One of the most extraordinary picks we’ve made, probably ever, on the show! This week, we review an emergent absurdist talk show, focussing on the life of the Glurons – a post-human race of critters set in a future world, but most creatively uses generative AI tools. Its outstanding quality is, however, the writing. Check out our review and pick up the links mentioned on our show notes below.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
Unanswered Oddities by Neural Viz released on 9 Dec 2024, made using MidJourney, Runway Act One and ElevenLabs and Premiere for editing
This week we discuss two very different films, both reflecting a bygone era of classic entertainment. Firstly, an interpretation of the 1954 Japanese classic Godzilla, made in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Its unusual for a couple of reasons: its been made on a handheld Nintendo Switch in a game not really known for its creative application, and its been released only on X (Twitter). Its timing is perfect to capitalize on all the film and TV series hype at the moment so it was always going to find an appreciative audience – definitely one to check out. Secondly, Phil has created an iClone and AI-based video to the Tom Lehrer song, Lobachevsky – its the ultimate accompaniment to this well-known political satire. Phil discusses his creative process in its making and we also discuss how the original song came to be made at a time when Lehrer was walking a tightrope for a few reasons, so we reflect on its timing and impact.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
Shinto Ritual by Sumoguri2323, released 23 Nov 2023 –
Not strictly machinima, but something we’ve named mAIchinima! This week, we discuss two films using generative AI to create narrative works. In both cases, the techniques employed emphasize the sound – music or voice acting – but whilst one is intentional, the other is not. We share our thoughts on these works and discuss some of the current limitations and benefits observed, which leads us into a timely discussion about style in filmmaking. We also discuss some recent developments in AI for creatives, such as the role of Glaze masking and Nightshade corrupting tools.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
Our films this week –
Nina | Denvery Pluto | Episode 2 by Dean Corrigan, released 13 Sept 2023
Prelude to Dust by Dark Machine Audio, released 5 Sept 2023
The generative AI tools we mention in our preliminary discussion are Glaze and Nightshade, information about both can be found here. You can also find out more about Glaze and how it works here –
Not machinima but some great projects to share with you this week.
This has to be SFX rather than cinematic… right? From what I can ascertain, this new game release trailer/taster, called Off the Grid by none other than the infamous Neil Blomkamp (District 9 director), was captured with Technoprops and edited with Dynamixyz Performer –
The short is called SWITCHER, and was released on 3 May. The game will apparently be launched later in 2023 so we can check out the stunning cinematics in more detail then, and hopefully see more shorts from this world in due course.
Our next film this week is a stop-mo Samurai spectacular. Its called Hidari, being based on the work of wooden sculpture Jingoro Hidari. It is presented in the style of a ‘Japanimation’ and is promoted as a pilot for a long-form feature film although its unclear whether or when the release will happen. Its creators are attempting to devise new visual effects that make use of the wooden materials to show texture and joints and, for example, to use sawdust gushing out instead of blood when the characters are being attacked. Here’s the short, released on 8 March –
From one horror to another, this creator has re-imagined Alien as a Pixar movie using Midjourney, ElevenLabs and ChatGPT tools – yep, you read that correctly! The short is by Yellow Medusa and was released on 27 March. Its not animation, but is an interesting visualization nonetheless – maybe all horror movies should be transformed in this way, for those with a more sensitive pallet? Here’s the link –
Finally this week, Tenacious D’s hilarious music vid about video games, is a must watch and which has apparently been so already by more than 18M viewers. Its called Tenacious D – Video Games (our feature image for this post) and was a collaboration with Oney Play, released on 11 May. Enjoy –
This week, we highlight three excellent Unreal storytelling projects, and some other interesting storymaking development projects we think you’ll find just as intriguing.
Unreal Stories
Brave Creatures, released on 2 March, is one of the most inventive and magical stories made using Unreal Engine we’ve seen and it’s not been set on an alien planet full of freakish monsters and travellers in space suits. The creative team, Studio Pallanza (none other than Academy award-winning VFX artist, Adam Valdez) was awarded a Mega Grant to bring this project to life, and it has done a truly outstanding job of it. It will surely be the basis of a new children’s series? Here’s the link –
and if you want to hear Adam discuss the work, check out Jae Salina’s interview with him here –
Promise with Dr. (English version), released on 17 Feb by TT Studio, is another magical story, albeit with a completely different aesthetic. Great editing and storytelling, do check this out too –
Miika is an award-winning film by Ugandan director, Nsiimenta Shevon, released on 27 Feb. This is powerful and disturbing, as only tales of African conflict can be. Beautifully animated by Solomon Jagwe, here’s the link –
Storymaking in Other Ways
This is not a film or an animation, but a fascinating insight into the storymaking possibilities of interactive chatbots and animated robots. In this ‘show and tell’ presentation at SXSW 2023 by Disney Parks’ chair of Experiences and Products Josh D’Amaro, Tinker Bell (Peter Pan’s sidekick) is shown as an animated chatbot in a box and a roller-skating child-like robot is emoted using mocap. These are Disney’s ‘greeters’ of the future, embedded with storytelling capabilities through the design process. What is particularly interesting is that, at least for me, the usual uncanny valley effect had somehow disappeared – what do you think?
In our next selection, MidJourney has been used to conflate two very different yet seemingly complementary storyworlds into a series of bizarre images, one being Star Wars and the other being the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. This work, called Star Wars by MidJourney, by AI Visionary Art, was published on 18 Feb and somehow converts the grotesque and nonsensical creatures into a familiar canon (for some, Damien) –
And finally this week, we share an overview of an InWorld AI driven adventure game called Origins (our feature image for this post), animated using Unreal’s Metahuman characters and presented in the style of a film noir (or rather, a neo-noir). This is vaguely reminiscent of some of those very early games that inspired a lot of machinima creators back in the earliest days, Max Payne for those with long memories. InWorld AI has described its approach as the future of NPCs, but its also their DNA too. The chatbot and naturalistic style interface is a really interesting development for storymaking and storytelling and we’re definitely looking forward to seeing what creators do with this kind of creative platform in future. Check this out –
That’s it for this post, thanks for reading and do share with us anything you spot that you think we should be reviewing on the podcast.
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