Artificial intelligence is coming for us all. (Formerly?) cool people like Natasha Lyonne are involved in AI startups. People are (sadly) using ChatGPT as therapists. Even hipster studio A24 has launched A24 Labs specifically to explore AI tools, and have taken a bunch of venture capital money from a fund who’ve backed OpenAI and can open doors for them in that direction. Grim stuff.
Of course, filmmakers are grappling with what it all means. Guillermo del Toro recently shared his views on AI, and now Jia Zhangke is offering a similarly measured take, while at the same time, revealing he’s dived right in using these new fangled tools.
“This year I tried to make a film with AI, given how AI is increasingly being used in movie production,” Jia said during a masterclass at the Pingyao International Film Festival, revealing it’s a five-minute short that allowed him to play around with AI tech.
“AI is a movement. Films that are produced with AI may not have an aesthetic attractiveness but for a creator, it’s like playing chess. In this case, you do it in front of the computer, something you do at home, I call it an indoor activity,” he explained. “On the other hand, films we shoot without AI then become even more like art. Or I see it as an outdoor activity, where you have to go outside and shoot and observe people. It’s like climbing, something you do outside and outdoors, and you can choose whether you like to do something outdoors or indoors.”
Of course, tech can help or hurt, and Jia like many others emphasizes it’s about the artist mastering the techniques at their disposal.
“You don’t have to be a fan of a technology. There are technologies that can be good, and in every period and time, you can find technologies that are the right ones. You need to know how you want to tell your story,” the director said. “As a filmmaker, I like to react, change and experience new things by using technical opportunities given to me.”
Jia Zhange’s latest film, “Caught by the Tides,” is tremendous and no AI could replicate it. If you haven’t seen it, add it to your watch list right now. [Deadline]
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