Tech companies are slowly but surely coaxing filmmakers into tinkering with their AI tools. James Cameron is on Stability AI’s board of directors, and Lionsgate struck a deal with Runway to use it as a pre-production tool (just don’t say A24 is using it). Now Blumhouse is the latest to take the artificial intelligent plunge, and they’ve convinced a few other filmmakers to join them.
Blumhouse partnered with Facebook-owner Meta to get three filmmakers to test out the tech giant’s new AI tool Meta Movie Gen. The tech is meant to use simple text prompts to produce videos and sounds, edit existing video or photos, and do so at 1080p HD video and audio quality. But per a blog post, the tech won’t be integrated into public products on Facebook until next year, and they first wanted filmmakers to test it and provide feedback as part of a pilot program.
So Blumhouse got Aneesh Chaganty (“Searching,” “Run”), The Spurlock Sisters (“Breakline”) and Casey Affleck (“I’m Still Here,” “Light of My Life”) to produce short films that incorporate AI elements as generated by Movie Gen into their films. The filmmakers also worked with researchers at Meta to try out the tools.
Chaganty’s short, fittingly titled “i h8 ai,” is a personal story (that doubles as a Meta ad) about how Chaganty made his first movie when he was 10. He takes old, grainy home movie clips and used Movie Gen to add in the backdrop and setting he actually wanted. So he subs in a wonky-looking Manhattan skyline in one shot, he turns his kitchen into a bank vault in another, and he turns his brother dressed as a cloaked man in a mask into a cartoon alien.
“The thing I like about this tool is that little Aneesh would still have had to make a movie. He’d still have had to write a story, plan the shots, get the cameras, force his brother to do take after take,” Chaganty narrates in the short film. “I hate AI, but with a tool like this, I don’t know, maybe I’d have just dreamed a little bigger.”
Chaganty’s film is available now, and the films from Affleck and the Spurlock Sisters will be available on Blumhouse’s YouTube page later today. Meta also has experimental videos from creators such as artist Paige Piskin and travel photographer Eric Rubens available on its Movie Gen website.
The blog post adds that “there’s no replacement for hands-on filmmaking” but that the AI tool helped the filmmakers quickly express their ideas, explore new possibilities for background audio and sound effects, and further empower them. The pilot program will continue into 2025 with more filmmakers offering feedback down the road.
“Artists are and forever will be the lifeblood of our industry. Innovation and tools that can help those
artists better tell their stories is something we are always keen to explore, and we welcomed the chance
for some of them to test this cutting-edge technology and give their notes on its pros and cons while it’s
still in development,” Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse, said in a statement. “These are going to be powerful tools for directors, and it’s important to engage the creative industry in their development to make sure they’re best suited for the job.”
