It's a word that gets tossed around a lot. But its use, or over-use, in today's world just might be justified.
When you consider that without stories civilization would not exist it may be just a skosh easier to grant “story” a hall pass.
Without stories we could not see the world. We could not make sense of our surroundings. We could not know ourselves.
When an exciting new art form or technology comes along story sometimes takes a backseat to technique. Lost to the dazzling visuals of the new medium.
But not for long.
Light and Magic a new documentary on Disney+ takes us through the history of Industrial Light and Magic and the advent of computer-generated filmmaking. George Lucas led the way in using computers to make films, but as he says in Light and Magic, “It’s about story. Story. Story. And always will be.” No matter the technology, stories are what it's all about.
We are entering a new visual era once again, and story is sometimes being forgotten under a welter of staggering AI generated imagery. And there are, once again, the same questions: Will the human element be lost? Will creatives be forgotten? Are we replaceable? Once again, the answer is “No.”
But it won't come without some pain. The Creature Shop, the legendary division of Lucas Film that made character models, didn’t do so well in the new world of computers. Massive sets with sculptors and model makers were replaced by computer artists in darkened rooms quietly moving pixels on high-end workstations.
Much of the handcrafting was lost. But what was gained is essentially every movie we see today.
Without computer-generated filmmaking there would be no Forrest Gump or Toy Story or Inception. Even movies that don’t appear computer-generated owe much to digital artistry. Their illusions are so complete we just don't notice.
There will always be a new technology. A new way of doing things. But story will always be the bedrock. Even as we are sometimes overwhelmed by the fabulous eye candy of the new age.
Story is not dead! Long live the story!
This is Nextness. More than a newsletter, a mindset.
Every week, more and more generative video is coming onto the scene. What used to be awkward, yet laudable, experiments are becoming watchable entertainment. What was once easy to classify as mere “video,” now more frequently deserves the handle “film.”
“The Frost” by the folks at Waymark earns the film classification hand over fist.
At twelve minutes in length, “The Frost” is a survival thriller complete with all the trappings you’d expect from a cinema release. Drama, deft editing, tight storyline, and killer sound design.
The film was directed by Josh Rubin and visually generated by the team of Lexi Dietz, Tommy Herman and Zach Poley.
What makes the film so remarkable is how quickly we forget this is an AI-assisted wonder. As the film draws us in, we quickly lose our sensation of uncanny valleys and begin to flat out root for the storytellers.
From the action we soon discover that the earth has been turned into a giant ball of ice by an AI weather program gone wrong. We join a handful of survivors at the South Pole awaiting an uncertain rescue.
Act Two is all about a desperate assault on a mountain that could lead to their rescue. Into thin air we go. Joined by a legendary Japanese auteur.
“I was really inspired by the short film ‘The Blizzard’ by Akira Kurozawa,” says director Rubin. “Also something is our film inspired by Kurosawa was this feeling that the mountain was coming after them. That idea of the mountain as a character.”
The climbing scenes provide the film's most dramatic moments. They also provided the creators with the biggest challenges.
To create something truly novel, they sought to create a look and feel that was unique to their film. Creating continuity and a unique film look can be taxing as DALL-E frequently struggles with new and unusual visualizations.
“DALL-E seemed to do a really good job of getting people up a mountain climbing it. But it didn’t seem to want to give us people that looked like they were from this film,” says AI Generation Artist Zach Poley.
“A lot of times it was mountaineers and people in red and white high-visibility jackets with helmets on. That's not at all the type of people we are dealing with in this film. They are researchers. They are not mountain climbers.”
In creating this scene the team relied heavily on two tools built into DALL-E: outpainting and inpainting.
With outpainting, DALL-E allowed the team to augment images they by prompting the program to imagine what was outside the chosen frame – either left and right, or up and down.
The counterpart to outpainting is inpainting. The process is not unlike photoshopping with words. Coming to terms with how we see the world and how DALL-E sees the world can be exhausting yet rewarding. Above all else, it demands a boatload of trial and error.
After 12 minutes of action ending with a cliffhanger, what you are most impressed by is how well the film gels. How well continuity and consistency hold things together. While these are difficult challenges in the sphere of traditional filmmaking they are even harder to achieve in the nascent world of generative cinema.
As much as AI garners the headlines, we are not yet beyond the need for human talent and artistry. Story still matters. And details count. There is an incredible amount of human toil and nuance required to make things hit the way “The Frost” does.
But as much as “The Frost” affirms films can be made in new ways, it is happening with the assistance of something we don't yet fully understand. There are more twists and turns to come.
“We are dealing with an artist that is unlike anything the world has seen,” says Rubin. “And that is the AI.”
Tarkovsky. Fassbinder. Kubrick. Hitchcock. Talk with Darien Davis long enough and they all come into play. Like many of the very best Midjourney artists, Darien's mind is furnished with an encyclopedic collection of filmic inspiration.
