Northern Data Group provides AI and high-performance computing solutions. You’d expect its promotional film to be built with AI. What is unexpected is that it’s a very artistic AI production. The Glass Hermit is an original short film created by Oscar-winning artist Shona Heath – a first-of-its-kind showcase of the mind-bending visual creations made possible with AI. The aim of the film is to demonstrate how AI can connect art and technology to enhance human creativity.
Heath is best known for her production design on the Oscar-winning motion picture, Poor Things. The Glass Hermit is her first foray into working with AI. The film is running in Times Square in New York, Piccadilly Circus in London and Moxy in Downtown LA.
The film is part of Northern Data Group’s Innovation Bravery campaign that champions innovators like Heath who push creative boundaries and spark important conversations about the future of AI. Heath remained true to her analogue creative process to bring The Glass Hermit to life, while experimenting with AI through each stage of the production. This included the creation of her own AI environment exclusively designed to manipulate original moving imagery. The finished product balances experimental filmmaking with the latest developments in AI to demonstrate the irreplaceable impact of human creativity.
“AI has opened a door to other dimensions. It makes sense to me to use it in conjunction with my original ideas, the hand made and human crafted. It is like another colour,” she commented.
The film is fueled by a moving performance from Ruby Gaskell, who plays the enigmatic Glass Hermit. Heath’s creative vision takes inspiration from the world around us – the circularity and fluidity of nature; the journey of shell to sand to water to glass; the love we should have for our planet. This inspiration aligns with Northern Data’s ethos of sustainability and ensuring that the use of new technology, like AI, has a limited impact on the planet.
Rosanne Kincaid-Smith, Northern Data Group COO, stated, “Northern Data emphasises the collaboration between human creativity and AI capabilities, and importantly our shared accountability to care for our planet. The Glass Hermit is a one-of-a-kind work of art that embodies these values. A production of this type would not have been possible a year ago, but now we are able to see first-hand how AI innovation, in the hands of visionaries like Shona, will ensure refined and tailored outcomes that drive industries forward.”
Throughout the film-making process, Heath and Northern Data worked with Emmy award-winning production and innovation studio, HELO, and motion design collective, Blind Pig, to create a film that highlights the full breadth of artistic capability.
Neil Evely, HELO global head of innovation, commented,“We made sure that any AI used was complimentary to Shona’s aesthetic and story. Alongside Blind Pig, we developed a new VFX+AI pipeline that evolved daily, enabling us to combine traditional post-production tools with cutting edge AI technology. There isn’t an instruction manual for what we wanted to do – every day was an experiment for us just as much as it was for Shona and Northern Data.”
