As a lifelong horror enthusiast who grew up with the chilling thrill of Blumhouse Productions‘ innovative and original works, it’s disheartening to see the company I once admired stumble down a path of repetition and corporate sponsorship. The charm of Blumhouse lay in its daring spirit and willingness to take risks on fresh, unconventional ideas. However, over the years, it seems that the studio has lost sight of this very essence, churning out rehashes of old franchises instead.
2009 marked the breakthrough for Blumhouse Productions with the debut of Paranormal Activity, a low-budget horror film that cost only $15,000 to produce. Directed by Oren Peli, it captured a DIY appeal that resonated with viewers worldwide. This groundbreaking concept demonstrated that audiences were willing to support fresh and original ideas, which helped establish Blumhouse’s industry standing.
For quite some time, Blumhouse Productions has been operating on limited resources and following popular intellectual property trends in horror production, while bolder horror producers are creating fresh, impactful horror content like “Longlegs” and “The Substance”. As such, it’s no surprise that the head of Blumhouse, Jason Blum, would collaborate with Meta to explore the terrifying aspects of generative AI. Even though they recently produced a film titled AfrAId warning about the risks of artificial intelligence, Blumhouse is now diving into the risky business of developing dangerous generative AI technology.
Generative AI is a scourge on the planet that adversely impacts the environment, exploits previously-existing work made by flesh-and-blood humans, and often engage in pronounced acts of racism and sexism, among countless other flaws. However, insufferable tech bros like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have plunged countless dollars into this technology instead of figuring out ways to actually help people. While countless non-profit organizations work to combat AI’s horrors, Big tech companies are forcing it on people. This now includes generative AI companies trying to create good working relationships with movie studios like Blumhouse.
Blumhouse and Meta are joining forces to utilize Meta’s innovative Meta Movie Gen technology, which generates brief films from user prompts. However, the output appears quite disturbing. In an attempt to improve the quality of these films, Blum has enlisted directors such as Casey Affleck, Aneesh Chaganty, and the Spurlock Sisters. They will be using this text-to-video tool in their projects. The initial short film released is titled “i h8 ai” by Aneesh Chaganty. This short film combines Chaganty’s personal home video recordings (his early ventures into filmmaking) with AI-generated visuals. While Chaganty anticipates that advanced AI tools could have provided him with greater creative liberty as a child, this corporate-funded short film still carries an eerie undertone.
In response to Chaganty’s Instagram post featuring this short film, user adolynhd stated, “I deeply appreciate your talent and the emotions evoked by your work. However, it’s those very feelings we experience watching your films, and the feelings you had while creating them, that AI could potentially take away from us.
Generative AI poses numerous issues, one of which is its forced introduction into our lives by tech industry visionaries rather than being driven by genuine working-class needs. In the realm of cinema, though, a significant concern lies in its potential to obliterate the charming imperfections that give creativity its allure. For instance, consider the 2008 film WALL-E, where cinematographer Roger Deakins collaborated with Pixar animators to reproduce minute flaws of 1970s cinematography in digital animation. These minor “flaws” are what breathed life into classic films, making them feel authentic and tangibly human-made. This is why the Pixar team sought to replicate that sensation for WALL-E.
Jason Blum, currently worth $200 million and known as one of Hollywood’s most productive producers, has seemingly fallen under the spell of franchise and remake craze. Much like many other production companies, Blumhouse gained recognition through daring risks but seems to have succumbed to uninspired creativity once it attained success. The collaboration between Blumhouse and Meta, a tech giant, is particularly unusual and raises eyebrows. It’s odd to think of the former small-time horror company peddling for generative AI, making it a rather eye-rolling turn of events. Instead of backing low-budget filmmakers with innovative concepts, Blumhouse now merely brands its products on lackluster product demos, which feels even more awkward than when Jason Blum himself boasted about socializing with Glenn Beck!
I don’t advocate for generative AI. Full stop. It’s interesting to note that Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Netflix executives are among its biggest backers, which might suggest a cause for concern. Even film studios like Blumhouse, known for their original content, seem intrigued by it. However, this fascination is puzzling given that works created with generative AI can’t be copyrighted. Yet, the upper class sometimes behaves in ways that are both mysterious and questionable. Ironically, these tools could potentially undermine the unique, human-made filmmaking style that characterized movies like Paranormal Activity, which helped launch Blumhouse. Seems like we’d rather have generic AI art than our own homemade masterpieces, doesn’t it?
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2024-10-18 13:15