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A Hitchhiker's Guide to AIPart 7. Beyond the First Chapter of AI Movie: To Everyone’s ScreenOpening: The beginning of the film and the beginning of the AI filmThe Current State of AI Cinema: Mateo and the First Turning Point in Film HistoryThe Evolution of AI Films: Beyond Emotion and NarrativeEveryone's Film: A New Chapter in Creation OpensNow, start telling your story.
A Hitchhiker's Guide to AI
Part 7. Beyond the First Chapter of AI Movie: To Everyone’s Screen
Opening: The beginning of the film and the beginning of the AI film
This article is based on a message of deep insight and encouragement shared with us by Professor Daesik Kim of KAIST , who was a judge at the AI International Film Festival Awards Ceremony.
“Today’s AI movies are similar to those from the early 1910s . AI movies are just at the beginning, and it is very important to try to incorporate narratives into AI movies in the midst of greater technological change.” – Professor Dae-sik Kim of KAIST
[Movie posters. 'A Trip to the Moon, 1902' & 'Mateo, 2024']
In the early 1890s, movies were simply “moving images.” Audiences were awed by the rapid-fire flipping of scenes from textbooks, even simple images of trains pulling into stations or water dripping. It was a time when simply seeing reality on screen seemed like magic.
[ The Horse in Motion, by Eadweard Muybridge, 1878. ]
“Question: Are there any moments when all four legs of a running horse are in the air at the same time?”
“Question: Are there any moments when all four legs of a running horse are in the air at the same time?”
But the first turning point comes when a simple motion picture transforms into art by telling our story. Many of you may remember it as the iconic scene where a rocket lands on the face of the moon.
It was a silent film called A Trip to the Moon, made in 1902 by Georges Méliès, a magician turned film director. This 14-minute-long first science fiction film went beyond mere movement to include narrative and direction, showing that films could go beyond technical experiments and become art. It was the first film to tell the story of humanity's earnest desire for space travel.
[ Early film: A Trip to the Moon, Georges Méliès, 1902 ]
Surprisingly, today's AI movies are very similar to the starting points of early movies.
AI video in 2024 also starts from technology that generates short videos based on text and images, and gradually evolves into a storytelling stage that captures narrative and emotion.
The winner of the Korea AI International Film Festival, 'Mateo', which we introduced in the previous episode, was a 16-minute-long drama that contained the eventful life of Mateo, a Mexican avocado farm manager. In Mateo, we went beyond simple technical implementation and performed various tasks to test the possibility of AI movies that capture the characters' narratives and emotions.
[AI Film: Mateo Trailer, Mateo AI Studio, 2024]
The Current State of AI Cinema: Mateo and the First Turning Point in Film History
In the early 1900s, silent films could only produce one-minute-long films due to technical limitations. Theaters satisfied audiences by showing several short films in a row for 20 minutes. However, the public's surprise at short images soon faded, and the film industry needed a new change. The reality of the film industry at the time and the reality of the AI film industry today are somewhat similar.
As technology developed, the length of silent films gradually increased to 10 minutes, and story-oriented films such as Georges Méliès' 'A Trip to the Moon' and Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times' began to appear. Also, with the development of new directing techniques and editing techniques, it began to establish its status and identity as an important art genre.
[Silent film. Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin, 1936]
The same goes for the AI movies we see online today.
It is still starting with short test videos of 10 seconds to 1 minute or cookie videos focused on interest, but it is gradually evolving in the direction of including auteur films with stories and various aesthetic attempts. These experiments are playing an important role in broadening the base of AI films and expanding the public's understanding of video language.
In that context, Mateo also stands at an important turning point in the history of AI cinema.
Just as 'A Trip to the Moon' was the first step from a technological experiment to evolving into art, 'Matteo' also explored the possibility of AI films that convey narrative and emotion through their 16-minute length. It was a narrative challenge that attempted to tell a human story using AI technology.
The Evolution of AI Films: Beyond Emotion and Narrative
The advent of sound films in the 1930s was another turning point in film history.
