Chris Neumann

I finished reading a book on the porch today. Feels like ages since I did that. And it was a rather melancholic ending to the book too, I thought.

But apparently useful.

I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland.

And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.

I... NEVER... caught that.

It felt like the movie was just going to be snarky VO and montages, that's not a movie. And while VO is a part of the genre, I love banter and the setup was robbing me of all the opportunities to write it. #scriptsky

So this happened again, but in my defense it was SO much VO narration and description (and all for backstory) that I'd probably have to cut it all out anyway. #scriptsky

This day sucked, I'm glad I got an early start

...is Youtube down?

I don't have a gif, but "we don't want to hate da baby, we want to LOVE da baby!"

Well, this morning went from chill to aggravating really god damn quick.

Feels like I haven't drawn for a while, my sketching tonight felt off.

There’s going to be Covid style shortages of cars, TVs and even washing machines and fridges, then job losses because assembly lines can’t source solid state memory, just so the stupidest person you know can state with 100% confidence a chatbot confirmed dinosaurs coexisted with humans.

Reposting for @supergayscripts.bsky.social who was just discussing Star Trek cards.

I was going to bring this up but I didn't have that information in front of me. I feel like the only LLM worthwhile is one you host, feed, and control yourself because you know exactly what you need.

The AI that's ACTUALLY going to revolutionize Hollywood is the one that figures out how to cut the advertising budget so it doesn't cost as much to market the movie as it does to fucking make it. And do you hear ANYONE talking about that? /13

Of course, AI has a problem that the algorithm didn't: it fucking hallucinates constantly! Unless you build your own model with a clear, quantifiable intention that you can check, you can't trust it. /12

Remember how studios were making choices based on the algorithm? They let it dictate decisions rather than point out choices they didn't know they had, underserved audiences or underappreciated creatives. Instead it led them to chase trends and shit. The approach to Ai is the same. /11

The practical use of GenAI in film is... minimal at best, I think. The actual useful shit is applications like voice syncing, color correction, film grain simulation... boring tricky shit that has a quantifiable target. /10

Since it can't do performances, something I CAN see this tech being good for is "skinning" a stunt performer with the OG actor's body (which CGI does now), or stitching together two different takes by. That could be interesting, but of course no one's showing that off. /9

There's also ZERO privacy (or expectation of privacy)

Yes, it's possible someone will slip in AI to a movie scene and audiences won't realize it's not real. They've been doing that with CGI for a while. But it won't be good and they won't be able to articulate why. /8

I think the reason we saw that specific Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise clip come out is that it looked the LEAST derivative (despite being, you know, QUITE derivative and boring) because it was short and we were focused on the faces. The more you see, the less impressive it becomes. /7

AI isn't a solution to media's current content problem, it's the exact same problem. It's all the worst instincts and trends (remakes, "safe" formulas, generic visuals, recognizable iconography), just operating at warp speed. /6

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KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!
(musical sting)
KHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!

Also, it's pretty frustrating to see established filmmakers flock towards the vomit device when it was like pulling teeth to get them to try EVERY other digital tool. "Digital cameras? NEVER! Offline editing? Blasphemy! Computer animation? CHEATING!" But THIS is cool for them? /5

Anyone who has imposter syndrome or thinks they're unoriginal, just watch this and realize no matter where you are on the skill tree, you're better than THIS. /4

EVERYTHING about it is unoriginal, and frankly... obvious? Like unsurprising, paint by numbers (and it still has that stupid "painted over" look that's plagued genAI since it slithered into our purview). This isn't the future, it's the past and we're already over what it COULD offer us. /3

Every fight scene looks like the worst, most uninteresting CGI slugfest that audiences have been complaining about for... well over a decade at this point. The fact that the first Avengers is sampled so heavily implies there wasn't enough good modern shit to copy. /2

YouTube video by Airt Seedance 2.0 INSANE Fight Scenes

So a ten minute video of that Seedance 2 AI crossed my periphery, and if you think this is the future of cinema... you're fucking wrong. You quickly realize this is GARBAGE and it's not going to get actually "better," just more "photorealistic" /1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXAY...

I feel like I haven't drawn anything halfway decent in forever.