Machine Takes Over The Director's Seat At Sundance Film Festival

And they take over media too.

A very interesting concept made its way into the Sundance Film Festival this year. Yes, it was a movie, only it was directed by an algorithm. Sourcing from 3,000 video clips, 80 voiceovers and 150 pieces of music, Eve Sussman's #-Link-Snipped-# is a computer generated movie.

The picks are rather random but have a decent chance at hand to produce a good movie. Out of the three shows that whiteonwhite played in Sundance, one was described so-so, one turned out to be an embarrassment and one was rated outstanding. Not bad, when you compare it to the hit to flop ratio of some well-known names.

#-Link-Snipped-#

 

Working on a similar principle as #-Link-Snipped-#, each clip in the database is tagged which drives the selection of the next clip. For example, the tag “white” might show 80 “white” clips, from which the computer picks one. Similar process is adopted to pick the music and voiceover. The process of selection is logged on a separate monitor and is available for the audience to watch.

Most  of whiteonwhite is shot in Aktau, Kazakhstan, hence giving it is a dark, paranoaic look, which in Sussman’s words is “retro-futurist.”  Sharply symmetrical buildings and grayish light are a common sight. The assembly of Music, Clip and Voiceover makes whiteonwhite‘s resultant footage vague,  giving viewers’ enough scope to form their own interpretations.

Sussman calls it "the serendipity machine", for she believes it mirrors the unpredictability that only reality can offer.

Source & Image Credit: #-Link-Snipped-#

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