In the silent film era, it is said that a pianist or an orchestra played in the theater to cover up the noise of the projection machine. However, in 1927, 'The Jazz Singer' took movies to a new level of conveying emotions by including dialogue and song. It was also commercially successful.
[ Meteor Film: The Jazz Singer, Richard Fleischer, 1927 ]
AI movies are now following a similar evolutionary path.
Until 2023, most AI movies were in the form of silent films with only background music, but now attempts are being made to deliver natural dialogue and express delicate emotions.
So, let's take a quick look at the past, present, and future technologies utilized in Mateo.
[ Past: Technological elements used in the AI film Mateo, Summer 2024 ]
Midjourney: Creating consistent characters and appropriate cinematic images over time.
Gen-3 Lip Sync Technology: Naturally synchronizes a character's voice with lip movements.
Kling's Character Consistency: Maintaining character consistency over time.
Suno AI: Personalized music generation that enhances stories and emotional lines.
[Current: AI technology updated in the last 3 months since Mateo's creation, Winter 2024]
Act-One in Gen-3: Video-to-Video (V2V) production technology using real-life acting scenes
Kling's Consistent Character & AI Try-On: Real-world model utilization and costume change technology suitable for the production situation
The most realistic and consistent quality image-to-video (I2V) creation tool called Haiulo
Text-to-music (T2M) music creation technology, including the upgraded Suno
Text-to-sound/voice (T2S/V) technology that creates new sound effects and human voices
[ Future: AI technologies expected to be used in the future, 2025 ]
Already, you can use the images of real actors or ordinary people as characters in movies.
The acting of AI actors is rapidly becoming more natural. Muscle movements, understanding and expression of emotions will become more sophisticated. On screen, it will become difficult to distinguish them from people.
The most powerful video creation tools available today will be revealed, including Sora, VEO, EMO, and VASA-1.
MovieGen, as announced by Meta, will simultaneously generate the sounds required for each scene during the video creation process.
Adobe's upcoming Premiere Pro will include the ability to link external AI creation tools as third-party tools and automatically create and link blank clips during the video editing process.
Technology is being released that generates images output to a game engine in real time based on the game user's choices.
All of the above technologies will evolve to be easier for the average person to use, and one day even in everyday natural language.
The future mentioned above is not so far away.
Everyone's Film: A New Chapter in Creation Opens
[ Martin Scorsese & Bong Joon-ho won the Best Director Oscar for Parasite, 2020 ]
“The most personal is the most creative.” – Martin Scorsese
This famous message, which director Bong Joon-ho touched upon at the Academy Awards, makes us think about the nature of creation. How should we, the public, interpret and utilize this huge and heavy message?
AI technology is lowering the threshold for creation, opening an era in which anyone can make their own story into a movie. Things that were impossible in the past without large capital and equipment are now giving opportunities to individuals and small groups. And that small possibility has been verified by Mateo.
As technology advances, we will return to more human stories.
AI movies are just getting started. They look like they were made in 1910. However, thanks to learnings from the long history of cinema, they will already expand into auteur feature films and experiential art that users can create together in real time by combining with AR devices or metaverses.
Imagine a world where videos taken by our children are instantly converted into Iron Man videos by requesting AI, and where we can create, share, and communicate in real time videos like Hollywood blockbusters with our friends.
An era is dawning in which the daily lives of ordinary individuals are recreated as narratives on the screen.
Now, start telling your story.
Movies are no longer an object of appreciation.
We are now standing on the threshold of a new era of cinema, an era in which everyone becomes a creator.
AI is opening the next chapter in cinema history, and you are the star of this chapter.
Turn on your camera and start telling your story.
We will prepare specific methods.
🍀 AI visual director who visualizes imagination and ideas, Mintbear
The full version of Mateo AI's film is only available for screening at other film festivals, and at various offline events and training courses.
We are preparing another Mateo screening in a different format, so we will prepare it and welcome you.