New York – New York (AP) – The use of artificial intelligence in making films explodes. And a young film festival, now during its first year, shows what this technology can do on the screen today.
The AI Film Annual Film Festival organized by Runway, a company specializing in video generated by AI, started in New York Thursday evening with ten short films from around the world making their debut on the big screen.
“Three years ago, it was such a crazy idea,” said Cristóbal Valenzuela, CEO of Runway, with a crowd. “Today, millions of people make billions of videos using tools we have dreamed of.”
The Film Festival itself has developed considerably since its beginnings in 2023. About 300 people submitted films at the start, said Valenzuela, against around 6,000 bids received this year.
The programming of a single hour has extended to a range of creative styles and ambitious themes – with “Total Pixel Space” by Jacob Alder winning the first prize of the festival. The 9 -minute and 28 -second film questions the number of possible images – real or not – in the digital space and uses mathematics to calculate a colossal number. A superb series of images, ranging from familiar moments to life to those who completely fold reality, gives viewers an overview of what exists.
Meanwhile, Andrew Salter’s “jailbird”, who hung second place, tells the journey of a chicken – from the bird’s point of view – to a human prison in the United Kingdom to participate in a joint rehabilitation program. And “One”, a futuristic story of Ricardo Villavicencio and Edward Saatchi on interplanetary trips followed in third place.
The 10 films broadcast were finalists selected from thousands of people submitted to the Runway IA Film Festival this year. The shorts will also be presented to the projections held in Los Angeles and Paris next week.
The way AI is used and executed is a factor that judges evaluate when determining the winners of the festival. But not all the films made were made entirely using AI. Although the submission criteria require that each film includes the use of the video generated by AI, there is no defined threshold, which means that certain films can adopt a more “mixed media” approach – such as the combination of plans live from actors or real sounds and sounds with elements generated by AI.
“We are trying to encourage people to explore and experience it,” said Valenzuela in an interview before Thursday’s screening.
Creating a coherent film using a generative AI is not an easy task. This can take a long list of directions and many detailed prompts to even get a short scene to have a coherent meaning and appearance. However, the scope of what this type of technology can do has increased considerably since the first Runway IA film festival in 2023 – and Valenzuela says that this is reflected in today’s submissions. Although there are still limits, the video generated by AI becomes more and more realistic and realistic.
Runway encourages the use of its own AI tools for films entered in its festival, but creators are also allowed to turn to other resources and tools when they assemble the films – and in industry, the tools that use AI to create videos extending from text, image and / or audio prompts have quickly improved in recent years, while being more and more available.
“The way (this technology) lived within cinematographic culture and the media, and pop culture, has really accelerated,” said Joshua Glick, associate professor of cinema and electronic arts at Bard College.
He adds that the Runway Film Festival, which is part of a handful of windows aimed at highlighting AI’s creative capacities, arrives while businesses in this space are looking for an increased “legitimacy and recognition” of the tools they create – in order to cement the partnerships in Hollywood accordingly.
The presence of AI in Hollywood is already large, and perhaps larger than many filmmakers. Beyond the applications of “titles” (and sometimes controversial) that large budget films have been “deceive age” or create catchy cascades, Glick notes, this technology is often incorporated into a post-production mounting range, digital and additional retouching behind the scenes of colors like sorting sequences.
Industry leaders repeatedly indicate how AI can improve the efficiency of the film production process – allowing creatives to perform a task that has taken hours, for example, in a few minutes – and promote additional innovation.
However, the growth and rapid adoption of AI have also strengthened anxiety around booming technology – including its implications for workers.
The international alliance of employees of the theatrical scene – which represents the behind -the -scenes entertainment workers in the United States and Canada – has long adopted new technologies that improve the narration, “said Vanessa Holtgrewe, International Vice -President of IATSE, in a statement sent by electronic mail.” But we have also been clear: IA should not be used subsistence of workers. “
IATSE and other unions have continued to meet the major studios and establish provisions in efforts to provide railings around the use of AI. The Screen Actors Guild-Americaan Federation of Television and Radio Artists also expressed the protections of AI for its members, a key collation point in recent work actions.
For the Runway AI Film Festival, Valenzuela hopes that the projection films that incorporate the video generated by AI can present what is possible – and how it says that this technology can help, not hurt, creatives in the work they do today.
“It is natural to fear change … (but) it is important to understand what you can do with it,” said Valenzuela. Even cinema, he adds, was born “because of scientific breakthroughs which at the time were very uncomfortable for many people”.
