Cattelan, Harmony Korine, and the Changing Role of the Director

Over the past 30 years, a significant transformation has impacted the realm of creativity. While it used to be crucial to be able to personally craft things with one's own hands, today, it has become more important to envision a project and coordinate the efforts of those who will bring it to life.

During the Venice Film Festival, I was discussing cinema and art with friends, and the example of Cattelan's banana emerged. In particular, I connected that work of art to Harmony Korine's film, which was screened out of competition. After watching it, I said something along the lines of, "If another director had made it, everyone would have thought it made no sense".

In this regard, I believe that cinema is heading in a new direction. This represents a shift in the concept of originality and intellectual property, paving the way for what will occur with the entry of artificial intelligence into our lives. Art, the kind we observe in museums, has made this shift a while ago.

I view it as a step towards a more "curatorial" approach compared to the traditional role of the director.

This trend has already begun with TV series, where the showrunner is the mastermind behind the story, orchestrating screenwriters and directors like a conductor. In some aspects, it seems that cinema will need to truly have a solid concept, extreme characters, and visually captivating aesthetics to capture the audience, and it will push further in this direction, as evidenced by the tremendous success of A24. This is why some films might appear a bit boring compared to Yorgos Lanthimos's, which won at the Venice Film Festival.

Artificial intelligence is already changing how films are written, produced, and distributed.

Scriptwriting

​DeepStory creates human-like writing based on your input, enabling anyone to write quality stories and screenplays. ScriptBook provides artificially intelligent script analysis.

Pre-production

AI can be used to streamline the pre-production process, including casting and location scouting. Generative AI like Midjourney can help creatives create moodboards and simple storyboards.

Special effects and post production

AI can be used to create more realistic and immersive special effects, potentially reducing the need for practical effects and saving time and money in post-production. Flawless creates perfect lip-syncing to dramatically improve the viewing experience and unlock a global audience. Colourlab is color grading software and Murf offers a selection of 100% natural sounding AI voices in 20 languages to make professional voice over for videos and presentations.

Audience analysis and distribution

​Cinelytic supports studios and independent content companies to make faster and better informed greenlight, acquisition, and release decisions.

AI can be used to personalize movie recommendations for viewers and optimize distribution strategies, potentially leading to higher ticket sales and revenue.

These are all aspects I consider while writing my film, "Year Zero," which is currently in the writing stage. It has won a development grant and has been selected by TorinoFilmLab Extended – one of the most prestigious workshops with highly qualified tutors and story editors for international screenwriters and directors.

It would be wonderful to see it screened in Venice someday!

Until then,

Marco