WTF is Darren Aronofsky Doing With His New AI Revolutionary War Show?
Darren Aronofsky’s “On This Day… 1776” is a new AI-produced short-form series that looks awful.
'On This Day… 1776'
Announced earlier this year, the acclaimed director of such films as Requiem for a Dream, Mother!, and The Whale is back, not with a new, cerebral feature film, but rather with a short-form historical television series created with AI.
As we covered before, Aronofsky partnered with Google’s DeepMind and Salesforce to create a generative AI storytelling company called Primordial Soup—and now we get to see what the director has been working on with this new venture.
On This Day… 1776 is an episodic series available on TIME’s YouTube channel, which recreates the important moments leading up to the American Revolution. It’s a combination of AI visuals with voice actors and other hybrid editing practices, and…well…it doesn’t look great.
Aronofsky’s AI Series
Ken Burns, this ain’t. For those who might be enjoying Burns’ new American Revolution series on PBS, Aronofsky’s On This Day… 1776 is a stark contrast of styles, which ambitiously tries to use AI instead of filmmaking.
Now, as we’ve discussed many times in the past, we’re all fully aware that AI is here to stay and is changing the bedrock of the film industry as we speak. However, even if you’re a supporter of ethical AI filmmaking, you have to acknowledge that the format will only do as well as the films it produces.
And from the first episodes that have been released of On This Day… 1776, it’s not looking great just yet.
What Are We Doing Here?
You can see and judge for yourself with the first two episodes now released on the TIME YouTube channel. According to reports, the project makes use of Google’s AI video models but is using voice actors sanctioned by SAG-AFTRA. Aronofsky’s company, Primordial Soup, also reports that its post-production team handled all of the editing, color grading, and audio mixing for the episodes as well.
Looking at statements from those involved with the project, the idea seems to be trying to represent an earnest attempt to create new content by taking a hybrid approach to AI filmmaking. Something which we do commend in theory. In practice, though, the results look awkward, sloppy, and simply inauthentic.
Regardless of how you feel about AI, it’s really going to be projects like these that ultimately dictate if (or when) the industry embraces these technologies. From the initial response and comments online, though, this isn’t spelling a bright future for AI projects in the short-term.
How do you feel about On This Day… 1776 and Aronofsky's AI play overall? Let us know in the comments below.
