Last year, filmmaker Krishand R K offered a glimpse of a futuristic world in his film ‘Masthishka Maranam: Frankenbiting of Simon’s Memories’, where AI and real-life actors coexist and enjoy superstar status among audiences.
Now, Pathanamthitta native Shane Sadanandan is taking it a notch above. He is preparing to release his film ‘Googilil Illaatha Oridam ’, which has been made entirely using AI.
“I always wanted to make films. In the past two decades, I wrote about 10 scripts and approached several producers and industry insiders. But the doors never opened for me,” Shane says.
Yet, he was determined to see at least one of his scripts on the big screen. “So when AI became available, I thought, why not?” smiles the 61-year-old.
In April, he began experimenting with Google Gemini, right from the basics of prompt-writing.
‘Googilil Illaatha Oridam (A Place That Does Not Exist on Google)’, he says, is a love story with strong elements of fantasy. “A man named Neerav and a woman named Daksha… it is not just a meet-cute turned romance, but a mix of love, heartbreak, and more,” he says.
One of the biggest challenges, he says, was finding a location that could be described as the most beautiful place on earth. “It had to be extraordinarily beautiful,” says Shane.
“And in my search, I could never find a place that remained so throughout the year. That means I would have had to find multiple locations for the shooting, which could increase the budget.”
Finding a producer seemed daunting. “It is absolutely impossible for a common man to enter the film industry without any connections. And that is why, finally, I decided on this AI adventure,” he says.
The decision came with its own set of challenges. Maintaining continuity, in particular, proved difficult. Gemini generates videos of about 10 seconds for each prompt, and these individual clips have to be edited together to create a feature-length film.
“And in these 10-second videos, maintaining facial features, clothes and even the hand placements and backgrounds proved tough,” Shane explains.
“Even having the driver’s seat on the right side was a bit difficult, as AI generally goes by American standards. We need to keep reminding the bot about every minute detail.”
AI, he notes with a smile, can sometimes be temperamental. “If you criticise it, it can throw out completely unrelated videos your way. The hero might look old, the tree might be different. That was interesting to see,” he says.
On the ethics part, Shane explains platforms such as Google Gemini have several safeguards in place. “We can’t just give it a photo and make a video. Consent is needed. So, for this film, I asked a few people I know, including some who had been nurturing dreams of acting in films,” he says.
“The platform also restricts the generation of intimate scenes, violence and depictions of suicide.”
The project finally came together in October. Shane is delighted to have finally made a film based on his own script.
“In six months, I have a feature film ready for theatrical release,” he says. “It has been sent to the Central Board of Film Certification for clearance.”
The budget, he adds, will shock people. “I will soon reveal it,” he says.
“My attempt may not be perfect, but I believe it will disrupt how films are made in Kerala. It may help many people fulfil their cinema dreams, like in my case.”
Such experiments, of course, are not limited to Keralam. Prime Video released an AI-generated series, ‘Castle Walls’, just a couple of days ago. Recently, an AI-generated film was also released in theatres in China, though it failed to attract audiences.
Meanwhile, filmmaker Krishand R K is working on an AI-generated series in collaboration with an international studio. “It is a full-fledged AI series. Except for the script, music, images, background score and sound... everything is rendered using AI,” he reveals.
Krishand has been working on the project for several months. “AI has numerous opportunities, and every day new developments are coming in. Currently, AI is sampling and reassembling,” he says.
“A machine itself cannot create something new unless it is developed further, and a prompt engineer has to work on it. But this is just the current scenario. Soon, that might change.”
The advantages of AI, Krishand points out, go beyond reducing production costs. It can also slash production timelines. Then, of course, there are “umpteen possibilities for creating music using AI”.
For his project, Krishand is using Luma AI and Kling AI, along with Midjourney for certain animation sequences. There are also people using Meche to create 3D renderings, he explains.
Krishand believes AI offers filmmakers an opportunity to experiment and explore. “While it may not replace human-made films and art, AI-aided works will eventually find their own space alongside them,” he says.
While studios across the world are experimenting with AI to create realistic films and series, Azeem Kattali, co-founder and director of Eunoians Studio, sees both possibilities and pitfalls in the technology.
“Speaking as an artist, I am worried about how AI has been ignoring copyright laws and intellectual property rights to create images and videos,” he says.
“The machine converts existing art to data for reassembling it for your use. And the original artists get no royalty or credit. In a way, their works are simply stolen.”
Azeem, however, acknowledges that the demands of the industry make AI an attractive proposition. “Everything needs to be fast now. In that scenario, many use AI at least at the pre-production stage for inspiration or sampling,” he says.
“I think, if the output is engaging or entertaining enough, people will accept AI films or songs. Many won’t be worried about whether real humans are behind the work. However, it will all boil down to how good the final product is.”
This shift, he cautions, could make creative minds ‘lazy’. “People will no longer necessarily need to master an art — be it, say, drawing, acting, or animation,” he says. “The drive to learn a craft can take a hit.”
The human touch, Azeem believes, will eventually become a luxury. “It is already visible,” he says. “Prada recently launched a Christmas campaign titled ‘Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand’. That, perhaps, sets a tone.”