“Creator” by Andre LeBlanc
A computer designed to flag violent internet content starts creating its own, with its inventors as the subjects.
Laura and Jake are called to assist a desperate Doctor Cooper in the late hours. His computer, designed to analyze violent internet content, is somehow creating its own, and is using Cooper as the main subject. As Laura and Jake dive into the mystery, they quickly realize he’s not the only one implicated in the computer's horrific images. Panic sets in and a new reality emerges– is the computer simply creating, or is it predicting things to come?
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“I am a US/Canada based VFX artist working in TV, games and films. With my technical and art background, I've watched the advent of AI technology gain ground very quickly. This year in particular has been a watershed moment, with easy to use tools reaching the masses, and allowing anyone to create incredible images with just a well formed text prompt. I believe we are only a few years away from computers creating entire stories. This technology will define the creative process for the next generation, for better or worse. With 'Creator', I wanted to take this idea to its limits, when an AI designed to flag violent internet content starts creating its own-- with its inventors as the subjects. It is both a horror story and cautionary tale, and one that merges real world tech with some frightening possibilities.
For the intro and outro segments of the film, we re-created the set and the actors as high detail 3D models. We then ran fluid simulations over these models, and used that as the basis for the kaleidoscopic imagery. But we didn't stop there. We took the renders of our simulations and ran them through an earlier form of AI image generation, creating a whole new set of nightmarish imagery (think twisted faces and bodies). We layered those images over top of the original fluid simulations, so if you look closely you'll see distorted faces and bodies within the liquid! It was a really interesting experiment, and allowed us to literally represent the themes in the frames of the film!
Watch closely, because at one point we rotate the entire set and completely change the lighting! A lot of people will pick up on the lighting change, but very few notice that the set rotates too-- until we mention it.
I started on this project well before Covid, and AI image generation was a niche idea with interesting possibilities but nothing more. I couldn't have dreamed how big this technology would get. Beyond the horrors of my own film, I think we face tough questions about AI, and how it could affect and impede a generation of both artists and technicians in the future. The idea that art can be generated from a mere text prompt is both exciting and terrifying-- and comes with moral implications. This technology does not dream up ideas from scratch, but is rather trained on thousands of years of previous works and innovations done by humans. I hope that we can find the balance where AI is used merely as another tool, and not a replacement.”
-Andre LeBlanc
CREDITS
Written/Directed by Andre LeBlanc
Produced by James M Miller
Casting by Patrick Baca, CSA
DOP // Chris Freilich
Production Designer // Katie Shipley
Music by Holly Amber Church
Sound Designer // Ugo Derouard
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