We watched short films from Oscar Sharp, two of which were written by an AI program called Benjamin and the last, The Karman Line (2014), being a sci-fi metaphor thing for like cancer.
Fulla's only made shorts...
They can be found on this website:
http://www.thereforefilms.com/
The first of the AI written shorts was Sunspring (2016) :
Terrible. I don't know, it's experimental I suppose, but just not as funny as it could be and not nearly as entertaining as it should be. It's an interesting experiment and it's cool that they went through all this effort to do this, but the entire appeal of the film comes from the process of making it, the BTS, more so than what actually ends up on screen. I think the opening text is proof of this.
I think they could have an AI come up with ideas and then build something good around that, but the direct adaptation approach ended up feeling a bit bland. I mean they tried having fun, and it is an interesting and unique idea, but the reviews it received, which were very middle of the road, seems apt.
They also don't show the prompts that they gave him on screen for long enough.
The next one, which saw some co-writers help, was called It's No Game (2017) :
Almost as terrible.
This one does more with the idea, and has Oscar and another writer on, using the AI only when necessary, but it ends up feeling like a less clear version of the original while still feeling unfinished and not very memorable.
I guess the one thing I appreciate most about the Benjamin idea is that it is in the sci-fi genre, wouldn't be nearly as conceptually cohesive if it was in any other genre. A sci-fi written in a sci-fi way is a good idea, but once again more interesting behind the scenes.
It's an interesting concept for a short film, it just didn't see much development I think and feels a bit muddled.
There was a third one made called Zone Out (2018) , which he credits to Benjamin for directing as well, but which he actually directed:
We didn't watch this one in class, but could do so in our own time:
This one is even worse, they gave it more freedom by providing it with reference footage of people's performances as well as old public domain movies, and now it's a real mess. I didn't really watch it though, just skimmed through, so who knows.
Finally we watched one of his more highly acclaimed shorts The Kármán Line (2014) :
Good.
This is a good use of sci-fi I think, it's a pretty clear metaphor, but the floating plot device gives the film a more lighthearted feel than it might have had otherwise and has some good black comedy that makes the whole thing bearable, and ultimately more emotional. There are many dramas set in the real world, with real world problems represented realistically, and they are usually depressing, but not very affecting. This was a much better way to engage the audience I think, and I felt more than I would if it were an accurate representation of a fatal illness.
Aside from this I think the film could have benefited from more clear and interesting character arcs and set-ups, the strand with her daughter felt blurry and not very honest. The twenty five minutes flew by though so props for that.
The best parts of the film were the situations he created that were very easy to relate to and get engaged in, like the rope tied to the mother's ankle or her dropping the phone, these are things we can anticipate going wrong and is quite engaging to watch. In general the film did a good job of putting me in the situations of the characters.
On Sharp:
He seems to be a very talented and exciting filmmaker, but I am surprised that he has only stuck to shorts so far. Other director's of his caliber by this point in their careers already have a feature or two out and I don't think he's doing himself many favours by sticking to the Benjamin, AI, idea. I mean he went to the same school as Scorsese and Ang Lee and studied under Spike Lee and Darren Aronofsky.
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