Anamorph, a new film production and technology company, announced its launch today. The startup, founded by filmmaker Gary Hustwit and digital artist Brendan Dawes, wants to reimagine the movie experience using unique generative technology that can create a different movie each time it's shown.
Anamorph is the first documentary to follow British musician, producer and visual artist Brian Eno, who has worked with legends such as David Bowie, U2, Coldplay, Grace Jones and Talking, to debut at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. We unveiled the Eno for the first time and revealed its innovative technology. heads and many more. His main focus is experimenting with generative music software.
“Brian seemed like the perfect candidate.” [using Anamorph’s software] Because he's always been pushing technology and thinking about how it can be used in art and music,” Hustwit told TechCrunch.
For each screening of “Eno” at Sundance, the generative media platform selected scenes from more than 500 hours of restored archival footage, interviews, animated visuals and music. Anamorph's system can generate billions of potential sequences, resulting in a unique viewing experience for each viewer.
Admittedly, we were skeptical at first too. Our biggest question was: Does the order of the scenes make sense? But, as Hustwit points out, the purpose of a generative system is not to deliver a movie with a “chronological arc.”
“Even in movies, you can have the kind of compelling story arcs that we expect when we watch a movie. [normal] Documentary… Even if the scenes, footage, music, and sequences change, you still get a compelling and consistent story. In this case, it helps that everything is about one person, her,” he points out. “Your brain is trying to make connections and understand a story. And that story changes depending on how you receive information and at what pace it unfolds.”
It also helps that the first and last scenes of Eno are always the same. Additionally, certain scenes are fixed to the same timeslot in each version, such as the scene where Eno discusses his art generatively.
“I thought that was probably a good scene that everyone should see,” Hustwit says.
Anamorph used HD files at Sundance, but its software can also create films live at screenings, which the startup showed off in an installation at the Venice Biennale in October 2023.
“We used Eno’s entire music catalog and all the footage to run a generative platform freely, without rules. [The software] We made a 168-hour movie instead of a loop. An original movie was being generated that would not repeat for 168 hours. “The exhibition only lasted one week, although it could have been held longer,” Hustwit says.
Only six versions were shown at Sundance. Eno will continue to evolve as the company has since improved the software and added more footage.
Additional screenings will be held in 50 cities this spring and summer.
Image credits: Gary Hustwit/Sundance Institute.
As you can imagine, a generative platform that can use hundreds of hours of footage to create different variations isn't built in a day or a year. Anamorph took him five years to build the software from the ground up, combining patent-pending technology with the team's own storytelling knowledge. The company says it is not trained based on anyone else's data, IP, or other movies.
“The main challenge was to create a system that could process hundreds of 4K video files, each with its own 5.1 audio track, in real time,” says Dawes. “The platform selects and sequences edited scene files, but also builds its own purely generative scenes and transitions, dynamically creating video and original 5.1 audio elements. But it had to be robust, and crashing was not an option. So we did a tremendous amount of testing, creating unique versions of movies live in theaters, and creating our own 5.1 versions. You can even render a ProRes file containing an audio mix and create a DCP from it.”
Remarkably, Dawes says the system can create more than 5.2 quintillion variations. (How crazy is that?)
He also said, “This is a generative system, not a generative AI. So I want to be clear about this, because pretty much everything that's been said so far is. [“Eno”] We use the word AI. ”
One issue holding Anamorph back from offering its system to the masses is the lack of existing streaming platforms that can support this type of technology. But the company has said it wants to develop features in-house that can be used by major streamers.
“The main limitation is the ability of current streaming networks to dynamically generate and stream their own video files to thousands of viewers, allowing each viewer to watch their own version of a movie. When we premiered Eno at Sundance, all the major streaming companies loved it, but also acknowledged that their systems couldn't handle the technology involved. …These streamers need to differentiate themselves, and I think leveraging generative technology to enable the movies and shows they're releasing is the way to do that,” Hustwit said. say.
It will likely take years for streaming services to adapt to this technology. Until that happens, Anamorph will stick to live events and theatrical releases.
“What the theater industry desperately needs right now is a reason to get people into the theater, and having a unique live cinema experience is one way we can achieve that,” Hustwit said. he added.
Image credits: anamorph
In addition to documentaries, the company is exploring other projects that could leverage its generative platform, such as art exhibits and blockbuster films. Advertising agencies are also interested, Hustwit said, with one company hoping to produce 10,000 versions of a one-minute commercial.
It's hard to imagine a TV series that follows an episodic structure making sense in this type of format, especially if it incorporates B and C storylines. Unlike Netflix's choose-your-own-adventure film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, viewers can't decide which scenes they want to see, nor can they rewatch a version.
“The viewer needs to be a little more engaged in order to notice the differences when they watch it again and be excited to discover something that wasn't there,” Hustwit says.
Overall, this idea may not be for everyone, but it certainly offers an interesting and new experience that no one has seen before.
Now that Anamorph has officially launched, we are open for consultation with filmmakers, content creators, studios, streaming companies, and more. Rather than making the tools available to the public, the company wants to allow people to collaborate on projects and “consider the source material and overall story goals,” Hustwit said. He added that Anamorph is currently in talks with more than a dozen companies.
Additionally, each project costs differently.
“It would be great if we could make a Marvel movie that changes every time we screen it, but it would cost more than a small video art project. But we collaborate on projects in both of these ranges. Our main goal is to get the idea out there about this new kind of film and to work with great collaborators who will help us explore this idea,” says Hustwit. .