5 min readNew DelhiMay 4, 2023 02:20 PM IST
First published on: May 3, 2023 at 02:57 PM IST
Where does it stop? After AI mastered text, imagery, and audio, the next realm it’s trying to conquer is video. Although its attempts are far from realistic and often bizarrely amusing, some creators have already used it to generate entire movie trailers for nonexistent films and ads for imaginary products.
One of the most popular examples is Star Wars by Wes Anderson, a fan-made clip that reimagines the classic sci-fi saga in the quirky style of the indie director. The trend has even sparked Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo’s interest who has predicted that AI-generated feature films could arrive in just two years. Let’s explore the latest developments in AI filmmaking.
Star Wars, except its directed by Wes Anderson
What if Star Wars was directed by Wes Anderson? That’s the question that Curious Refuge on YouTube answered with a fan-made trailer of a Star Wars movie, created using generative AI. Titled ‘The Galactic Menagerie,’ the trailer features familiar Star Wars characters such as Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but with the faces of actors who often appear in Anderson’s films, such as Scarlett Johansson, Owen Wilson and Jeff Goldblum. The trailer also mimics Anderson’s distinctive visual style, with symmetrical compositions, pastel colour palettes, and quirky humour.
The Galactic Menagerie has received mixed reactions from fans of both Star Wars and Wes Anderson. Some praised the creativity and the fantasy casting, while others criticised the poor quality of the AI-generated faces and the lack of dialogue. Some also questioned the legality and ethics of using AI to create art that resembles someone else’s work. The trailer is part of a recent trend of using AI software to produce content that imitates Wes Anderson’s aesthetic, which has been applied to various movies and genres.
A trippy rom-com trailer set in the “glamorous 1930s era”
Another trailer shared by Twitter user @ChristianF369 for a movie that’ll obviously never go into production – The Great Catspy – is a lot more controversial. Featuring glittery parties with joyful people dancing and drinking to lively music, the trailer looks to be made out of a mix of multiple AI software.
https://twitter.com/realchasecurtis/status/1652416773520498689?s=20
While the trailer is a great demonstration of how far generative AI technology has come, perhaps @ChristianF369 got too carried away, declaring in the post’s caption that “Hollywood is done for.” The assessment prompted hilarious responses from hundreds of users who obviously disagreed.
The awkward beer ad with deformed bottles and cans
It’s not a movie trailer but has every right to be mentioned in this article. This ad, which is full of awkward beer guzzlers sucking on deformed glasses and cans of an unmentioned beer brand, is probably something you’ve never seen before – with elements that somehow manage to look both real and unreal at the same time.
https://twitter.com/OnlyBangersEth/status/1652775371182424065?s=20
The AI-generated ad manages to capture some realistic faces in a few scenes, but most others look monstrous, with many even having extra fingers on their hands. There is also a sudden fire that breaks out at some point, engulfing the party venue, but the partygoers remain completely unfazed.
Joe Russo thinks AI movies will be a thing in the next two years
AI-generated videos may be far from refinement, but Joe Russo says thinks that artificial intelligence could revolutionise the film industry in the near future – or the next two years to be precise. He predicts that AI-generated could offer personalised and interactive storytelling, with stories that constantly evolve as you progress through them per your choices.
“Potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling. So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or a TV show.”
Netflix already has dabbled with this idea, releasing interactive films like 2018’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and 2019’s You vs. Wild where you control the storyline with your choices. But these films are getting rarer as Netflix focuses on other projects. Perhaps AI can brings new films like these to the fore once more.
“You could walk into your house and save the AI on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue,” he continued, adding that it could even go so far as to render the user in this film or non-AI-generated projects.
As AI technology becomes more advanced and accessible, it could potentially be used to create content that rivals or surpasses human creativity. However, it could also pose ethical and legal challenges, such as plagiarism, manipulation, and loss of jobs.
A scene from the AI-generated trailer for the non-existent rom-com 'The Great Catspy' (Express photo) 
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