Copy, Shoot, Rinse

· Stormtrooper vlogs· Apple TV+ queries · Ch4- sorry, not sorry · Disney sues ·

Lord Vader’s bi*ch-ass looms over us!

Irrespective of where you stand on the unauthorised use of AI by fans and creators, the recently launched ‘Stormtrooper Vlogs’ super-shorts are noteworthy. They are casually enjoyable, and also do a fine job of showcasing the wisdom that human creativity- always- helps technology shine. Yet, the force has ensured they launched eerily around the same time that Disney and Universal choose to go to court on IP theft by an AI-generated service.

Another fine week to wonder- where are we headed? Also- why does Apple make movies and shows? How do the British (not) apologise? Shot or filmed- what’s the difference? These and other burning questions are answered* in this dispatch!

➕ Plus- Red Bull cricket, some real fake faces, Coca-cola’s new music label, how bad virality wins, a brilliant instance of a brand that unabashedly continues to hold on to its values, and more.

The Colour Bar- where all such things just happen to hang out together!

*When I say answered, I might also mean probed, contemplated, explored and offered up for discussion.*

A Bottomless Pit

So Disney and Universal have sued the generative AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement, saying it generates “endless” ripoffs. If you know Midjourney, you know that is true. How is it different from other image generators, you might well ask. As do I.
The answer, as far as I can see, is ‘not very much different’. Is Midjourney just ‘easier’ to take to court, then? Who knows. Either way, the lawsuit doesn’t hold back, describing Midjourney as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism,” while at the same time not taking any other high ground with AI.

“We are bullish on the promise of AI technology and optimistic about how it can be used responsibly as a tool to further human creativity. But piracy is piracy, and the fact that it’s done by an AI company does not make it any less infringing.”

That last bit is telling, because often, the case from AI companies seems to almost come down to, “if you don’t let us do this, we can’t run the company”, which is kinda… bizarre, if you think about it.

Midjourney output of Disney IPs

Audrey Schomer touched upon this some time back during the Ghibli craze, though more in the context of OpenAI getting rid of guardrails which could disallow generation of such copyrighted material (emphasis mine).

“For their part, studio IP owners have undoubtedly been aware the threat exists, though studios are notably absent from content owner lawsuits against AI companies. As IP-style replicas proliferate in massive numbers online, public furor around 4o image generation could encourage new lawsuits focused more directly on AI outputs as evidence of infringement. At the very least, the ability of the 4o model to reproduce styles from IP proves that copyrighted works from IP were used to train it.”

What you lookin’ at?

Look Ma, I’m a Stormtrooper

Talking of derivative, them clones in Star Wars sure looked similar. The latest contributions from our favourite mindless foot soldiers in a galaxy far far away? Stormtrooper Vlogs! (IG / YT)

A very recent series of reels/shorts sees Stormtrooper selfies on life, training, missions, mundanities, his bumbling partner Greg and of course, Lord Vader (or should we say “Vader’s b**ch ass”). “I’m a Stormtrooper just vlogging my daily life.” Amusing, profane, derivative, random and not contributing to lore whatsoever- these are exactly what Disney/Lucasfilm would never do. That in itself is not a new premise, of course- satire with popular figures, especially from fans, has been a frequent source of fun (and frustration).

I was reminded of The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster, from the time when blogs were a thing. Circa 2005, the project ran like Vader’s journal, with him waxing poetic, philosophical and sometimes witty.

The difference? These vlogs look much more likely to be ‘really’, from the good people at Lucasfilm. How so? Because, Veo3. Irrespective of where you stand on the use of AI for such endeavours, these shorts shape nicely the familiar wisdom that it is human creativity which helps technology shine, and give us something we can enjoy. They are smart, funny, free and well thought out (I don’t care for the voice acting, but hey-); the fact that lip sync issues are entirely taken away, helps.

While many IP owners enjoy fan-powered creativity like this, the realism of what Gen AI is doing now could well mean they feel less enthusiastic. Unless they can sort ways to monetise the IP. Maybe.

