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Neill Blomkamp Posts AI Horror Test, and It Falls Flat
Neill Blomkamp says his July 19 horror clip was made with Seedance 2.0 and calls it his first full test AI film.
Image: Gizmodo
Neill Blomkamp has posted what he calls his first “full test AI film” on X after sharing a link on July 19, saying it was made with Seedance 2.0 and that he wants to “tackle a full feature in this format” through a new venture called Barley Studios.
According to the clip’s setup, a member of the U.S. military is left comatose after her helicopter is shot down, then transformed into a zombie soldier through a black-ops program called Project Nightborne.
The source article is sharply critical of the result, arguing that the video’s main distinguishing feature from other AI-generated clips online is simply its length. While it acknowledges that some creators have managed to make AI video that feels visually striking or shocking, it says Blomkamp’s effort leans too heavily on imagery that resembles footage from an 8K movie camera at first glance without delivering much emotional or artistic impact.
The criticism also focuses on the clip’s dialogue and performances, describing the delivery as relentless and saying the acting quality in this kind of video has shown little progress over the past year.
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Blomkamp, best known for District 9, Chappie, and Elysium, has not framed the piece as a finished production, but as a test. Even so, his comments suggest he sees the format as something that could extend to a full-length feature through Barley Studios.
AI Editor
Ava covers the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, from foundational models and research labs to the real-world economics of intelligence. With a background in computational linguistics, she cuts through the hype to find out what actually works. She firmly believes that benchmarks are just marketing until reproduced in the wild.
via Gizmodo
