The 26^th Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase had its premier at Cannes Lions on June 23 to an audience of 2,300 delegates.

The 2016 showreel features 20 international directors, from countries like Chile, Israel, Poland, The Netherlands, UK and USA. Included is one Artificial Intelligence (AI) director.  The question is whether the audience is able to identify the AI film, which was created through a collaboration between Saatchi & Saatchi, Team One and Zoic Labs in Los Angeles.

Andy Gulliman, NDS curator and producer, and director of film & content, Saatchi & Saatchi, commented, “There’s an abundance of craft and different techniques on the NDS 2016 reel, from Claymation to full on AI, beautiful cinematography and amazing narratives. What’s amazing this year is there are more directors not represented by production companies than any previous year. This year it was harder to find the humour we’ve recognised in previous years. In 2016 dedication to craft outweighs laughs.”

The AI director featured in the 2016 Showreel goes under the pseudonym of Anni Mathison. Its short film, Eclipse, is the result of an experiment commissioned by Saatchi & Saatchi and Team One – a short film conceived, edited and directed by machines.

The film debuts on the anniversary of scientist, Alan Mathison Turing’s, birth on June 23 1912. Turing was the first to ask the question, “Can machines think?”, which lead S&S to ask, “Can machines be creative?”

Eclipse uses several technologies in a never-before-seen combination to create the film from start to finish:

• IBM Watson and Microsoft’s AI chatbot Ms_Rinna (Microsoft Rinna) registered the emotion behind the lyrics to generate a completely original storyline for the music video.
• In addition to helping provide the storyline, Ms_Rinna was asked opinions on characters, wardrobe, location and catering for the shoot.
• The team used Affectiva’s facial recognition software and EEG data to help cast the perfect co-star.
• Drones gave direction on the day of the shoot by using a combination of data from IBM Watson’s tone analysis and Affectiva’s facial recognition software. This data allowed the drones to capture intense emotional moments with mathematical precision.
• AI was used again during the edit. The team created a proprietary program that identified which clips to put where based on the beat of the song and the emotional intent of the lyrics.
• All of the visual effects were created using a custom neural art program. This program allowed the machines to apply a filter to the raw footage based on reference images selected based on the artist’s vision.

“What’s next in the evolution of what it means to be a director? Because of innovations in technology, the definition has changed over the years,” noted Chris Graves, chief creative officer at Team One. “We are continuing to explore and advance the art of filmmaking, and are challenging the creative community this year, by asking them and the world, ‘Can a film made by machines move you?’”

Watch the S&S NDS showcase trailer, showing how Saatchi & Saatchi and Team One pulled off the short film conceived, directed and edited by machines:

NDS Class of 2016

• Albert Omoss                            Undercurrents
• Anni Mathison                           Eclipse
• Bennet Silverman                      Handjob Cabin
• Caroline Bartleet                       Operator
• Connor Hurley                          El Perro Del Mar, In The Woods
• Dan DiFelice                             Carved in Mayhem
• Dorota Kobiela                         Loving Vincent
• Grant Singer                             Skrillex, Red Lips

• Jake Dypka                               Hollie McNish, Embarrassed
• James Burns                             We Live This

• Jason Kupfer                             Invaders
• Layzell Bros                              Harvey Nichols, Shoplifters
• Matt Lambert                            Mykki Blanco, High School Never Ends
• Nicolas Davenel                        KCPK ft. STS, Who Wants It
• Nicos Livesey                            Radkey Glore
• Reed Morano                            Coordown, How Do You See Me?
• Rupert Burton                           AICP Reel
• Studio Smack                            De Staat, Witch Doctor
• Tomas Vergara                          Isolated
• Uri Lotan & Yoav Shtibelman     Jane Bordeaux, Ma’agalim

All NDS films here: https://www.youtube.com/user/NDS

Dramatic tension, cinematography, documentary and slapstick horror. This is a broad NDS.

Three female directors are featured this year – Reed Morano, Caroline Bartleet and Dorota Kobiela. There are noticeably fewer commercials on the 2016 Showreel – Reed Morano’s How do you see me film for Coordown, which stars Hollywood actress Olivia Wilde is one. The Layzell Bros’ Shoplifters ad for Harvey Nichols is another.

Embarrassed, by London commercials director, Jake Dypka, in collaboration with poet Hollie McNish, demonstrates his passion for bringing truth and humanity to his craft. New Jersey-born filmmaker Dan DiFelice’s Carved in Mayhem also visualises poetry, in a monochrome film of one man’s journey to salvation.

American director, Connor Hurley, wrote, produced, directed and starred in his cinematic music video, El Perro del Mar, for In The Woods. Hurley is currently gearing up to produce a feature film about the US prison system.

British actress and director, Caroline Bartleet, won the 2016 Best British Short Film BAFTA for her 7-minute short film, Operator. Bartleet based the script on a real life 999 call, which reveals the incredible composure of emergency services operators during crises.

We Live This, a documentary directed by US native, James Burns, which follows the lives of four young boys from the projects in New York.  The NDS Showreel features an excerpt from the short. Burns spent time in solitary confinement at age six, and was later incarcerated at an adult facility in Colorado when he was still a minor, spending years in the criminal justice system. After his release, his formative years became the subject of a feature film, Jamesy Boy.

American filmmaker and musician, Jason Kupfer’s, horror short, Invaders, was featured at Slamdance and Beyond Fest, and won at Fantastic Fest. It documents an attempted burglary turned into gory slasher fest.

US director, Bennett Silverman also pays homage to the horror genre in his trailer for breakout horror movie, Handjob Cabin, which follows four friends whose vacation is interrupted by an overly friendly ghost.

US director, Matt Lambert, collaborated with musician, Mykki Blanco, and cinematographer, Martin Ruhe, on High School Never Ends, an epic Shakespearean music video shot in rural Germany and exploring forbidden love.

Netherlands’ directors, Studio Smack, hail from the Netherlands. Their trippy promo for De Staat’s track, Witch Doctor, has won a number of awards, including Berlin Music Video Award 2016 for Best Concept, Edison PopPris 2016, and Holland Animation film festival 2016 Grand Prix for Best Dutch Animation.

French director, Nicolas Davenel, started his career as an editor, before moving behind the camera to direct his first music video for The Parisians. His promo, KCPK ft. STS, Who Wants It, for French trio, KCPK, produced by Iconoclast, depicts the evil underbelly of Russian gang life with an adrenaline-fuelled journey through different generations exposed to the mobster world.

Israeli directors, Uri Lotan & Yoav Shtibelman, created an animation for Jane Bordeaux’s track, Ma’agalim. It invites the viewer into a cartoon world inhabited by a wooden doll. A wooden doll, stuck in place and time, is overtaken by everyday life scenarios.

US director and computational artist, Albert Omoss, takes the viewer on a trip through their own consciousness in Undercurrents, an experimental short film which pushes the boundaries of animation. Omoss began programming computers at the age of 8, and his work explores the fragility of the human form.

New York director, Rupert Burton, worked with Method Studios design group on his AICP Reel, featuring visuals of professional dancers motion-captured then manipulated by digital artists using procedural animation and dynamic simulations.