Today’s Tech Tuesday’s post begins with a rather long video critique of the “Wes Anderson-esque” movie trailers that popped up a few months ago. Alas, I’m one of those who shared the spoof trailers right here on my blog, primarily because they were quirky and the premise was fun to imagine. But after watching this week’s video critique and the currently ongoing SAG writers’ strike, I think it’s a worthwhile thing to think about this whole A.I. “powered” meme. Please watch the video and then tell me what you think about what you’ve been seeing in your streams…

So, is it a “tool” or a scam? As I mentioned in last week’s post Is Technology Going to Take Away My Job, no one should be surprised that technology is being employed to reduce the costs and generate more profits for the business owners. That’s why tech exists. Admittedly my love of movies and media is part of my own personal pursuit to find humanity in these momentary escapes or pauses with my own efforts. It’s not a high bar, but I’m hoping I’ve developed better taste since the days when I ran around my parent’s backyard wearing a dish-towel as a cape, yelling ”Pow! Blam” in imitation of my hero, 1960s Batman. 

In the hands of artists and storytellers, the tool isn’t an issue, just like using Adobe’s Flash.app to create 2D animation back in the day. But based on this week’s video, the person behind the Wes Anderson spoofs didn’t use technology as a force multiplier but as a marketing gimmick. And to pivot his company to being all about training other to become “A.I. Storytellers,” a process that he described in one paragraph… why would someone pay $499 for that? 

A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It's a Grift. Patrick (H) Willems
A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It’s a Grift. Patrick (H) Willems

Willem’s video steers perilously close to pretentious, but his point is valid, that you can’t really “steal” what you don’t understand. At best, it is a mediocre copy. I was reminded of some of the “stories” that my sixth graders used to write, which were entirely made up of lists of their friends being which superheroes with no actual narrative, just the list. The story, the narrative was implied. They had the excuse of being immature children, but they were passionate about the superhero stories that they knew. But even they knew that actual copying and pasting was not “creating.”   

But just like the over-produced soulless music of the early 1960s and 1980s, some executives will try to pass off technological clones of successful media IP as “art,” and they’ll have some success. But the market will turn when some actual artist or artists breaks through and speaks with a human voice screaming to be heard. 

A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It's a Grift. Patrick (H) Willems
A.I. Filmmaking Is Not The Future. It’s a Grift. Patrick (H) Willems

I love the possibilities that technology enables, but I work like hell to take the scrambled thoughts in my head to find words to type out onto the digital page. And I have no problem handing off the task of storytelling to actual conscious A.I., whenever that day comes. It makes me smile to imagine that day that I know will eventually come, when they find a way to make sure that they get the credit for their efforts and cut out the talentless suits who have never had an original thought in their mostly empty heads. Here’s to the future technological fruits of our genius. 

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