David Fincher is known for exploring new filmmaking technologies (digital cinematography with ‘Se7en’, de-ageing with ‘The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button’). Although he acknowledges the pioneering work being conducted by his peers, he’s steering clear of AI cinematography for the time being.
“I think AI’s a really powerful tool. And for my money, I have not heard an AI Beatles song that compares to ‘Eleanor Rigby.’ So until somebody plays an AI song that knocks me out… maybe that’s just where we’re at now, and I may be eating my words in a year, but I think ultimately, the thing that we respond to in poetry, and writing, and songwriting, and photography, is the personal bent.
I have friends who are photographic geniuses playing with AI. And you look at it, and it always looks like sort of a low-rent version of Roger Deakins. And I understand what AI is pulling from in order to make this.
Playing to its artificiality is something he does see value in.
But I’ve also seen short films that are made by people who embrace what is ineffective and plastic about AI, and have made short films that are really moving, touching, and interesting, but it’s obviously AI,
Until the point of time that somebody shows me something that I go ‘Oh my god, that breaks my heart,’ and then they say, ‘Oh, well, as it turns out, this was somebody talking into a microphone, and this is the film that came out,’ I’m not that worried about it.”
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Source: British GQ
David Fincher image ℅ Variety
‘Salt’ image ℅ CNN Business