City Waves – Ai Short Surf Film
A few days ago, I decided to experiment with AI-generated video and quickly found myself down the rabbit hole. I ended up creating a very short film using AI-generated assets and here’s what I learned:
Trial and Error:
Creating the film involved a lot of trial and error. There are still many creative decisions, directions and prompts to consider, making it a lengthy process. It was slightly disappointing to find that some friends undervalued the effort, thinking “didn’t the robots do all the work?”. In reality, it took several days of work. If it were called software rather than AI, I think perceptions would be different.
Movement:
Runway AI is a fantastic tool, but it doesn’t quite create true 3D movement, more like 2.5D parallax movement. To achieve better motion, I may need to explore ComfyUI stable diffusion
Cyber Cillian Murphy:
The name came about when my audio engineer friend heard the film. The voiceover was created using Eleven Labs, and it was one of the few voices that fit the vibe. Voiceover artists shouldn’t worry just yet; there is still a distinct lack of emotion in the AI-generated voice. However still an amazing tool, just maybe not so dramatic as yet.
Colour:
Generating a consistent colour palette was challenging and required considerable correction afterward. This is something I would address earlier in the process next time.
Creative Expression:
It felt great to have a fast outlet for creative expression. The feeling of overwhelm and overstimulation is one I experience daily in the city, and a break in nature helps me reset. Having the tools to visually represent this feeling helped me express what was on my mind.
Future Uses:
I will still be mainly using ai image generation in previsualization. It can help show clients what to expect in terms of story and vision, no longer confining ideas to a creative director’s head or storyboard pages. This can potentially save time, money, and confusion by keeping everyone on the same page.
Disclaimer:
I’m not actually very good at surfing, but the bald, bearded man in the last sequence is an AI version of me as if I was. Now, I’m off to Scarborough tomorrow, where some big waves are expected to hit the shores.
Script, Ideas, and Treatment: ChatGPT
Image Creation: Midjourney
Image Enhancement: Magnific AI and Photoshop
Image Animation: Runway
Voiceover: ElevenLabs
Music: Suno
SFX: Freesound (a bit of a cheat, but the SFX AI sites I found were a chore)
Edited in: Adobe Premiere Pro
Poster: DALL-E Open Ai
Special thanks to Curious Refuge for the inspiration
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