Toronto director/animator Jordan Clarke closes out his “f*ckai?” series of short films with a five-minute opus that ramps up his process of hand-animating 3D to a story generated by OpenAI in response to his prompt.

Jordan Clarke: “This is a story about an A.I. that wanted to be famous, also written and performed by an A.I. (paraphrased and edited by a human) and visualized by a human (me), flipping the norm of what we see in the AI-driven art world today.

“I knew from the start that I wanted complete control over absolutely everything, which meant doing everything myself from the writing/prompting to all the animation and compositing, as well as the sound and editing.

“I feel like, until recently, this unilateral control would not have been possible. However, the tools (both AI and traditional) are getting to the point where a single person is now able to achieve what only a team and render farm could have just a few years ago.

“On top of this, my budget was minimal and my timeframe was somewhat limited as my subject matter was very current and I wanted to get this project made and out within a couple of months so that it was still a part of the zeitgeist.
 

“A lot of people in the creative field are worried about the effect that AI will have, but I feel it will allow more individuals to create exactly what is in their head without a budget or the need to hire a team. I think it’s very exciting.”

 
“From a technical perspective, the resources and tutorials online allowed me to achieve exactly what I wanted for each shot and corresponding script. If you type ‘how to make a person crumble into particles’ into YouTube, you will find a Houdini tutorial for it. This is why I suggest learning at least a bit of Houdini, as it can literally make almost anything you envision possible.

“Another technique that I found super useful was editing in Davinci Resolve before even starting the project. I take my story and type it out in text blocks as shots in Resolve. I then start editing the written work to the music.

“From there I start blocking out shots in Cinema 4D with basic mocap and replacing the written words in Resolve. I’m basically editing the video throughout the entire animation and design process.

“I think being the editor and the writer, as well as an animator and 3D artist, is a huge advantage as it allows me to take advantage of little gems and new techniques I find while working in Cinema 4D along the way and incorporate them into the story. This would not be possible in the same way if I was working with a team.

“A lot of people in the creative field are worried about the effect that AI will have, but I feel it will allow more individuals to create exactly what is in their head without a budget or the need to hire a team. I think it’s very exciting.”
 

 
Director/animator: Jordan Clarke
Writer/VO: OpenAI
NFT bro: Adam Kirschner

Music: des hume

Thanks: Amie Bennett