Is Hollywood Finally Embracing AI? The Director of District 9 Says Yes.

01 · ▶ on the show at 6:56

Claude Ad

By Mother London

An official Claude ad from the agency Mother, built from stills, black-screen cuts and the questions people are asking about AI: can it be trusted, what happens to work, could it help us be more human again? Chris liked the closing line and the provocative edit, but sat in the 2 camp, feeling the creative could have done more visually, especially next to Claude's sharp Super Bowl spots that poked at ads in ChatGPT. One viewer found it depressing rather than encouraging, and it took the lowest score of the night. Asked if the images were generated, Chris noted that, as far as he knows, Claude has no image model.

“I really like the line, what if we started to become more human again.”Chris Branch · ▶ 8:48

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02 · ▶ on the show at 12:05

Michael Owen BytePlus Ad

By BytePlus

BytePlus revisits the defining moments of Michael Owen's career, from the 18-year-old boy from Chester weaving through defenders on the big stage, made with Seedance 2.5 while everyone else was still waiting for the model. Chris called it probably the only official piece made with 2.5 so far and a good showcase of what to expect, then listed his questions: do 30-second outputs mean 30-second inputs, will audio transfer properly, and are the flickering and frame-rate issues fixed? Bonus fact: Owen is from Chester, where Chris now lives. The chat gave it eleven 1s and a single 3.

“Made with Seedance 2.5, you can sort of see where we're going with all of this and that type of storytelling.”Chris Branch · ▶ 16:45

Seedance 2.5

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03 · ▶ on the show at 18:55

Niedersachsen Ad featuring Dennis Schröder

By PROMPTR, Simon Meyer, Arrigo Reuss

A real client ad, not a spec. NBA star and basketball world champion Dennis Schröder was filmed on a green screen plate in the US, and every scene of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), where he grew up, was built around him with AI at PROMPTR for the agency Scholz & Friends. Arrigo Reuss directed, with Simon Meyer as AI director, as Chris had guessed on air. Chris liked the transitions and how the real actor keeps the AI out of focus, and expects hybrid productions everywhere. The chat split: well made, but not everyone was sold on the content.

“It's not so obvious that AI was used because the real actor does look real.”Chris Branch · ▶ 22:36

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04 · ▶ on the show at 23:03

Bistrot à l'EHPAD (SIG64 nursing home film)

By François Grandjacques, Maria Echevarria

Submitted by François Grandjacques, this short was made for SIG64, a Basque association that sets up bistros in nursing homes so residents feel younger and part of society again. A woman waits, her family arrives, and the mirror does the rest. It was made back in February, mainly with Kling 3.0 and Mistral's Le Chat, on a tiny budget for a good cause, which explains the light sound design some viewers picked up on. Chris gave it a 1: a cinematic film a client like this could never normally afford, and still holding up months later.

“It is amazing that AI can do this type of thing now.”Chris Branch · ▶ 26:37

Mistral Le ChatNano Banana ProKling 3.0Kling 2.6Veo 3ElevenLabs

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05 · ▶ on the show at 27:24

World Cup 26 Ad

By Karsten Winegeart

Karsten Winegeart's love letter to New York as the World Cup's final stop, a city that has always had a weakness for arrivals, was broadcast on TV during the final itself. Karsten said he shed a tear watching it go out, and thanked Ryan Noreen for bringing him in. Chris put it straight in the 1 category and loved the timing, though exactly how much AI was used is still to be confirmed. The chat agreed with 14 1s, and one viewer reckoned it looked like it had a team behind it.

“It must feel incredible to see that on TV being shown to millions of people around the world during a World Cup final.”Chris Branch · ▶ 30:34

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06 · ▶ on the show at 31:56

Flicker

By Runway

Runway's short film about a lamp with a past: imperfect, all but forgotten, and learning what it means to bring light to other lives. Chris loved it and said it could almost be an IKEA lamp ad, a hybrid of short film and advert. His bigger point: the tools are no longer the impressive part, the storytelling is. His frustration: Runway credits these films only as made with Runway, when the person behind it deserves the credit. A viewer named J. Felipe Orozco at Runway in the chat. It drew 15 1s, joint most of the night.

