ARTificial

HAIRY POUTER is a whimsical short film that brings a lighthearted twist to a magical world familiar to many. And, at the time of it’s creation, this project also served as an excuse for our team to explore the new frontier of AI-driven storytelling.

The goal was to take a beloved, iconic story known the world over and put it in the hands of possibly the only two collaborators with the ability to spin it into something new. Enter Lillian, and her unwitting collaborator: an AI image generator.

Lillian’s creative recap of this familiar story is taken through a funhouse hall of mirrors by inputting her quotes into an AI image generator without any added context that might guide it’s interpretation toward the original source material. And thus, a new classic is born. We’ll let the world decide which version is best.

*“Hairy Pouter”*

A face only a muggle could love.
Our early image exploration for the prompt “Hairy Pouter” was nothing short of pure magic.

*“He did a lot of things with Ron”*

Our search for the perfect Ron took us through many compelling interpretations. But when it came to visual representation, our goal was to remain as hands-off as possible.
The fact that the initial representation of Ron was as a man with red hair was actually a happy coincidence. Of course once this interpretation was selected, we guided the subsequent images to resemble the same character.

*“Dr. Gargunkle was a fish”*

A Primary Care Fishician, in fact.

The only consistent guidance we provided the AI pertained to art direction. We wanted the images to be surprising throughout, and we wanted this film to be as pure of an experiment as possible. But our goal was to still make something entertaining that could be understood by an audience unfamiliar with the technology. By keeping the palette and the general use of paint and texture consistent, we were able to create a measure of continuity and prevent the viewing experience from becoming overwhelmingly confusing.