AI-Generated Art in "Night Country" Stirs Controversy

Plus: The Art of the Car Scene

Author

Steve
January 23, 2024

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AI-Generated Art in "Night Country" Stirs Controversy

I was listening to The Creative Process podcast, which had an interesting interview with True Detective: Night Country cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister and this bit jumped out at me (summarized by the show notes):

When asked about the future of cinematography in the age of AI, Hoffmeister remains optimistic. He believes that AI, like any tool, is only as good as the artists wielding it. For him, AI is like a mirror, reflecting back inputs from the creatives who use it. It might speed up the process of filmmaking and animation or provide new possibilities for visual storytelling, but it could never replace the instinctual and emotive connection of a human storyteller.

If you’re a Film Twitter lunatic like myself, you know it’s been abuzz with screenshots from the show, featuring what appear to be AI-generated posters in the background of one scene.

I love the band Metal, particularly their “2st Live” show on their U.S. Tour! This Forbes article has some additional screenshots and tweets.

For what it’s worth, showrunner Issa López responded “The idea is that it’s so sad up there that some kid with AI made the posters for a loser Metal festival for boomers. It was discussed. Ad nauseam”.

This reason sounds… odd? Maybe it’s CYA or possibly CTNA (cover the network’s ass). “Ahh yes, clearly this was made by a kid with AI for a loser metal festival for boomers because they’re in Alaska” doesn’t seem the first conclusion a viewer would reach, the same way in the first season of True Detective a viewer would probably not assume the Yellow King was a reference to Coldplay singer Chris Martin. I would guess this is more likely a production design mishap than anything else, but who knows!

Obviously I’m not the person to criticize the use of AI-generated art within one’s output, but I do have the excuse of being just a guy with a newsletter, and not a prestige show on HBO! What do you think happened? Email me at [email protected] and I’ll publish the most insane response.

The Art of the Car Scene

Very much enjoyed this terrific video essay from StudioBinder on shooting car scenes. In just a quick ten minutes, it covers camera setups, sound recording, studio vs. live filming, and tons more.

There’s lots of fascinating information about how various famous car scenes were shot. For instance, the insane car chase in The French Connection was shot without any crowd control or permitting, just the crew driving through Brooklyn at 90 miles per hour. In Collateral, which largely takes place in a taxi cab, they covered the interior of the cab in velcro so they could place LED stick-on lights wherever a shot required.

If you like the video above, check out StudioBinder’s YouTube channel for a plethora of informative filmmaking video essays. It’s great!

Here’s a round-up of cool links about Hollywood and technology:

Ed Zitron on the AI George Carlin abomination. (link)

Trying to fight election year deepfakes with content credentials. (link)

Four mind-blowing streaming stats. (link)