This creator’s move though, is not to monetise the videos themselves, but the process of making them. ‘Stormtrooper’ has a tutorial which- for the princely sum of $25- can help you “create genuine, story-driven content using stormtrooper vlogging — a format that feels fresh, personal, and scroll-stopping.”

Trungphan2

has a worthy take on this, including a parallel drawn with Youtube’s Content ID system, to allow IP owners to monetise AI generated content. I feel the dots he connects with Hollywood’s impending crisis might be too quick though, using easy and interesting but misleading bits like, “Key stat: the two seasons of Andor cost over $600m while StormTrooperVlogs probably cost less than $1,000 in Veo token for each clip.” Nonetheless, there is much to agree and ponder on, in his piece.

AI +

• Fake faces. Real consequences. Think Before You Trust. Watch 90 seconds to tell you how real fakeness is getting. Expect more of these, because we can’t be too aware. The Deepfake Scams You're Not Ready For, made with Veo3.

• An interesting discussion here on how AI & Google can be manipulated for clicks and virality, with speed being the key factor. Trends > LLMs > ‘Articles> ‘News’> Voila! Accuracy and truth be damned. In fact, inaccurate virality probably works even better. A peek into a hellscape not all of us realise, sparked by Georg Zoeller.

  “What if it’s wrong and goes viral? Yes! Yes! Jackpot, viral and wrong is the best kind of wrong because then we pick up the trending controversy and can launch another clickbait headline”

• Some of the AI poster children are taking a moment- going ‘AI first’ appears to be backfiring on Klarna and Duolingo. “As cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organising this, what you end up having is lower quality,” Klarna CEO Siemiatkowski said after previously replacing ‘hundreds’ of human jobs with AI. “Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us.” Oh, well.

🎬 Curated/Cuts.

1. Sorry Not Sorry

Channel 4 is proudly Altogether Different with classically sarcastic British humour in this latest spot.

Many organisations and brands are gingerly stepping back from their previously championed efforts and values around ‘DEI’. ‘Woke’ has become a pejorative term. In such a world, I enjoy a brand owning what it is believes (and does), doubling down on what it stands for- unapologetically.

· Agency 4creative · Director of 4creative Miketta Lane · ECD David Wigglesworth · Director: Barry Dyer · CMO Katie Jackson ·

2. F1 haptic trailer!

There's plenty of buzz around the F1 movie. Real Formula 1, Brad Pitt, real action.

But I am loving the idea of a ‘haptic trailer’. Just to be clear- you're going to feel the vibrations and buzz on your device- every rev, turn, brake, and pit stop. Think using Dualshock controllers on your video game console. Pretty simple, even obvious idea, but can't recall it being done for a mainstream promo like this. Great stuff.

*You have to watch this off the app store on your iPhone. That's the other thing- great placement for Apple to use that real estate.

3. Football- Keep Up!

ITV sets about tracing the history of women’s football, at a dizzying speed- because “a record-breakingly fast paced sport deserves a campaign to match. History moves faster KEEP UP!”

In this hectic mix of live action and CGI, you can time travel, get your heart rate up, and spot players, Father Time and a pet dragon.

· Director Chris Boyle · Production Private Island :: for ITV · ECD Tom Houser · CDs Fred Rodwell + Mat Rees · Creatives : Rachel Tweedy & Jamie Chang

Why, Apple, why?

So why does Apple make movies and TV shows anyway?

I could say this interview with Tim Cook and team answers that, but not quite. Still, we do get some slivers of insight in an interesting piece spanning F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, Cook, Eddy Cue and the video team driving the company’s entertainment ambitions.

It’s all in the service of probably their biggest entertainment play yet- the Brad Pitt movie F1, which included Lewis Hamilton as a producer. Cook shared, “we could bring some things that are uniquely Apple to the movie, like our camera technology. And we plan to have the whole of the company support it as well- our retail operation and everything. So it was something that we could get the entire company around.” One of the examples of their wide and deep support was the brilliant ‘haptic trailer’ shared above, available on the App Store (watch in iPhones).

