Experiencing Interruptions?

3.5 Seconds

In the very near-future, human attention has become humanity's most precious commodity. With the average focus span dwindling to just 3.5 seconds, creativity and artistic expression are under existential threat. The all-powerful Onti Corporation has mass produced so-called "focus capsules" to extract the one remaining resource to fuel its AI evolution - raw personal data captured from the sacred fleeting moments of concentrated human consciousness.

  • Gary Yong
    Director
    Canopy Crossings, Girls Who Talk to Flowers
  • Gary Yong
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 5 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 21, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    50 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Malaysia
  • Country of Filming:
    Malaysia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    AI Generative
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Amsterdam AI Film Festival
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    June 21, 2024
    European
    Special mention
Director Biography - Gary Yong

Gary Yong is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work transcends cultural boundaries, seamlessly blending tradition and cutting-edge technology in an unorthodox, globe-trotting career. His passion for social advocacy and pushing creative boundaries has been a driving force throughout his career as a commercial director, shaping a global perspective with a unique cultural fluency. While based in Shanghai, he directed for brands like Coca-Cola, Alipay, Johnson & Johnson, and Chinese government agencies like China State Grid, working with Chinese household names like Liu Tao and Zhu Yawen, and shooting in locations as diverse as Milan, Indonesia, and South Africa. His branded short for the first Chinese lesbian dating app Rela attracted social commentary and praise from renowned scholar Li Yinhe, pioneer of Women's Studies, Sexology and LGBTQ rights in China, and is still at 6M views on Youtube.

An early adopter of the power of AI, his first experiment to incorporate generative AI visuals into live-action filmmaking resulted in "Encounter with Jiangnan" which garnered over 1M views on Chinese Weibo within its first month. His fully AI generated short "3.5 Seconds" is a proof-of-concept that opens a window into a world-building project "ARTifacts of the Future", and has already been featured at the recent Amsterdam AI Film Festival, the first festival event dedicated to the new medium in the Netherlands and Europe. Hosted by the MadHatter Foundation, he was also invited to speak on a panel about the groundbreaking changes on the state of the art at the EYE Film Institute, the only museum for film and the art of the moving image in the Netherlands.

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Director Statement

“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible”
- Toni Cade Bambara

I am interested in neither a dysfunctionally dystopian, nor a naively utopian vision of the future, but practically for what AI reveals to us in the present, so that it remains firmly an intentional tool in our hands. I am interested to use the tech to realize closeby future narratives, of how AI could be both friend and foe, a mirror that exposes our inherent vices and greatest potential as a species that will live, and evolve alongside AI.

- Gary Yong, Artist Statement of Intent