For many years now I’ve become a fan of A24 and have loved so much of their content. Have their titles all been winners? No, but their output of above level films that managed to mix mainstream sensibility with arthouse appeal as been amazing. For many years they’ve given us absolutely incredible films that have allowed filmmakers that normally wouldn’t be seen to final garner some respectable platforms. They’re not low budget or indie like Troma but they’ve allowed some unique artists to give us gems like “The Zone of Interest,” “The Whale,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” Ti West’s “X” movie series, “Midsommar,” “Skin” and so much more.
In fact they’ve also pushed to become an exclusive movie services touting deluxe editions for their own members a la Synapse Films and Arrow. I’ve been inundated with ads on Instagram of their subscription service where they not only offer you their films, but collectible cups, lobby cards, shirts, and what ever tchotchkes you can flaunt for your film Instagram. Most recently though A24 entered the arena of the debate about AI and the use of AI in art like filmmaking, music, and television. It’s been an immensely hot topic online and so many communities have been split in half, with many loathing and resenting the use of AI, while a small minority have welcomed it and view it as an inevitability that can be used wisely.
Marvel has sadly edged over to using AI in small instances (like their “Secret Invasion” debacle), and even director Edgar Wright was skewered on his Instagram page a few years ago for using AI imagery to picture what posters of his movies like “Shaun of the Dead” would look like, all to the collective disgust of his followers. Wright was inevitably forced to take down the post and gave a brief apology. So how you feel about AI doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things now as it’s become common place now to learn that various studios aren’t just using AI, but sneaking them in to big productions. They’re using AI to create fake music, fill screens for big conversions of classic films, and even creating fake, creatively bankrupt photos not only as a means of cutting the cost of labor but also numbing audiences to their use.
The more they do it, the more they can desensitize us, and the less offensive it becomes. It’s a common practice that we just can not allow to come full circle.
It was recently discovered that the directors for the ninety minutes true crime documentary “What Jennifer Did,” about Jennifer Pan’s kill-for-hire attack on her own parents, included a slew of “candid” photos of her when she was happy. Many audiences grew suspicious, learning that the photos were all completely AI. If that’s not bad enough fans recently caught on to A24, a once highly respected studio, who were discovered to have used AI to generate promotional posters for their highly controversial release of “Civil War.”
“The ads were posted on Instagram and used as physical posters in a couple of locations,” A source close to the movie said the images help imagine the nationwide impact of the film’s fictional war. “These are AI images inspired by the movie,” a source said. “The entire movie is a big ‘what if’ and so we wanted to continue that thought on social — powerful imagery of iconic landmarks with that dystopian realism.” A user on their account explained anger stating “You know DAMN well how the film community feels about the use of AI Generated content. And the backlash [to AI generated stills featured in the horror film] Late Night With The Devil was more than enough to make that transparently clear to everyone: WE DO NOT WANT THIS. How stupid of your marketing team to even think this was acceptable. We are trying our hardest to fight against the push of opening Pandora’s Box with this shit and here you are willfully ignoring everyone’s concerns in that matter.”
It seems like every studio, big or small, boutique or mainstream, are just so much more willing to side step hiring real artists in order to save a few bucks. There are probably a thousand, maybe two thousand artists out there that would have killed to work on promotional posters for A24. The fact that they willfully ignored them in favor of cheap AI imagery that were so laughably obvious it felt less like deception and more like taking us as idiots. AI has garnered a huge push back from anyone and everyone working within the art field. Once they take over, so many other industries will work on side stepping creative minds in favor of drones, and then what’s left? A24 owes film fans a big apology, especially if they hope to maintain the support and fanbase going forward.
I implore them to leave the AI experiment as simply an experiment and bring back the real artists, many of whom pour their hearts in to this work.