130: New eras
A graduation, an AI-generated Cybertruck spec ad, and more AI+Creativity updates
I distinctly remember holding the taller human in my arms not too long ago. And now he’s graduated from the St Paul Conservatory of Performing Arts. Congratulations, Maksymilian! In a tech-cultural sense, Maks is an iPhone-cusp baby. Born at the dawn of a new approach to image capture and storage. So the first 3-4 years of his existence are actually printed out, versus filed online. It’s a weird circumstance trying to connect all the dots from hard drives, whatever Apple seems to have saved in iTunes Photos, and that very large box of report cards, school projects and photos collecting dust up in the attic. Part of me wonders if we’ll try to generate moments from the past when they appear lost to the ages.
🤖🎨🎥 AI for Artists and Entrepreneurs: Alvaro Serrano
As promised, here’s the first of several student final projects from MCAD this past semester. Alvaro Serrano (LinkedIn) is a film major who told me he wanted to generate a Tesla Cybertruck commercial because “they’re weird.” Which is, honestly, a really solid brand positioning! So he spent a few weeks storyboarding and discussing his approach, then he generated clips in various platforms including Runway and Pika Labs.
But the initial rough cut was off. It looked and behaved too much like a traditional car commercial—and remember, Alvaro’s strategy was to celebrate the vehicle’s weirdness. Fortunately, that’s where generative AI tools really excel: If you want to image a truck inside a sandwich, then floating in air, generative AI has you covered.
Here’s Alvaro reflecting on his process and the generative AI tools he worked with on his final project.
Nice work, Alvaro!
I’m editing a bunch of the student work this week and will continue rolling it out to you in the early summer.
AI+Creativity Update
📺 My friends over at Catch+Release might have hit upon the killer app for anyone making commercials. (Alvaro, take note.) Of course it’s called Storyboards™ and of course it’s trademarked. And while this tool is clearly built to fuel the use of found (i.e. UGC) content you can see how this could also benefit the creation of generative, clip/moment-based spots, and storytelling in general. Especially for people who don’t quite understand visual storytelling. It’s clear this was built by people very familiar with the film making, curating, editing and review process—I love how you can designate unlimited alt clips for each scene.
🎭 🤖 “The next Netflix won't be purely passive,” says Edward Saatchi, CEO of Fable Studio. Wait, that name? Yes, Edward is the son of ad network legend Maurice Saatchi. As the Hollywood Reporter describes it, “Users will be able to watch AI-generated series and create their own content — complete with the ability to control dialogue, characters and shot types, among other controls.” What Alvaro created above is just the beginning.
🫦🤖 If you’re not flirting with ChatGPT 4o on your mobile device you’re doing it wrong. (First, install ChatGPT on your phone. Select the “4o” model. Tap the headphone icon lower right.) And good luck.