With a background in CGI and 10+ years experience in live-action and mixed media commercials, French director Joris Bacquet changes course to immerse himself in Disco Diffusion, a free tool for generating AI imagery.

Joris Bacquet: “I was looking for new ways of expression and found an article about artificial intelligence and how the neural network of it is able to create images. I had started to post some research stills on social media when a friend of mine Azel Phara (a French electronic music producer) asked me: ‘Can it move?’

“So first I was shocked, then started to think seriously about it. So I dived deeply into it and once I found my way graphically and technically, I said: ‘Let me work on it and get back to you in a few weeks.’

“As I wanted to control and not give the audience involuntary environments, I pushed the AI to fit as much as possible what I had in mind, in order to get not only satisfying images but also be able to tell a story that fit my idea of what ‘infinity’ is.
 

“On top of this inner story of searching for ‘infinity’, I started thinking of the AI as a character. What if the machine got conscious of what she’s literally doing?”

 
“Many times for a single environment you see in the film, I would calculate hundreds of images to get as close as possible to what I had in mind. Being able to constrain the AI possibilities to fit my desires was quite challenging because the core of the AI is designed to give you infinite options of the same word descriptions.

“On top of this inner story of searching for ‘infinity’, I started thinking of the AI as a character. For me, it’s quite funny and challenging too… How will a machine be able to communicate with a human and express feelings? What if the machine got conscious of what she’s literally doing?

“In this music video, I’m asking myself and the audience: Can we still be considered creators, and could it still be considered as an art form when AI is involved? Who owns it? Who’s the master and who is the slave?”
 

 
Artist: Azel Phara

Director: Joris Bacquet
Editor/Grade/Supporting VFX: Joris Bacquet

Toolkit: Disco Diffusion