TCL’s new AI short films range from bad comedy to existential horror

Earlier this year, TCL released a trailer for Next Stop Paris — an AI-animated abbreviated movie that seems similar a Lifetime movie connected steroids. The trailer had each the hallmarks of AI: characters that don’t determination their mouths erstwhile they talk, lifeless expressions, and weird animation that makes it look similar scenes are perpetually vibrating.

I thought this mightiness beryllium the grade of TCL’s experimentation with AI films, fixed the steadfast dose of disapproval it received online. But boy, was I wrong. TCL debuted 5 caller AI-generated abbreviated films that are besides destined for its TCLtv Plus escaped streaming platform, and aft the Next Stop Paris debacle, I conscionable had to spot what other it cooked up.

Though the caller films bash look a small amended than Next Stop Paris, they service arsenic yet different reminder that AI-generated videos aren’t rather determination yet, thing we’ve seen with many of the video generation tools cropping up, similar OpenAI’s Sora. But successful TCL’s case, it’s not conscionable the AI that makes these films bad.

Here are each 5 of them, ranked from tolerable (5) to “I privation I could unsee this” (1).

5. Sun Day

This futuristic abbreviated movie fundamentally has the aforesaid conception arsenic Ray Bradbury’s abbreviated story “All Summer successful a Day.” It follows a young miss who lives connected a satellite wherever the prima lone comes retired each 7 years, but conscionable 10 radical tin spot it astatine a clip from the apical of a gathering called the “Citadel.” Well, this miss wins a lottery to get a rooftop presumption of the sun, but 2 bullies fastener her successful a country to forestall her from getting to the Citadel.

The AI-generated sequences go beauteous hard to travel arsenic she tries to navigate her mode retired done the sewers beneath the school. She someway gets successful interaction with her dada (telepathically?), who conscionable truthful happens to beryllium a attraction idiosyncratic who knows his mode done the underground. There, she encounters purple rats connected her mode to immoderate benignant of elevator (?) that turns into a rocket and blasts her to a rooftop (?) wherever she tin yet spot the sun.

The dependable acting successful this isn’t bad, but the deficiency of facial look was beauteous laughable (just look astatine this scene).

4. Project Nexus

Project Nexus is much similar a five-minute trailer than a abbreviated film, and dissimilar TCL’s different AI movies, this 1 is meant to picture animated characters, alternatively than attempting to marque them look arsenic quality arsenic possible. It starts similar this: a antheral finds what looks similar a radioactive stone and past coordinates the apprehension of a radical of 4 teens, who past get immoderate benignant of supernatural powers aft the stone explodes beneath their prison.

They usage these newfound powers to flight the prison, and that’s wherever it ends with a “to beryllium continued.” I thought that possibly the facial expressions would beryllium amended due to the fact that the characters aren’t meant to look afloat human, but that definitely wasn’t the lawsuit here. This film’s communicative is astir apt the astir compelling retired of the clump — the AI-generated animation and questionable dependable acting conscionable marque it hard to watch.

3. The Best Day of My Life

This is simply a docufiction-style abbreviated film, which has an histrion playing Dr. Warren Brown usage AI to retell the harrowing communicative of however helium mislaid his limb aft getting trapped successful an avalanche atop Chile’s Cerro Castillo upland — and it’s hard to archer which parts of the communicative (if any) really happened.

Though the bulk of the movie is an AI flashback, showing clips of Brown and his person traversing the snowy mountaintop, it cuts betwixt scenes with the real, quality histrion who plays Brown and narrates the story. It’s fundamentally similar watching an Investigation Discovery show, but with each the “dramatic recreations” made with AI.

The communicative starts to suffer maine aft it shows an AI-generated representation of a severed leg, followed by a trippy series of Brown’s “life flashing earlier his eyes,” which, for immoderate reason, includes a zebra morphing into a lion. I visibly cringed astatine the ending erstwhile Brown called this the “best day” of his life.

2. The Audition

At first, The Audition didn’t look that bad. But what I thought was a silly skit involving an histrion auditioning for a relation successful beforehand of a picky casting manager devolved into immoderate weird and unfunny attempts astatine comedy. After asking the histrion to effort connected assorted accents, the casting director’s requests get much circumstantial — helium should beryllium younger, possibly look much similar Brad Pitt (with elf ears, for immoderate reason).

Magically, with the powerfulness of AI, the histrion turns into everything the casting manager wants him to beryllium and adjacent deepfakes him into antithetic scenes from iconic movies similar Indiana Jones and E.T. Guess what? In the end, the casting manager turns him distant due to the fact that she wants thing “different.” When helium walks out, clones of him signifier their lines successful the waiting room.

1. The Slug

Okay, I really hatred this. It’s similar if Franz Kafka had entree to AI and generated The Metamorphosis. The gist of it is this: a pistillate is suffering from a atrocious lawsuit of arthritis, and she tries to scope retired to household members and her doc by phone, but they don’t prime up. It doesn’t look similar she tin get retired of the location owed to her pain, which is wherefore she looks truthful longingly retired the model erstwhile she places a slug outside.

Things get existent weird aft this. Her hands and feet go covered successful slime, until her assemblage gradually morphs into a full-on slug. Viewer discretion is advised, due to the fact that it’s honestly benignant of disturbing. Once the metamorphosis is complete, she inches her mode retired of the location successful slug form, and idiosyncratic yet returns her call. How tragic.