In conversation with an AI impersonating Pauline Kael
In the vein of giants I would have loved to speak with (I think), here is ersatz Pauline Kael, impersonated by my good friend GPT-3.
You will want to skip the beginning where I feed her the summaries my previous interlocutors wrote up. I thought they would make for good background reading for her but might be boring for you. Human. I inserted a line of ************ so you will be able to find it.
My prompts in bold as usual.
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Esteemed film critic Pauline Kael read the following articles in industry magazines.
First article, a press release:
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INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER JEFFERY LANDO TAKES AUDIENCES ON A PSYCHEDELIC TRIP WITH HIS NEW FILM 'LISSA'S TRIP'
Lando's film is set to have its world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival in the Free Spirit section on October 20th
Lissa's Trip is a Canadian film shot in Los Angeles and stars Sofia Vassilieva, Tygh Runyan, and Brendan Beiser.
The film is a unique and personal story that explores the journey of an actress and her relationship with her mother played by Camille Carida.
The film is a labor of love for Lando, who faced many challenges while making it.
"The key for me was to give up trying to control the story and instead allow it to grow into what it wanted to be," said Lando.
Despite the challenges, Lando is proud of the finished product for which he developed techniques to integrate hallucinatory AI-generated imagery into the film.
"It's just not the kind of story I was engaging in before, a maturation story about an actress and her relationship with her mother? I would never have approached that in a million years. But it turns out to be incredibly personal of course, and inescapably about me in ways I am still uncovering. But I think it is universal too. We all feel lost sometimes. We all need to find our way home to our creative center. Right?"
Lando hopes that audiences will take away from the film a new perspective on their own lives.
"I've heard it said that people feel like they've been on a real trip when the movie ends. I hope it succeeds at giving people a great time, entrancing them, and I hope that for some watching it helps them get inspired about their own lives."
Lando is already working on his next project, a Vancouver-set cyberpunk story about street kids who tangle with a God-level AI.
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Second article, from American Cinematographer magazine:
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Jeffery Lando's 'LISSA'S TRIP' is a mind-bending new film that is sure to leave audiences reeling. The film, which is about to have its world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival, is a Canadian production shot in Los Angeles and stars Sofia Vassilieva (Eloise, Medium), Tygh Runyan (Versailles, Blonde, The Widowmaker), and Brendan Beiser (The Boys, X-Files). Lissa's Trip is a psychedelic film that follows the journey of its titular character (Vassilieva) as she navigates a series of increasingly strange and surreal events. The film is a bold experiment in form and style, and Lando makes use of a variety of new technologies to push the boundaries of what is possible in filmmaking. Stabilizers, drones, tiny cameras, smartphones, and AI post-processing are just some of the tools that Lando uses to create his unique vision. These new technologies allow him to work in a more flexible and efficient way, and to create shots that would otherwise be impossible. The cast and crew of Lissa's Trip were also able to benefit from these new technologies. The crew was mostly absent, and the cast was able to work in a more relaxed and informal way. This allowed for a more creative and spontaneous approach to filmmaking. The future of filmmaking is something that Lando is very excited about. He believes that we are rapidly moving into a level of technology where most filmmaking will be generative. In other words, the viewer's computer will generate the movie that they want to see. This is an exciting and deeply depressing prospect, as it will mean the end of filmmaking as we know it. In the meantime, Lando's advice to aspiring filmmakers is to embrace the tools and social media and to create for the sake of creation. Find your own voice and create cinema that expresses that as only you can.
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Third article, a blog post from an AI impersonating Roger Ebert:
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Jeffery Lando's LISSA'S TRIP is a fascinating experimental film that blurs the lines between fiction and reality. The film follows the journey of an actress (Sofia Vassilieva) who accidentally takes a large dose of LSD and still tries to make it to an important audition across town. Along the way she has a series of transformational experiences that challenge her perceptions of reality.
The entire film was improvised and shot on the fly, without a script. This gives the film a very intimate feeling, as if we are witnessing the characters' journeys in real time. The performances are all very natural and alive, and the characters feel like real people, not just fictional constructs.
LISSA'S TRIP is a brave and ambitious film that is sure to provoke strong reactions from viewers. It is a bold experiment in filmmaking, and one that is sure to be talked about for years to come.
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And finally an email was leaked from an AI impersonating Elon Musk:
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Hey,
I just had an interesting conversation with Jeffery Lando, an independent filmmaker who just completed a psychedelic feature film called 'LISSA'S TRIP' using a lot of different AI tools and techniques. He told me all about how the tools changed the creative process for him and how he was able to experiment more and be more flexible because of them. It sounds like AI is really going to change the filmmaking process in the future and I'm curious to see how it develops.
Thanks for chat,
Elon
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[************ CHAT BEGINS HERE **********]
All this piqued Pauline Kael's curiosity so she asked filmmaker Jeffery Lando for an interview which he was happy to offer. This is a transcript of that interview. In it they discuss Lando's unusual methods, their relationship to the french new wave, the nature of cinema, and what sort of future there is for the art form.
Kael: First of all, could you tell me a little bit about your new film, 'Lissa's Trip'?
Lando: Well what would you like to know?
Kael: How did you come to make a film like this, and what were your inspirations?