But why movies and TV at all? That’s the question many punters ask every so often, not in the least because the economics and metrics behind their streaming service are entirely opaque.

“We stand at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts. We wanted Apple TV+ to be a place where great storytellers would tell their best stories.”

But if you want more concrete reasons for the ‘why’, the closest we get is this. “I know there’s a lot of different views out there about why we’re into it. We’re into it to tell great stories, and we want it to be a great business as well. That’s why we’re into it, just plain and simple.”

Well, ok then.

Though he does kindly clarify, ““I don’t have it in my mind that I’m going to sell more iPhones because of it”.

The general perception (and practical reality evidenced by volume) does tie in to the Apple promise of quality- something viewers and critics alike often concur on. It is a narrative Apple unsurprisingly continues to lean into. Looking to the start, Eddy Cue- the architect of Apple’s architect of this storytelling expansion- says that when streaming services proliferated, “we saw that the world was changing, and it seemed like everybody was going after quantity. We thought there was an opening for us, if we really focused on high quality.”*

Co-head of Apple Video Jamie Erlicht adds to that when speaking of the F1 film, “Just because something is unapologetically commercial, which ‘F1’ is, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t achieve the highest level of quality in that process.”

Many are waiting to find out just how good, and how unapologetically commercial ( commercially successful!) - the F1 movie really is. We’ll know soon enough.

*I cannot resist noting that this storyline of high quality also included the very formulaic and disappointing Fountain of Youth, recently.

➕ NonPlussed

Who got to PLUS first, anyway?
This harmless little rant about media corporate brands /names cycles through plenty of options, the latest being Comcast’s ‘Versant’ (don’t ask), including this, “HBO knows what it is; Max never did.”
I smiled to pause thought because, in favourably citing Disney+ as the first streaming service to use + in its moniker in 2019, it entirely missed FOX+, a streaming service launched in my professional and geographical vicinity, circa 2016-17, and driven by some fine folk in the Asia.

👆🏼There was also Soundcloud Go+ during that time. And if you wanted to get technical, Canal+ was a much earlier media brand with the Plus integrated, going way back to the 80s.

Red Bull Gives You, erm, Balls?

Red Bull dropped a new video featuring English cricket captain Ben Stokes and Indian batter KL Rahul. Timed to lead in to the big England vs India Test series starting on June 20, it features the unlikely duo in a series of ‘batting challenges’ that feel ‘Red Bull’ but maybe not quite Red Bull enough? Two relaxed blokes though. (The interaction between Stokes and commentator Nasser Hussain was fun).

Imax Basics

We all know what is Imax, though not everyone pays attention whether the film they watch on Imax is made for Imax. There are not many films that are made in the format, some are adapted for it, others a hybrid. But here’s a further layer to it- what is ‘Filmed for Imax’ versus ‘shot on Imax’?

TL;DR? “Filmed for Imax” is a program for filmmakers shooting on digital which allows them to maximise Imax technology throughout the production process, and deliver a movie meant to be seen in Imax. “Shot with Imax,” refers to a movie shot on celluloid film, with a special Imax camera. More here.

➕

• Coca Cola & UMG partner to launch a new label, ‘real thing records’. They are “investing in the future of music and building new pathways for artists around the world to thrive.” First sign-ups are French-New Zealand acoustic pop artist Max Allais and Aksomaniac, a young Indian musician blending jazz, R&B, and Carnatic sounds.

• “The hope is that they all succeed. The indie market needs more than one strong buyer and more than one strong model for the future.” In Battle of the Cool Kids, Erik Hadyen lays out the state of Indie with A24, Neon and Mubi.

• Talking of independent filmmaking, Kickstarter and Tubi have launched a ‘FilmStream Collective Fund’, to “empower independent filmmakers with the funding and distribution support”; the film will of course then stream on Tubi.

Great quote here to finish with. Pause, think and smile… unless you have a lot of $ in NFTs!

The zeitgeist transition of “this jpeg is exclusively mine and worth a million dollars” to “we can generate any image imaginable and the value of image is at the floor” in less than 5 years is truly remarkable.