“So, yes, it was made with Runway, but who was it made with?”Chris Branch · ▶ 36:22

Runway

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07 · ▶ on the show at 36:35

The Fall (Part 1)

By Joss Monzoni

"Nine hundred years, the fire held. One night, it didn't." Joss Monzoni's dark storybook fable follows a valley of pigs whose elder lights the old fire every year, until the boars break through and only his son Pip slips away. Joss wrote, directed and made the art himself, with Seedance 2.0 via invideo, Suno, ElevenLabs and Midjourney, and the chat guessed a Midjourney style reference behind the look. He's part of the GenHQ community. Chris called it a definite 1 and prefers this kind of style to chasing photorealism. Part Two is on the way.

“This type of style, I think, is infinitely more appealing, honestly.”Chris Branch · ▶ 40:59

Seedance 2.0invideoSunoElevenLabsMidjourney

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08 · ▶ on the show at 41:28

Aye Aye Captain! (KIDD-O Universe, Fragment 01)

By Henry Daubrez

The first Fragment from Henry Daubrez's KIDD-O universe, an original fantasy world about childhood, imagination and the monsters that appear when the world forgets how to dream. Fragments are short stories that sit between the main episodes, building lore and character, and Chris loved the strategy as much as the film. He and Henry go back to working with Coca-Cola in the very early days of AI, and Henry is a future Creator Sessions guest. A straight 1 for Chris; the chat split evenly, six 1s and six 2s, with one viewer asking where the story was.

“I love this universe that he's building, I love this character, I love this style.”Chris Branch · ▶ 43:31

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09 · ▶ on the show at 44:34

Beans on Toast (Director's Cup entry)

By Afro Futcha

Afro Futcha, aka Diane, made this in four hours for the Director's Cup, the Machine Cinema and OpenArt Gen Jam tournament: pick a country, make a film in four hours, then advance or go home, with 16 nations and one champion. The theme was your country's cuisine or literature, so Diane chose beans on toast, with a grumpy narrator, a six-pound flat white and a neighbour's hot pepper sauce. Chris couldn't believe that quality in four hours. The chat agreed, 15 1s, while Team UK got ready to face Germany in the quarter-finals.

“That piece was made in four hours as part of a competition, so incredible really that you can make something of that length and that quality in that time period.”Chris Branch · ▶ 47:23

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10 · ▶ on the show at 50:20

Plume

By Dave Clark

Dave Clark's longest fully AI short film to date runs 21 minutes, so we showed the first five. An astronaut on a mission to Enceladus, looking for fresh water for a planet that's running out, while his son grows up back home without him. Dave says he'd been chasing the idea for years and finally had the tools to tell it the way he imagined; he wrote, directed and edited it himself. Chris loved the sound design, music, lighting and casting, and the excerpt left him wanting the rest. Dave Clark still the GOAT, said the chat.

“It's really great that a five-minute chunk like this can work so well as a cliffhanger.”Chris Branch · ▶ 56:49

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11 · ▶ on the show at 58:07

The Chronicles of Bone, Chapter Three: The Nightmare Below

By Kavan the Kid

Chapter Three of Kavan the Kid's Magnific Original series runs 20 minutes, so we watched the first five. After Chapter Two, the Collector wages all-out war on the Mordane Empire, Robin Hood prepares Jackal for the road ahead, and Captain Hook arrives at Dead Man's Bay, unaware of the nightmare beneath the surface. Chris pointed to the continuity, the lighting and the water running off a hat, none of it possible a few months earlier, and this was still pre-Seedance 2.5. Not everyone loves the violence, but the chat gave it 12 1s ahead of Kavan's Creator Session on 27 July.