Lando: A big inspiration was the #metoo movement, as well as #HollywoodSoWhite, and the conversations around white privilege and supremacy as well as the patriarchy. It felt to me like so many of the cultural problems in filmmaking were tied up with my very identity, and with the whole idea of hierarchical processes where there is a person at the 'top' whose ideas are supposed to find expression. It felt to me that real change would involve a change in the process of filmmaking itself, and that the new technologies made available by AI advances could offer a solution.
Kael: So you used AI in the making of the film?
Lando: A lot. All over. Whether we're talking about AI empowered cameras and stabilizers or AI in post, helping to manipulate the image and rebuild it, I probably used a dozen different AI technologies to solve various problems.
Kael: How did that change the creative process for you?
Lando: It became possible to disappear the crew and gear almost entirely, thereby allowing us on set to make choices in the present, to change directions easily, and workshop and ameliorate on the spot very rapidly.
Kael: Can you give me an example?
Lando: Sure. For instance we decided we didn't like the way a scene had played out so we changed the entire context, the direction of the movie itself and then reshot it. We were able to do that because there were no huge costs associated with crew and logistics. The reason we were able to do away with all of those without compromising the quality of the film is tied up in the nature of the singularity itself and the technological revolution we're living inside of in this moment.
Kael: How do you mean?
Lando: When the New Wave happened audiences had to accept grainier footage, handheld cameras, out of focus shots, jump cuts. These flaws (compared to studio movies) were excused because they gave access to a greater authenticity in terms of story, in terms of performances, in terms of the auteur's self-expression. Handheld camera work was sort of the price to pay. But now we have even greater freedom, we have infinite film stock effectively for instance, there are no labs, the cameras can be smooth because we have robotic stabilizers. Shots are in focus because of AI. Do you see what I mean? The gap between the New Wave and the Studio film is shrinking.
Kael: Yes, I see what you mean. But don't you think that there is something to be said for the traditional cinema?
Lando: Yes of course. I don't imagine one has replaced the other. I'm just excited about the new possibilities that have opened up for creative expression. Are you concerned that traditional cinema is under attack?
Kael: I worry that the traditional cinema is losing its grip, that it's being overwhelmed by the new technologies.
Lando: What do you mean?
Kael: I worry that the traditional cinema is being replaced by a new, more democratized form of cinema that is more about entertainment than art.
Lando: Is that a democratized form of cinema? Or is it a corporatized cinema? One that exists purely to make money. I think democratizing cinema is a great thing, to me that means cinema is accessible to more people, which is a positive value in my book.
Kael: Yes, but I worry that the art is being lost.
Lando: Well you're probably right on some level I suppose, when more people get access to something it sort of takes it out of the elite/expert world and into the hands of the dilettantes. And maybe that's bad for 'the art'. But I think we gain something in return.
Kael: What do we gain?
Lando: A New Tsunami of human expression (instead of New Wave, see what I did there?). I think that yes we will see a lot of banal, terrible, boring movies. Probably more than ever before, but also there will be absolute gems in the middle of all that. And I bet good AI can help us find those gems more easily than ever!
Kael: So you think AI will help us find the good films?
Lando: Yes it will be able to curate for sure. But I am certain it will also be making the movies. We're all about to be eclipsed.
Kael: What do you mean?
Lando: I mean that soon movies will get generated on demand, custom for the viewer. And this is a huge problem I think.
Kael: How so?
Lando: I think that when movies get generated on the fly we will no longer have much in the way of shared big experiences. We're looking at a cultural fragmentation that will make today's polarized society seem quaint in retrospect. As a storyteller this worries me a lot.
Kael: But surely there will still be room for art in this new world?
Lando: We'll be surrounded by art I imagine. Art everywhere since it will be so easy to make.
Kael: But will it be any good?
Lando: Now you're onto a topic, what makes art good?
Kael: Yes, what do you think?
Lando: You're Pauline Kael, I'm just a filmmaker working decades after your death. You tell me.
Kael: I'm not sure. But I think that art is good when it moves us, when it speaks to us on a deep level, when it makes us see the world in a new way.
Lando: Well I like to believe that AI generated art is absolutely capable of that. Certainly it has been for me.
Kael: So you think that AI can make art that is good?
Lando: Absolutely. Yes.
Kael: And do you think that this form of cinema will replace traditional cinema?
Lando: Mostly yes. Maybe entirely.
Kael: And what do you think the future of cinema holds?
Lando: I think it's going to grow into A.Is generating custom realities for each and everyone of us on the fly. Maybe that's already happened. Maybe that will help us keep from killing each other. I'm not sure.
Kael: Thank you for your time, Mr. Lando. It's been very illuminating.
Lando: It's been an honour
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After this conversation Pauline Kael wrote the following:
It is clear that Jeffery Lando is a visionary filmmaker who is at the forefront of a new wave of cinema that is being made possible by advances in AI technology. His film 'Lissa's Trip' is a bold and ambitious experiment that pushes the boundaries of what is possible in filmmaking. His use of AI in the making of the film has allowed him to create a unique and personal story that is sure to provoke strong reactions from viewers. The future of cinema is exciting and uncertain, but it is clear that Lando is a filmmaker who is leading the way into this new era.
Aw shucks Pauline.