Get your play button ready. And the pause one too, I suspect.
I have consciously tried to dial down the deluge of gen-AI stuff in my feed and radar. So much of the hype and giddy excitement is shallow and clickbaity. But even for the most hard-boiled gen AI cynic, there must be an acknowledgement that the strides the technology is taking are considerable, and will ripple a long way.
This week, I took a look at some of the more ‘premium’ or high profile examples in recent times, that go beyond demos.
But before that, there is some slower, more intentional, more considered (more fun?) filmmaking to enjoy, which include siestas and …erm, big ass things?
Let’s go then, on our weekly collision of creativity, craft, tech and brands. As always, thanks for inviting The Colour Bar into your feed, or your inbox, or both.
Enjoy,
Shakey
Curated/Cuts: of Siestas & big
assesbagsAI gods & futures: Two movies & some episodes
Gen Z vs AI: Listen to the scepticism
➕ · Spotify’s AI remixer · 404 fun · scheduled Whatsapps ·
1. Curated/Cuts
· The Spanish Dream ·
What if slowing down were also a way to move forward?
Here’s a short that could slow you down, unwind those shoulders, and drop your eyelids just a tad.
Two women escape to the Spanish coast, drifting through sun-soaked drives, lazy afternoons and quiet moments by the sea…. [capturing] the freedom and intimacy of slowing down and simply enjoying the moment.
Siesta.co is a Spanish food company in LA. THis is their recent brand film directed by David Gaspar that suggests a mood, a way of living… with not a product in sight.
Said the director, “Siesta Co. was born in Los Angeles, founded by a Spanish couple. They and I share something very fundamental: all three of us grew up in the same Mediterranean town, Corinto, in Sagunto, Spain. We share very similar memories, a particular way of experiencing summer, food, family, and the pleasure of slowing down. In that sense, the essence of the brand feels very familiar to me.”
Director: David Gaspar DP: Alex Pizzigallo · Verano Films ·
· A Big Ass Bag ·
Last week’s Tiramisu Oat Cult spot was unhinged (i love the word, yes). So this week cannot matchup, but here’s a charming oddball effort from GUTS : a big ass bag for a big ass meal.
Chipotle! I will admit I do not know too much about it as a brand, though it is opening up in my sunny shores in early 2027. Here, they have gone with suave, well-heeled young people making their way to a picnic. Who knows why, but its kinda fun.
And oh- shot on 35mm film, “all real”.
GUT · Jose Ramirez · Rafael de Miranda ·
Chipotle · Stephanie Sotelo · Perdue Lily Badger ·
2. AI gods & futures
There have been some flashy moves around more premium, feature level AI generated content- a few widely released movies, a series on Prime. I took a deep breath and decided to have a gander at these, and the chatter around them.
One thing I’ll note off the bat- so many of the reports & commentary on these films (mine included), generally tend to have some sort of caveat or disclaimer. It’s usually something like “setting aside the countless concerns around AI-generated content”, which is our feeble attempt to remind everyone that provenance, copyrights and human effort should not be brushed aside.
Moving on.
No Godly Gift
Gods Don’t Give Gifts is the first fully AI-generated feature that is going to have a wide theatrical release in the US- it has received an ‘R’ MPA rating. This comes from Zack London’s Gossip Goblin stable, which I wrote about some months ago, and which has some consistently striking creations.
Cyberpunk worlds. Fungal-green sandwiches. Blood-spattered fairies. Fugitive androids. The world-building with Gossip Goblin has been lush, and its characters’ ruminations on humanity and technology want to aim for philosophical depth. You will have to check out the shorts on Youtube to see if you feel an emotional connection; but it’s that very same world that is being taken to the big screen. The film is an anthology of four stories, which I suppose retains its Youtube roots, but also is a handy way to manage a feature length narrative. Longer form storytelling with consistency and retention is probably the hardest challenge faced in this space.
Fable, the studio behind it, is more than a little ambitious- they are eyeing an Academy award bid, and are confident/swept up enough in its mythos to say, “it could be this generation’s Toy Story.” ^
Right.
Future Past
In China, the sci-fi thriller Sanxingdui: Future Past opened in over 10,000 screenings. That is no little test in a corner of the industry- Future Past is probably the first longform AI film to get a true wide release with reported box office numbers in a major territory (there have been few smaller releases in India, Malaysia etc). Some have chosen to mark it as the first real commercial test of the technology for feature-length projects.
