Can a computer write a screenplay? This is the challenge that director Oscar Sharp faced along with researcher Ross Goodwin, who filmed a 9-minute sci-fi short film in 48 hours called Sunspring, with Thomas Middleditch as the main character, star of the cult series "Silicon Valley".

Although it was directed by a man, the true basis of the production is completely digital: a self-named neural network called "Benjamin", that Ross Goodwin built and programmed.

The first thing to do was making Benjamin watch and absorb some of the best examples of film history: from Alien to Star Wars, from Ghostbusters to X-Files, but also other creations such as Futurama.

As for everything else, however, the AI performed the task in a completely independent manner, producing and creating scenes, plot, development, and the dialogue between characters. The lines created show Benjamin’s greatest limits, often illogical and confusing.

The surreal atmosphere, with typical sci-fi colors impressed the Sci-Fi London Festival, which recognized the potential, making it among the 10 award-winning short films.

For now though, it is simply an attempt that reflects what Google and the first song composed by artificial intelligence (as we discussed here) have to offer, but it is also a proof that AI is still far from a satisfying result.

Here’s the link to get an idea.

Sources:
Digital Trends
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