Editor’s Note:
In this text we discuss to Diederik Jeangout, inventive companion at Fledge, who reveals how synthetic intelligence (AI) drove their newest challenge targeted on plastic air pollution. Through instruments equivalent to Midjourney and Runway Gen 2, the crew overcame technological challenges and leveraged inventive freedom to generate superb outcomes. Diederik highlights the transformative potential of AI in promoting, providing an optimistic imaginative and prescient for the way forward for creativity within the digital age.
Can you clarify your background and what allow you to to be a inventive companion Fledge?
I’ve been working for a couple of decade as a inventive in promoting businesses, dealing with each the copywriting and the artwork course, however my love has at all times been to find core ideas – the spark of an thought if you’ll. There’s magic in having a Word doc with a whole bunch of strains of random concepts till one grabs your consideration, and also you simply realize it’s the one.
I acquired to some extent the place I had achieved many alternative campaigns, had the possibility to work with totally different groups and artistic administrators, all shaping me into the inventive individual I’m at the moment. I felt it was time to take that have and form a inventive firm of my very own. My brother Roeland had a manufacturing firm that was up till that time primarily targeted on social content material, however wished to evolve right into a full-fledged manufacturing firm targeted on high-level execution but additionally creating in-house movies for good causes too.
As youngsters we entered a neighborhood youth artwork competitors with a brief movie we’ve made, along with a buddy of Roeland, and we received. So, in hindsight it was the primary style of what we may accomplish, being very totally different personalities however subsequently additionally a powerful complementary duo.
Tell us a little bit bit about your challenge and the way utilizing AI was totally different from earlier one.
It all began out with a single post-it is hanging on my wall saying ‘A baby consists of 75% water and 0.0001% plastic’. I doubt these numbers are scientifically right (the concept is) but this little yellow post-it was a continuing reminder of this terrible indisputable fact that nanoplastics are already present in fetuses contained in the womb.
I’d at all times envisioned this story being a vignette movie that began with a extra sociocritical strategy however would evolve into an emotional story with the punch or reveal on the finish. But it additionally needed to be visually charming, plastics being this bizarre contradiction of being horrible for the setting but additionally trying vibrant and taking the type of so many objects we crave and love.
Realistically it was by no means going to be doable to understand this movie with dwell motion footage and VFX, with the numerous visible concepts I had in thoughts. So the challenge acquired shelved for some time. And then all of the sudden Runway Gen 2 got here out, and we knew it was solely a matter of time earlier than we may begin creating this movie.
Tell us about your course of. How lengthy did it take? What strategies did you utilize? What applications do you utilize?
In essence it’s an very simple workflow. Over the course of some months we’ve prompted about 1300 Midjourney pictures, looking for that excellent nonetheless – a thumbnail if you’ll. We typically fed unsatisfactory Midjourney outcomes into Photoshop, attempting to refine them into the concepts we wished but we couldn’t get Midjourney to supply. Of course, Photoshop’s AI characteristic got here in extraordinarily helpful for this. And then we fed them again into Midjourney, till we acquired the photographs we wished.
We then took these stills and ran them by way of Runway Gen 2, rendering out about 1100 clips in whole. Throughout the 2-3 months we had been engaged on this movie (on and off within the evenings, weekends and the odd empty days within the schedule) we skilled how Runway Gen 2 was getting higher and likewise the way it acquired further options that actually helped us attempting to attain what we wished.
In the top I used solely about 46 clips within the last edit, so a whole lot of rushes had been thrown away. We edited in Premiere Pro, including only a few inventory pictures on the finish as a result of I wished the foetus to look 100% real looking and scientifically right.
Were there another concerns?
The NGO we had been working with, Plastic Soup Foundation, cherished the idea and fundamental movie thought and gave us just about 100% inventive freedom to inform the story as we supposed. I feel that was actually key on this course of, working with the AI instruments we needed to our disposal. As the important thing factor on this course of was to embrace the constraints, we had been working with but additionally welcoming the sudden surprises AI gave us.
For occasion, within the opening sequence there’s a shot with a hand coated in plastic, but it feels fairly oily as nicely, as in the event you’re seeing plastic and oil on the similar time. That wasn’t the intention, nevertheless it served as an ideal transition shot going from the oil sequence in direction of the plastic sequence.
And after all, coming into this challenge not understanding what to anticipate means you have to be snug throwing a whole lot of hours away. There was one single shot that took about 3 hours to make, from Midjourney to Photoshop and again and into Runway Gen 2, solely to scrap it ultimately. And it was by far the one one.
How did you go about storyboarding? Did you have to use AI? We’d like to see some preliminary frames.
The indisputable fact that we’re a small crew, and our consumer gave us their whole belief in telling the story, meant that we didn’t use storyboards. We began out with a completed script, understanding the totally different chapters and first visible concepts, however we stored tons of psychological house whereas executing the factor – all the pieces was nonetheless doable.
