Creating a Framework for Speculation using Visualizations.

 YOU SEND ME THE MESSAGE

a film concept by Bast Santello

"You Send Me The Message": The name for an experimental film under development by writer/director Bart Santello and Psychotropic Films (TM).  This 'concept visualization' is how I build a film, by creating micro-films along the process as memory aides of how the film ultimately will be envisioned.  Rather than writing a story, I visualize the story.    A visual presentation along with inspired sound design, serve to inspire and at the same time guide the look and feel of the film.

Images in this piece were first curated and created to represent visual ideograms; meaning the image as a 'symbol', represents an inspired idea to be contemplated or developed further in support of the film. These images represent various concepts or elements; examples: a character to be developed; an artistic mood or texture to be replicated; or from a still an entire scene to be imagined based on the idea presented the visual.

These visual ideograms were first saved as digital JPEG files, then transferred to a cell phone, required to develop an instant print using Polaroid Lab. A couple of images in this work were time-lapses of the Polaroids as they were developing a frame every 2-seconds. From these analog-film prints are used for story-boarding, but as discussed previously, not as a step-by-step for the film, rather a framework for speculation of possibilities for the film.                                                                                                     

 Partial Synopsis:  A psychic mastermind conducts an experiment on an unwitting colleague in order to prove a theory that 'consciousness' is non-local and transcends time.  Events take place in the turbulent early 1970's and under a present-day surveillance state.

Will AI Replace us as Creators?

REGARDING AI in FILM CREATION

I thought to myself that I would only use AI as a tool.  The photo below is an AI generated scene I tasked the AI create to illustrate an idea I'm considering for a film project - Storyboarding in a way. 

My instructions were simply: "Illustrate a scene where a middle-aged woman, who finds herself in a lucid dream, sees a man in the distance as she is walking along tree-lined canopy path under a full moon"

The AI rendered the idea in my mind perfectly.  However, notice the old woman to the left, seemingly pointing the way along the path where she will meet the man in the distance.  That woman wasn't in my original intent for the dream scene, or, in the description I provided the AI.  

However, I thought the addition was a brilliant creative inclusion to my idea for the scene by the AI.  It actually would enhance the scene, as the old woman could be a 'shamanic-type' figure and in a film this could be portrayed very artistically.  

Thus, the AI conceivably, is now a contributor to my film concept.  Is this a good thing?  When my film is done, will I feel that it was truly my creation?   Original and unique are the terms which define my artistic intent and what I try to achieve in all my film projects. Can I say that now?

Scene Visualizations: Storyboarding using AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) looks to be a promising tool when it comes to storyboard visualizations for independent filmmakers.  Since my illustration talents peak at stick figures, the advent of  'text-to-image' AI generation has opened new opportunities to communicate to the production team and talent, the look-and-feel of the scene to be filmed.  

The few experiments I have tried using words to convey the visual I am looking for, have resulted in spot-on AI creations (powered by DALL-E3) that I can add to my storyboard.  

EXAMPLE 1:

TEXT: "Create an image from the following description: "A middle-aged woman takes a walk along a wetlands path around sunset.  She wanders from the trail into a tall forest of Black-eyed Susan flower stalks and appears to be disappearing into those flower stalks."

IMAGES CREATED BY THE AI:

EXAMPLE 2:

TEXT: "illustrate an in image of an older blonde woman standing twilight, on a narrow boardwalk in a desert Cienega marsh and staring-up at a small surveillance drone photographing her directly for purposes of monitoring by the state."

IMAGE CREATED BY THE AI:

EXAMPLE 3:

TEXT: "Illustrate a middle-aged woman in a lucid dream environment, being introduced to a dream character, who is waiting along a moonlit path canopied with trees"

IMAGES CREATED BY THE AI:

Besides the practical storyboarding assistance with the AI generated visuals, some of the resulting images have provided me new ideas that I can add to the story and/or creative suggestions on how the scene can be shot from a cinematic perspective.

NETHER LAND to Screen in Tucson

Bart Santello and Psychotropic Films are proud to announce that NETHER LAND will be screening on April 27th, 7:30PM at the Hotel Congress in Tucson as part of the 30th Arizona International Film Festival.  See link here: http://filmfestivalarizona.com/film-detail.php?id=1026