Filmmakers and producers should embrace rather than fear the advent of myriad ever-improving technologies, said Hollywood veteran Christina Lee Storm, now founder and CEO of US-based ASHER XR, in a keynote to open the 2023 Geneva Digital Market (GDM), the industry platform of the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF).
Extended reality (XR) storytelling, augmented reality (AR), real time animation, virtual production (VP), the metaverse and artificial intelligence (AI) can all be used to make arresting, in either form or content, narratives, said Lee Storm.
“It’s really about the story, it’s not about the spectacle of the technology, the technologies are the tools,” Lee Storm said.
Entitled ‘Innovation and Storytelling: The Potential of New Technologies’, Lee Storm talked through narrative-driven examples of the use of technologies.
She cited an AI-generated animation about an old monsters support group to VR film Spheres, directed by Eliza McNitt and executive produced by Darren Aronofsky and an AR piece for the Super Bowl halftime show allowing fans to see on stage views of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent.
“I view these technologies as the most amazing opportunity possible for a filmmaker, for a storyteller,” said Lee Storm.
It all adds up to an opportunity to tell stories a different way, she suggested. “They’re just there to help you, just like we use Google and a lot of people now use chat GPT to help themselves,” she said. “But it’s not to say that it should drive narrative, it should enhance your abilities.”
Lee Storm has produced indie films in Hong Kong, worked at Rhythm & Hues Studio (with credits including Life Of Pi among others) and served as head of content and acquisitions for Positron, whose mission is to deliver cinematic XR experiences to audiences.
As a former DreamWorks Animation exec, Lee Storm produced VR experiences for the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, AR projects for Trolls World Tour and produced an interactive real-time Kung Fu Panda experience at Universal Studios Beijing. She was most recently director of VP at Netflix in the US and Canada where she ensured real-time and on set VP not only married up but also looked seamless.
She continues to keep her hand in indie film, taking a producer credit on Solitary with David Oyelowo and BRON Studios.
Generation Z preferences
Lee Storm kicked off the keynote by painting a picture of a digital savvy Generation Z who no longer consume traditional media, with traditional film and television at the bottom of the list, a distant fifth behind gaming.
Lee Storm noted that according to a Deloitte 2021 digital media trends survey music was next in line for Generation Z eyes and ears followed by online video and internet browsing and social media usage. She outlined how gaming dwarfed traditional revenue: Fortnite grossed $5.8 bn in 2021. The film industry’s biggest blockbuster Avatar has a lifetime gross of $2.9bn. Meanwhile social media channels such as YouTube, Tik Tok and SnapChat are occupying hearts and minds. But this Generation Z, who can toggle between sources and engage with stories, are shaping the future of audiovisual output.
“Now we need to look at the different kinds of media with a widening and inclusive view. It is not an us or them or a ‘my content is better than yours,’ but holistically how we think about the audience.”
In 2022, 41% of consumers spent more time watching user-generated video online than they did watching TV shows and movies on streaming video services, noted Lee Storm.
GIFF artistic director Anais Emery opened the GDM by thanking the dozens of ‘humans’ who help put the festival and the market on and took the opportunity to introduce the incoming head of industry Mathieu Gayet. He replaced Paola Gazzani Marinelli who has joined the Digital Creation Hub, an institution backed by RTS and SSR.
Lee Storm was asked what is next for her. “I’m not obliged to just do virtual production,” she said. “There is real time animation, plus multi multiverse, Metaverse plus AI. For me, what I’m excited about is connecting the dots for people. I’m excited about taking people along for the journey. I love to be a part of the conversation because it is a revolutionary time. If I can encourage people to be excited, that’s good.”
“You can’t really be a critic until you try it,” she added “Embrace it, use it, don’t criticise it until you’ve tried it.”
The 11th edition of the GDM runs from November 6 to 10, within the film festival which takes place from November 3 to 12.
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