As the CEO of the company behind it, BFG said, “We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit and the first to be tested by the audience. I think that is not easy at all.”
This is actually a fair assessment and in the bigger picture a good way to look at it, though the internet has its knives out. The film cost $1.5m- but it also took two years and over a 100 people to make it. But then, this is a country where AI generated microdramas are crushing it, so there’s something to be said about appetites for just how much AI stuff people can consume in one sitting, and in what setting.
Crumbling Castle
In Europe, Prime Video released its first full AI-generated show, the Turkish historical/fantasy Castle Walls.
On the evidence of the trailer (and this review), this feels ‘very AI’, and not differentiated from much of the amateur efforts in sci fi & fantasy we have seen on Youtube. In that sense, it remains a bit puzzling why this “Vaseline-smeared mess” has found its way onto Amazon’s premium streaming service.
“Holy f–k, this is absolute shit … as expected.”
That comment on X bring us to Homer. Because I suppose one must also provide a dishonourable mention here to a 7 minute clip from Grok, which is the first episode in a telling of Odyssey. Yes, this output was touted to be Elon’s answer to Christopher Nolan (who “desecrated” the Odyssey, according to the world’s richest man). If this was the answer, I’m not sure what the question was anymore.
One reviewer memorably called it “so unsettling you can feel your eyeballs twitch at its sloppy gruesomeness”. ^
Ahead
The likes of Gossip Goblin might be a distance from what we’d classify as ‘slop’, but it is often hard to look past the relatively hollow emotional connect and stunted storytelling in many of these. Frank Landymore at Futurism calls it, “serving up empty calories.”
As more such projects start to appear, the gap both narrows and becomes more particular. Tell-tale hallucinations, errors, poor renders, stilted movement- these will be brushed aside in time. Other elements, like the storytelling, pacing, narrative flow, might well take much longer, and likely only when experienced writers and directors decide to climb this choo-choo train.
In that sense, these early outputs finding their way onto premium streaming or cinemas will have to bear the brunt of the current state of the ecosystem as well the viewers’ cynicism. As Luke Buckmaster says, they are “among the first out of the gates, and therefore prone to snarky commentary.”
I think the reality is that all of these get some headlines and attention (I plead guilty), but moviegoers are unlikely at any point to head the the cinema merely *because a film is AI generated. The real transformation will be slower and under the hood, and is happening in studios everywhere as they explore what the tech can do to genuinely enhance their filmmaking. Moviegoers will, assuredly, be watching a feature that has large chunks of it touched and shaped by AI, and they won’t be told and won’t be able to tell.
That’s where this is headed, but till then it is inevitable (and admittedly a little fun) to look at how the initial attempts are faring.
3. Gen Z vs AI
Going all-in on AI is seen in some circles as a necessity, or a virtue, or an inevitability, or all of those. AI-maxxing in corporate and brand cannot be seen as a simple good. Its nuance comes with an increasingly complex world younger people live in.
But being an AI-embracing brand may not be the universal flex some might think see it as. Many young people view it sceptically. I myself have heard “that’s so AI” a few times in recent months, referring to something of poor or dodgy quality.
Kian Bakhtiari looked at this recently in Forbes, with a smattering of telling data points (US/UK mostly). For brands he says, “AI-maxxing risks eroding trust built over decades, if not centuries”, as he outlines the possible reasons for Gen Z’s AI scepticism.
Historically, young people are the first and fastest to adopt new technologies—think video games, texting and social media—by normalizing them before they reach the mainstream. When a new generation pushes back on adopting new technology, leaders should pay attention.
The other question I often ask is, if entry level and ‘intern’ roles are all taken by AI, how are organisations expecting to grow skills for mid-tier talent they will need in a few years? Unless, of course, we convince ourselves that making AI work for us *is* the only skill we need.
➕Quick Hits
Spotify reportedly has plans to launch its AI-powered covers/ remixes tool in early 2027. For an additional fee, the tool will enable subscribers to use AI and make their own versions of songs by artists who have opted in. Sigh.
404 fun found!. Apple used the iPod’s 25th anniversary to make a cool broken page, with a fully working first generation iPod, music included. Click click boom.
WhatsApp is testing scheduled messages. Perfect for those already using WA as their preferred platform for work? Also, for those pesky good morning messages on that large and joyous family group.
“The human written word is the way that we practice our intellectual creativity
and build our intellectual rigor, and thereby
exist within and operate within our intellectual freedom.”
_Katherine Rundell on The New Society Podcast .
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