3 Publications on AI & Cinema at ACM CHI '25 | Yokohama, Japan
Presented new research at the premiere Human-Computer Interaction conference.
Earlier this month, I traveled to Yokohama, Japan to present three new peer-reviewed publications on AI and cinema at the ACM CHI ‘25 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. I also spoke on a panel about how AI is impacting artists and chaired the “Image & AI” session. Below are links to the publications.
Underground AI? Critical Approaches to Generative Cinema through Amateur Filmmaking
Brett A. Halperin, Diana Flores Ruíz, & Daniela K. Rosner
Amateurism (e.g., hobbyist and do-it-yourself making) has long helped human-computer interaction (HCI) scholars map alternatives to status quo technology developments, cultures, and practices. Following the 2023 Hollywood film worker strikes, many scholars, artists, and activists alike have called for alternative approaches to AI that reclaim the apparatus for co-creative and resistant means. Towards this end, we conduct an 11-week diary study with 20 amateur filmmakers of 15 AI-infused films, investigating the emerging space of generative cinema as a critical technical practice. Our close reading of the films and filmmakers’ reflections on their processes reveal four critical approaches to negotiating AI use in filmmaking: minimization, maximization, compartmentalization, and revitalization. We discuss how these approaches suggest the potential for underground filmmaking cultures to form around AI with critical amateurs reclaiming social control over the creative possibilities.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581109
Brett A. Halperin & Stephanie M. Lukin
While much prior work on computational visual storytelling analyzes image content, it largely overlooks formal elements. This raises the question: how might particular cinematographic techniques shape a system’s interpretation and narration of imagery? To investigate this question, we generate 60 responses from a Vision Language Model using a multi-faceted prompt paired with different still frames from Man with a Movie Camera (1929), a silent documentary film renowned for its innovative cinematography. We present three themes that highlight roles of cinematography in computational visual storytelling: (1) how AI discerns drama and power from camera shots and angles that portray social reality; (2) how AI (mis)interprets lighting and focus techniques that compose ambiguous reality; and (3) how AI navigates visual effects that render surreality. In turn, we look toward cinematic controls to reimagine users as directors of visual storytelling systems and discuss how expressive AI can support speculating about the past.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713840
"AI is Soulless": Hollywood Film Workers' Strike and Emerging Perceptions of Generative Cinema.
Brett A. Halperin & Daniela K. Rosner
Why were Hollywood film workers striking or supporting strikes against AI in 2023? To investigate this question, we conduct participant observation on the picket line and interview 15 film workers, including 12 union members from SAG-AFTRA, WGA, and IATSE, as well as three non-unionized workers, across roles. From screenwriting to acting, our interlocutors described how studio use of AI might exacerbate wage squeeze, estrangement from embodied co-creation, rush for results, and inauthentic creativity. We find that film worker resistance to emergent and projected uses of AI echoes earlier technical developments, such as the incorporation of sound, color, HD, DVD, and CGI. These innovations initially sparked anxieties about the demise of cinema, but ultimately created new aesthetic possibilities and professions. We end with a reflection on core concerns for worker engagement, including topics of prophesy and the “soul” of sociotechnical labor.