the noise finally have their chance with less barriers than ever before. I hope to be more signal than noise in my output, at least.
And to all those that say any filmmaker that uses AI isn’t a “real” filmmaker, all I can say is I would be happy, and would prefer, to work on a giant set with physical lighting and human actors, and with my hands. I have always preferred practical effects to CGI. However, it’s likely just not in the cards for someone like myself.
If you think I am lying, I can only point you to my earlier works — including live action and stop-motion pieces which took an enormous amount of time to construct — to show that I’m more than willing to go the traditional route if I could secure the proper time and funding needed to do this consistently:
Conclusion
As we stand on the brink of this new era in filmmaking, it’s exhilarating (and in some cases, terrifying) to imagine what the future holds. Kubrick’s vision of a director as an ‘idea and taste machine’ is more relevant than ever, and with generative AI as a collaborator, we have the potential to redefine the art of filmmaking.
We’re only at the beginning of this journey, and while there are challenges to overcome, the rewards promise to be worth it. So here’s to the future — a future where AI enables us to tell stories in ways we never thought possible. The curtain is just rising, and the show promises to be a spectacular one.