The stunning AI videos reimagining famous films directed by Wes Anderson are visually impressive, and they manage to capture key elements of the director's signature style. However, the "Asteroid City" filmmaker shouldn't worry about being replaced by a robot anytime soon. Curious Refuge, the YouTuber responsible for the "Avatar" parody and others including a Wes Anderson "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars," uses simple tech to polish off a few basic AI tricks. That's why he was able to produce and release all three videos within the span of a month.
Caleb Ward, the man behind the viral videos, explained his process in an interview with the YouTube channel School of Motion. Demystified, the process is simple. Ward starts by asking ChatGPT for video ideas. One of the ideas initially suggested by the program was a Wes Anderson "Star Wars" parody, so Ward set to work — or, more accurately, set ChatGPT to work by asking it to write a script for the video. For the shots themselves, Ward used the AI image generation program MidJourney, then added slight animation to them with the AI program D-ID. For the voiceover, he used ElevenLabs' AI text-to-speech software. Finally, he added some polish the old-fashioned way by editing it all into a finished video. He replicated that process twice more with his "Lord of the Rings" and "Avatar" parodies.
While these parodies prove how capable current, consumer-grade AI tools have become, they are still parodies. Creating a fully original film with AI would require significantly more work from a human being, relegating AI programs to mere tools. Of course, AI has already proliferated throughout the film industry in applications that are far more beneficial to artists, such as AI masking tools for VFX work.
