Chris Brearton and Dominic Hughes of AGBO, the US studio founded by Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo, have emphasised the importance of “human performance” in the age of AI and how the company plans to partner with Japanese creators on future projects.
At TIFFCOM in Tokyo today (October 29), AGBO partner Brearton and chief scientific officer Hughes took part in a keynote session titled Technology and Storytelling.
The pair discussed how emerging technologies can serve as creative partners but asserted that machines cannot achieve the “novelty” of creating something truly original.
“Machines are very good at remixing what has been done in the past,” said Hughes. “But when we’re building brand new IPs and feeling the zeitgeist of how people are consuming differently than before, you’re not just remixing the past. You’re really trying to create something new and, in that sense, we found that AI processes and machines don’t have the creativity required for that degree of novelty.”
The pair emphasised that “humans are uniquely positioned to tell stories,” and firmly stated that everything AGBO does is “artist-led, artist-first”.
Brearton predicted that “we will see more young filmmakers using technology and pushing the boundaries,” comparing emerging AI creators to Kane Parsons and Curry Barker whose background posting shorts on YouTube led them to box-office success with Backrooms and Obsession respectively.
“Innovations are going to evolve in a way that will require less [budget], perhaps, depending on the type of movie you’re making and the ambition and the scope of the film,” he said. “You’ll be able to tell stories with more novel backdrops and settings, and spend a lot of focus on the human performance, which is still critical.”
Addressing attendees at the industry market in Tokyo, Brearton said AGBO intends to “learn from the great Japanese creators and partner with them” as they look to “tell truly global stories across a multimedia environment.”
“Audiences are very receptive to cross-nation and cross-culture entertainment, which we’re really looking forward to embracing,” he added. ”Things like manga are absolutely going to be part of what we’re doing.”
AGBO is in post-production on Avengers: Doomsday, part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and is also known for building Netflix action franchise Extraction from 2014 graphic novel Ciudad, written by Ande Parks and the Russo brothers. Further titles include Oscar-winner Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Electric State. The independent studio plans to widen its scope with Japanese-inspired fare.
“One of the things that people are starting to discover is the wonderful, amazing stories that are being told out of Asia, particularly Japan, by virtue of the fact that it’s now accessible,” said Brearton. “Technology made it that way with subtitling and the ubiquitous availability of these titles to American and global audiences. You’re going to see more of that.”
Looking to the future, the pair discussed how AGBO’s will focus on how younger generations consume content, often across multiple devices simultaneously, explaining that “multimedia, interactive, engaging, agency-based entertainment” is going to be at the forefront of what they do.
“The ability to tell stories across multiple platforms concurrently, so one provider can provide quality entertainment to that fan across those screens at the same time is an area that we are absolutely focused on,” added Brearton. “It’s not going to be for everyone, and it’s not the only future, but it is certainly a future.”
TIFFCOM, the industry platform of Tokyo International Film Festival, runs from October 28-30 at Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center.
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