Can You Guess Which of These Films Was Made by a Machine?

On Thursday 23 June at 11am, Saatchi & Saatchi premiered the 26th edition of the annual New Directors’ Showcase (NDS) at the Lumière Theatre in Cannes, to an audience of more than 2,300 Cannes Lions delegates.

This year the Showreel features 20 directors, including one Artificial Intelligence (AI)director.  The question is whether the audience are able identify the AI film, which was created through a collaboration between Saatchi & Saatchi, Team One and Zoic Labs in Los Angeles.

Layzell Bros | Harvey Nichols 'Shoplifters'

Jason Kupfer | Invaders

James Burns | We Live This

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 thought-provoking ‘How do you see me’ film for Coordown, which stars Hollywood actress Olivia Wilde, and the Layzell Bros humourous ‘Shoplifters’ ad for Harvey Nichols.

An eclectic mix of styles features on the 2016 Showreel, with dramatic tension, cinematography, documentary and slapstick horror.  ‘Embarrassed’, London-based commercials director Jake Dypka’s 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 beautifully-shot monochrome film of one man’s journey to salvation.

American director Connor Hurley wrote, produced, directed and starred in a beautifully 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.

Jake Dypka | Hollie McNish 'Embarrassed'

Grant Singer | Skrillex 'Red Lips'

Connor Hurley | El Perro Del Mar 'In The Woods'

British actress and director Caroline Bartleet won the 2016 Best British Short Film BAFTA for her tense 7-minute short film ‘Operator’.  Bartleet based the script on a real life 999 call, which inspired her to make the film, which reveals the incredible composure of emergency services operators during crises.  Another powerful short is ‘We Live This’, a documentary directed by James Burns (USA), which follows the lives of 4 young boys from the projects in New York.  The NDS Showreel features an excerpt from the short.   Burns has an incredible life story, he 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 where 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, and documents an attempted burglary turned into gory slasher fest.  Bennett Silverman (USA) also pays homage to the horror genre in his trailer for breakout horror movie ‘Handjob Cabin’, which follows 4 friends whose vacation is interrupted by an overly friendly ghost.

Director Matt Lambert (USA) collaborated with musician Mykki Blanco and cinematographer Martin Ruhe on ‘High School Never Ends’, an epic Shakesperean music video shot in rural Germany and exploring forbidden love.

Caroline Bartleet | Operator

Dorota Kobiela | Loving Vincent

Dan DiFelice | Carved In Mayhem

Albert Omoss | Undercurrents

Reed Morano | Coordown 'How Do You See Me?'

New-York based 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.

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

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

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

Nicolas Davenal | KCPK ft. STS 'Who Wants It'

Matt Lambert | Mykki Blanco 'High School Never Ends'

Nicos Livesey | Radkey Glore

Thomas Vergara | Isolated

Studio Smack | De Staat 'Witch Doctor'

Uri Lotan & Yoav Shtibelman | Jane Bordeaux ‘Ma’agalim'

Rupert Burton | AICP 2016

Behind the scenes - Anni Mathison | Eclipse