The charming film puts the "art" in artificial intelligence

What happens when you combine an AI image generatorwith a 98-year-old woman named Lillian and Harry Potter? The result is 'HAIRY POUTER is a film of a shorter length by Chris Carboni, a director who blends increasingly fun AI-generated images and a commentary on the classic novel by a hilarious nonagenarian.

"Lillian is my maternal grandmother," says Chris. "She has always had a close relationship and I've been recording her giving reviews for probably 10 or more years."

As AI image generators started to dominate the web around mid-2022, Chris saw the stars meet to create a project that would make the most of his long hours of listening and help him explore his relationship with this emerging technology. "I was surrounded by conflicted feelings about [these generators] and I was looking for an opportunity to learn about them," explains Chris. "At the moment I was talking with my mother-in-law who had just finished reading 'Harry Potter,' which I had purchased for the occasion as a birthday present."

From there, the film began to come together using a quick crew of "my grandmother and my wife and our sound designer and composer, that was the full team" And the rest of it is (futuristic) the story of. With the power of AI remain to advance at the speed of light We caught up with Chris Carboni to talk all things artistic and AI.

The quality of the images in this video is incredible. What did you use and how did you achieve it to give you these result?

Chris: Then we tried MidJourney as it was in its first version. It began by entering Lillian's uncut words and then seeing what it would generate from the only quotes of the interview. We were awestruck by the art style that it had come up with after just a few cycles of creating new images. Thus, I wrote down the hallmarks of its art direction based off this picture it produced.

I believe the first photo that we were shown was Ron with his really wafting hair. It was stunning. I believe it was kind with shoulders up. Also, it was clear that he didn't wear a shirt. The guy looked as if he was a sea god. When we got the opportunity to capture Harry and Ron with each other, it showed them almost embracing each other which we were thinking, "Oh, this is incredible."

The AI was allowed to develop these intriguing theories, and once we hit on one that we really liked We pushed the AI to follow that line to ensure that it will remain entertaining, and simple to follow.

Was it like applying AI to this actually human-centric story?

Chris Chris I created this film I had some degree of anxiety [about AI]. But I certainly enjoyed using it on this project. I think that was an excellent use-case for the project because the application of AI was a key element of the story.

It was fun and interesting and special. It was kind of about the awkward but delightful interaction between AI and humans. This wasn't an instance that we decided to not put a dollar into illustrators and decided to employ artificial intelligence instead. It was a story where the use of artificial Intelligence was foundational for the storytelling.

Do you feel you are comfortable with AI being a part of the creative process?

Chris Chris compelling there, but it's gotten obviously so much more difficult since the generators have become so widespread. Their potential has been unleashed in every one of these applications. So, the topic is becoming more complicated than I feel that it was once from my personal knowledge and opinions about it.

Anyone who is in a creative space is going to have to find out the implications of this to their job, and adjust to the fact the fact that things will likely be changing. Along with this change, will bring opportunities to create amazing new things, but also the automatedization of many of the art that we artists admire. That makes me sad, but I'll be honest. I worry about art being diminished and made more commodified than it is already.

Do you think that this tech could be used to help you in the near future?

Chris Chris: Well I am a huge fan of the use of AI to boost my email as well as to act as a personal assistant capable of answering questions, giving explanations to complex concepts and completing repetitive tasks. When it comes to creative work however, I'm not sure I comprehend. I certainly don't want to utilize the process in a manner that would replace human artists in my team. The results will not be as high.

Much of what makes our work so great is due to collaboration with people. A project produced from start to finish with AI is dependent on inputs generated by one's brain. In some cases that might be great, but generally speaking, productions benefit from a team of specialists who work together, each with their unique knowledge and unique insights on the table.

The most appealing use-cases I can think of are to generate initial ideas, and kicking off the creative process. Maybe for raising funding for a project and showing some initial concept work for getting something off of the ground. For animation, however there is a need for a lot of control over the minutiae of the scene in terms of production and artistic motives. The level of control you need will likely be coming soon however, it's not there yet.