“The water physics running off his hat, none of it was even possible a few months ago.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:06:11

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12 · ▶ on the show at 1:06:36

NIGHTBORNE

By Neill Blomkamp, Barley Studios

The first release from Barley Studios, the new AI studio from Neill Blomkamp, director of District 9 and Elysium. It's 13 minutes of sci-fi horror told as a documentary: a US Army pilot declared killed in action, and a classified programme that puts dead soldiers back on the battlefield. Every frame was generated in Seedance 2.0, directed shot by shot through prompts, the characters carry the faces and voices of 32 real people under likeness agreements, and the concept art is by human artists. We showed all of it. Chris and Paul called it a new bar; some viewers wished it wasn't another war story.

“You can really tell that a big director is now using tools that we've been playing around with.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:21:01

Seedance 2.0

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13 · ▶ on the show at 1:23:35

Otherside

By Lion El Aton, Wonder Studios

A 22-minute anime film directed by Lion El Aton, founder of FILMCRUX, and the third film in Wonder Studios' AI-native anthology Beyond the Loop Season 2. We showed the first five minutes: in a future where the human and demon realms have intertwined, two agents of the Otherside Protection Agency are drawn into a conspiracy that threatens the peace between both worlds. Chris doesn't watch anime but gave it a 1 for how continuous the world feels and how well the characters work. Mary's running commentary about calling HR on some of the shots got the biggest laugh.

“I love seeing people use tools like this, where you just dropped into a world, the world looks so continuous, the characters work.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:30:14

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14 · ▶ on the show at 1:31:02

BURNOUT FREQUENCY

By Fredric A Altman

Fredric took the first five pages of his post-apocalyptic action-adventure screenplay and turned them into a 5 minute 51 second short, his love letter to Indiana Jones and Mad Max. After four years of AI video work for clients, it's the first piece he has put his own name on, made with Higgsfield and edited and upscaled in CapCut. We found it on LinkedIn, where it did very well. Chris put it in the 1 category for the cinematic look, character design, music and editing, and the chat cheered a female lead.

“Really cool cinematic stuff, character design well pulled off, good music, good editing.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:39:01

HiggsfieldCapCut

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15 · ▶ on the show at 1:40:57

Salty

By Jordan Daniel Chesney

Submitted by Jordan Daniel Chesney, who stuck around in the chat to see it go out. Produced by CapCut with music by Brendon Moeller, it's a moody, colour-shifting film that Jimmy in the chat summed up as 21st century Trainspotting. Jordan explained he made all the images in Magnific and all the video in Seedance 2.0 at 4K. Chris loved the character design, the posters, the colour palettes and the music, and reckons Jordan has enough work for a full Creator Session. It came third in the vote, with 12 1s and one 2.

“Really nice overall thinking about character design and use of colours and music and lighting.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:46:53

MagnificSeedance 2.0

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16 · ▶ on the show at 1:48:40

Pomegranate (Sneak Peek)

By Gossip Goblin

A 55-second sneak peek of Pomegranate, the new film from Gossip Goblin (Zack), premiering on his YouTube channel the next day, a few hours before his Creator Session with us. Crow kids, a god-king's sermon and something unleashed: enough to show how far his world building has come. Chris sees releasing films straight to a channel with more than a million subscribers as a new way to publish, and has plenty of questions for Zack about his British accents and where he posts what. It topped the vote with nine 1s and nothing else.

“Amazing world building, just next level.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:52:05

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17 · ▶ on the show at 1:53:18

The Biblical Experience

By Samyaza Speaks

Found on X: a biblical visual trip cut to Holy Place by BENNETT, and Paul's pick to close the show. Chris, a self-confessed EDM fan, called it an absolute banger. He spotted artifacts he suspected came from GPT Image 2 and said it could have been tightened, but the edit and the beat made it a definite 1 for him. The chat was raving in their chairs, though one viewer asked whether it was plundering classic art. It finished with 12 1s and one 3.

“Saving an absolute banger till last.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:56:57

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