VIKINGS I|O

For generations, a resilient Viking tribe safeguarded a mystical map, a relic of immense power. But their world is turned upside down when a mysterious group of sky-born foreigners, seemingly forged from iron, descends upon them and steals the map. Their motives shrouded in mystery, these enigmatic beings may be driven by a cause far beyond the Vikings' wildest imaginings. This epic saga delves into profound themes of time, culture, and the preservation of humanity. [Read below for details on the human + AI collaboration for this film]

How can we use AI for art but keep humans in the loop? One of the main goals of this film was to investigate a plausible mechanism for integrating humans in a workflow that is becoming more and more individualized as the AI tools become better and easier to use. In the filmmaking pipeline there's many places where one can cut corners (to use technology) to speed up workflows but also to make them cheaper. AI has not only lowered the entry barrier to generate something amazing, but in the process it may be on the way to cut other humans out. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if we want to live in a world where AI art co-exists with humans, finding the balance between the two is essential as machine+human relationships change drastically every year.

I wanted to involve humans in this film, even though I could have done it all by myself with the AI tools I listed. So, with tools like LivePortrait or controlnet, it's possible to include human acting and transfer it to AI, in a similar way to how mocap has been used in the films for decades. I was committed to get real voice actors, use their facial expressions in the film, use human-made music, and find other ways to include humans in the loop. For example, I used a typeface created by a human for the Vikings logo and credits text. Although this all ended up into a nicely completed project, one of the largest difficulties I faced was finding willing voice actors; Most of them were anti-AI and very quickly turned the project down. Finding willing voice actors ended up being one of the most difficult aspects of creating this film. There was a lot of fear surrounding how their voices would be used, whether I would train additional models with them, whether their faces would be used in some unethical way. As an artist that cares about ethics, it was very important for me to be transparent and ensure my actors felt comfortable throughout the process. I'm grateful for the 3 voice actors that participated here and their patience as I directed them throughout the different scenes. I believe there is a future where humans and machines can symbiotically interact-- and this may be one of those ways. 

This took around 2,000 generations of images and video across platforms (full list of tools in the credits).

[Check out the behind the scenes for a general overview of the process]