MAN WITH AI MOVIE CAMERA

MAN WITH AI MOVIE CAMERA is a groundbreaking series of 480 feature-length films entirely created using new generative AI techniques.
The most ambitious generative AI project of its kind, MAN WITH AI MOVIE CAMERA is an homage to the 1929 original film and the first filmwork series from Dan Sickles and DPOP Studios.

  • Dan Sickles
    Director
    DINA, MALA MALA
  • Bruce Cheung
    Key Collaborators
    DON'T COME BACK FROM THE MOON, THE SOUND AND THE FURY, THE ADDERALL DIARIES
  • Lauren Guido
    Producer
    INHUMAN, THE GILDED AGE
  • Project Type:
    Virtual Reality, Performance, Installation, Other
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 9 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 1, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Dan Sickles

Dan Sickles is an American filmmaker and the founder of dPop Studios, an emerging media company based in New York City.

His first film, MALA MALA, produced by Christine Vachon and Killer Films, received an Audience Award at the 2014 TriBeCa Film Festival and was released by Strand Releasing in 2015. MALA MALA is the first non-fiction film made in Puerto Rico to receive a theatrical release in North America and was nominated for a GLAAD Award in 2015. The same year, Dan was honored as one of Out Magazines Out100, and his production company was honored by Amnesty International and the Social Media Impact Awards for its approach to socially-conscious storytelling.

In 2017, his second film, DINA, produced by Dan Cogan, Impact Partners, and Killer Films, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Grand Jury Prize. Later that year, DINA would win Best Feature Film at the International Documentary Association Awards, and Dan would receive the PEEK Award and the ARC Alliance Community Service Award for his work with neurodiverse communities.

Dan is currently in production on his next project, NEW HERE, a multi-format, multi-platform story about the power of art and culture told through the eyes of a new user entering the cryptosphere.
Dan has appeared as an actor in several stage productions, most notably as Hamlet in the 2011 production at Theater 80 in Manhattan, and Konstantin Treplev in The Seagull at Columbia Graduate. He has also appeared in the series High Maintenance as the understated, silent character Clive.

His writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, OUT Magazine, MTV News, and Gawker Media.

MALA MALA and DINA are available on DVD and for digital download.

Learn more about NEW HERE at newhere.xyz.

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Director Statement

A landmark in modern cinema, MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA left an indelible mark on me the first time I encountered it. Dziga Vertov, the pseudonymous director of the film, was an artist-engineer of the highest order, a creative who pushed the boundaries of what a film could be with playful experimentation.
While underappreciated at the time of its release, his work from the era is unparalleled, and this film has inspired a generation of filmmakers from Jean Luc Godard to Frederik Wiseman.

In 2018, as a thought experiment, I drafted a shot-for-shot description of the film MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA with the intention of making an adaptation for the current era.

In 2021, as generative AI tools became more available, I began experimenting with the idea that it might be possible to generate a feature-length film using AI that reflected the original.

In 2023, along with a team of creative-technologists, we've discovered how to do just that.

Each iteration of the film is generated from a descriptive prompt that matches the film shot-for-shot. The prompt is then trained on a visual data set curated to give each iteration a distinct aesthetic. The substance of the shot, and its length is consistent throughout all iterations and match the original film.

Mirrors of one another, each film is distinct in the collection, though it speaks within a larger chorus.