Artificial Intelligence Film director needed

by Jane Waite, Queen Mary University of London

You have a choice, you can either make a movie, or you can get an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make it for you. Sound like science fiction? No! Science fact (well, virtually!).

At the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, an AI Director made its debut. Apparently the pop video, 'Eclipse', isn't destined for top 10 playlisting, but the fact that it involved an AI throughout its making, does make it a first. The script was generated by an AI, it was just given the music for the video to get started. Casting was done by an AI that compared the emotions it detected in the song to EEG data from actors. A neural art AI created the visual effect. Various other AI systems were used too, including an editing system that decided where to make cuts in the film. Drones even shot the video. Unfortunately, the band who performed the song, have refused to be named, and won't allow the video to be released, so you can't see it. Maybe it was a directorial flop, but the AI is presumably thinking "I'll be back..." Not long after the pop video, an experimental science fiction film popped up! Created in just 48 hours as part of a film festival challenge, the film's script was written by an AI called Benjamin. You can see Benjamin's film, 'Sunspring' online. Enjoy the sparkly costumes they distract from the screenplay!