Ask Darien, how at age 7, Hitchcock’s North by Northwest changed his life. Or how a Freddie Krueger/Frozen mashup gave him nightmares as a five-year-old. It all effects how he sees the world today.
One of Darien’s creations is Niji Jumps, a graphic novel set in a futuristic cosmos with space samurais. On the surface it's a stunning sci-fi thriller. But there's a twist. What we are really witnessing is an interstellar battle between a prompt engineer and the subjects he has created. It's a tale Jonathan Swift may have told had he joined us in our age of AI.
Darien explains the meta-ness of it all, built on Midjourney's almost comical obstinance in failing to properly render digits, “In the end, a battle is taking place between the prompt engineer with delusions of grandeur and the characters inside who are, kind of frankly, trying to give the finger to their master. But they can’t do it because their hands won’t resolve.”
How all this happens in the mind of one person can be traced back to a surprising source. As in the case with many of today's most facile visual artists, they counterintuitively emphasize the importance of words:
“It’s truly just a case of formation of words, structure of words, and the right choice of words that can really get you there.”
Damien freely shares his secret to visual fluidity: “Number one, read. Number two, read. Number three, go look up some synonyms, then read some more.”
In this new world of creativity, it doesn’t take long for Darien to bring up a theme he frequently fixates on – the global democratization of creativity:
“On the African continent there is over 44% internet penetration, globally we’re at 66%. That means there is over 200 million people in Africa who have no electricity or access to the internet.”
He continues at a slightly higher octave, “Within that 200 million people, there’s going to be one person who artistically, or scientifically, or whatever the case may be, has the right answers that we all need. And all it requires is electricity and an internet connection.”
In this fashion, the greatest power of Midjourney today is its inclusionary nature. MJ is creating a global peer group, where people share, reveal, and teach others.
Darien is no exception. He is a creator and a teacher – the dreamer/doer persona today's world so desperately requires. One of his passions is showing others how to best understand the new tools:
“It's just words, at the end of the day. No one owns the words. How we put them together is what makes them unique. And what makes us unique. And machines aren't about to replace that anytime soon.”
Through his on-line course Photofeelism (coming soon) you can go on a journey with someone who not only gets the tools but understands the transcendent art of storytelling.
You can keep up with Darien's work and teaching at www.photofeelism.com
Conferences are back. And people still rule (especially in person).
Last week I was on an AI panel about creativity at Colorado Ad Day in Boulder. After my session was over I was free to hear others and was drawn in by a presentation called “Be Friends with Legal (Yes, Really).” I had to know more. The presentation was given by Zach Roif, an artist and creative director at Mischief, and it didn't disappoint.
Zach pointed out that great work is never a solo process. It’s a bunch of people making crazy stuff happen, and at the center is usually a person or two who will crawl across broken glass to see that the work gets done.
Zach has made this happen numerous times. His Coors Flashlight campaign cleverly worked around the rules against of NFL athletes hawking alcohol. Hellvetica is the inside joke every designer cannot help but adore. And Merch Aid was created at a time when COVID was decimating the world of small business.
There is no formula for great work. Every campaign is different. But Zach shared three rules that just might make it easier to follow in his footsteps.
Rule #1:
Piss people off because of how much you ask.
If you want to get it done, you must ask for people’s help and support. Over and over and over. It’s nothing personal when they say no.
The weirder the idea, the more initial resistance it will face. You must get past this. Persistence pays.
Rule #2:
Great creative only gets done when everyone does a good job, not just creative.
This means account services, legal, strategy and whoever else can help get the ball over the goal line. It takes a small army of really talented people. Everyone must feel like part of the crusade.
Rule #3:
Never settle for “We’re not sure the client will buy this."
A lot of ideas die before they get their day in the sun. Get your ideas in front of the client (the more senior the better), and see what happens. One of Zach’s best ideas languished in the appendix of a deck until a very senior client happened to see it. It could have easily been left out.
Stuff can happen only if it gets seen. And sold.
You can see more of Zach's work at zackroif.com
Once upon a time, advertising had a golden age. It was a creative renaissance. Much of it coincided with the swinging 60s, but its leaders still wore pencil-thin neckties and shirts with starched collars. No one typified the creative revolution more than Bill Bernbach.
“Facts Are Not Enough,” a speech Bernbach gave to the assembled members of the 4As in Greenbrier, West Virginia in 1980, provides more than most of us will ever need to know about the art of commercial storytelling. It is a 12-page masterclass you can find attached to the link below. I hope you enjoy it and hang on every word, as I have more than a few times.
Bernbach was the king:
“The truth isn't the truth until people believe you, and they can't believe you if they don't know what you are saying, and they can't know what you are saying if they don't listen to you, and they won't listen to you if you're not interesting, and you won't be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly.”
AI changes everything. Including storytelling.The Nextness Newsletter is brought to you by Storymachine. As a leader in the AI video space, Storymachine scripts, films and delivers everything from branded content and commercials to corporate masterclasses and training films. If you are looking to unleash a new kind of storytelling, Storymachine just might be your jam. storymachinefilms.com