We began out chronologically and as soon as we had the primary sequence completed, we began hopping backwards and forwards between chapters within the movie, based mostly on our temper and time we had that day. (Some elements wanted far more consideration and work than different segments).
What was your favourite second or the funniest a part of the challenge?
As with any inventive challenge there are ups and downs. Moments, you want you by no means began and instances your confidence within the challenge is peaking. For me essentially the most thrilling half was creating these very first pictures and realizing ‘Wait, this idea IS going to be possible!’. And though I used to be typically battling in opposition to an AI entity that wouldn’t need to make what I wished, I cherished it when it shocked me.
Because most of my time was invested in creating the rushes, the modifying didn’t take lengthy. And as such it felt thrilling, seeing all these pictures coming collectively and the story taking form with only a few clicks and cuts.
What’s additionally fascinating to notice is that this was a reasonably lonely course of, simply me behind the pc with the common suggestions from Roeland. So as soon as Chemistry Film was onboard to grade the movie and Antoine Cerbère joined to do the sound if felt as an enormous enter in vitality. Getting their variations of the movie again with graded footage and sound was incredible and the very fact they had been so enthusiastic concerning the movie reignited the preliminary enthusiasm we had when beginning this challenge. So an enormous shoutout to them!
Did you encounter any difficulties alongside the best way? If so, how did you overcome them?
I feel the principle issue was preserving an open thoughts of the constraints of the expertise on the time of making the movie. I’ve spent many hours stubbornly attempting to create a precise picture in my thoughts, solely to scrap it in frustration after many hours of attempting and many alternative iterations. It was good to have the Ping-Pong with Roeland, who I despatched each day updates of the pictures, as he was at all times strict in his suggestions, preserving the bar excessive.
So, a whole lot of darlings had been killed however ultimately, I feel it actually benefited the movie.
One factor that was an actual limitation is that Runway didn’t need to give me round motions. We actually wished so as to add a shot of a tire that was spinning, however there was no means to take action as Runway Gen 2’s Motion Brush’s controls didn’t give me that possibility. So, it took a whole lot of time discovering an alternate for that tire shot, as a result of it was essential storytelling smart since as much as 28% and extra of microplastics come from tires that put on out. And I needed to scrap the entire thought of a turning washer full of garments (artificial textiles being washed one other main reason for microplastics) because the AI instruments we used didn’t need to give us that.
Noticing that lots of your tasks deal with social messages achieved with totally different budgets (Format/Flex) , may you inform us which earlier challenge you’ll have undertaken with the assistance of AI?
When we will we dedicate our time and vitality to causes that want consideration. We are making a number of good trigger movies every year, however we’re at all times attempting to beat the budgetary challenges. As so many our personal ideas are created with that in thoughts, discovering methods to creatively use inventory footage as a part of the concept.
There’s one challenge that we’d’ve made 100% in AI as nicely, if it had existed on the time and we had been aware of the applications or expertise, which is a challenge known as ’The Rhythm Of Death’ for PETA. It’s a collection of three social movies, every specializing in a specific animal and exhibiting photos of them in speedy succession – the edit rhythm corresponding with the precise rhythm of these animals being slaughtered at this second. An nearly dwell illustration of the animals being killed.
Those images took a very long time to supply on free web sites and it took even longer to edit them, attempting to place the heads of the images in the identical place so it was watchable. For each the technology of these images and likewise the place of the animals’ heads we may undoubtedly use AI.
Another one is a movie known as ‘Everybody Influencer’, by which we present how one influencer taking a photograph in a fragile ecocystem equivalent to a poppy subject can lure 1000’s and 1000’s of different folks to the identical areas, ruining them due to the overflow of holiday makers.
We search the entire web for precise folks in poppy fields and though we sourced them from free web sites we manually pixelated their faces out of respect for his or her identification. If AI would’ve been accesible at that time, we may’ve simply generated let’s say 50 totally different influencers and the job would’ve been achieved in a tenth of the time.
Do you’ve gotten any recommendation for college students coming into the sphere?
There are extra alternatives than ever to create tales. Ignore the overwhelming facet of all of it and dive into one facet of filmmaking. I’ve the tendency to observe tutorial after tutorial, attempting to comply with a construction or linear path in direction of understanding a 3D program or an AI platform or no matter. But I’d say to start out with the core of all of it: discovering the concept and the story after which discovering the form it may take type. It’ll be far more rewarding and fascinating in the event you can comply with tutorials to craft an precise piece as a substitute of constructing stuff that’s solely a illustration of your studying.
In quick: leap and determine it out when you go.
Finally, what message would you give to the business for 2024 relating to AI?
While we’re determining tips on how to defend the worth of human enter in these instances of technological revolution there are simply so many alternatives to make issues extra environment friendly, logical or budget-friendly. Whether it’s within the precise visualization of a narrative or behind-the-scenes throughout the productional course of. Use the expertise for its good issues and belief in your individual capabilities and in these of others. People will at all times have added worth on all points of filmmaking however for us this opens far more alternatives. We aren’t fearing what’s on the horizon however excited for what it helps us to develop into and to create.
