‘Synthetic Summer’ Is a Simulacra: Nothing Is Quite as It First Seems
Watching ‘Synthetic Summer’ for the first time, a few things become apparent. It’s a beer ad, set in someone’s backyard amid a warm summer afternoon. Smash Mouth’s ‘All Star’ provides the soundtrack, hinting that the ad is going for an Americana vibe associated with stereotypical stateside BBQs and, well, drinking lots of beer. The cast appears diverse; everyone is having a good time.
Then you really watch the ad. And nothing is quite as it first seems. Sure, all the forms are standard and the eye processes them as it would regular images of human beings - except their fingers are eerily smooth and they don’t know how to actually take a sip of the beverage in their strange hand. Welcome to Private Island’s AI-generated short for a fictional beer, created by the director Chris Boyle and produced by Helen Power, which went viral as soon as it was released over a week ago and quickly made its rounds on TikTok and Instagram.
The short is captivating because it deftly captures the uncanny valley aesthetic we’ve come to expect (or fear) from AI. It’s familiar enough, especially if not enough attention is paid, morphing into an alien form on closer inspection. Created with the help of multiple AI models and several text prompts, Chris generated over 20 minutes of footage before editing it down to 30 surreal seconds.
Today, LBB’s Zhenya Tsenzharyk spoke with Chris to learn about the process of using AI to create ‘Synthetic Summer’, how Private Island already utilises the technology in its work, and why AI will have far implications on the industry very, very soon.
LBB> When did you first get the idea for ‘Synthetic Summer’ - what made you want to create the spot?
Chris> Private Island is a production company based in London that has garnered a reputation for producing not-your-usual commercials for the biggest brands, sports and gaming franchises in the world.
Generally, our work is mixed media, combining live-action and animation, so using AI tools seems like a natural evolution. We've been investigating generative image for the last 12 months - exploring new ways of working and new mediums of visuals powered by Machine Learning.
Outside of our commercial work, we make a lot of shorter-form experiments to entertain new ways of storytelling and investigate digital culture. Synthetic Summer is our latest short.
LBB> And why did you decide to create a beer ad in particular? What made it the perfect subject?
Chris> We landed on beer because it’s a mainstay of popular culture. We all have a good idea of what that should look like and how that feels, so it’s an interesting one to play with.
LBB> Can you share which AI model you used for the spot?
Chris> Of course, Stable Diffusion with Mainly Runway’s Gen2 and some Automatic 1111 ModelScope. We initially worked with some video and image seeding Via Midourney 5, and then experimented with seeding from real commercials - but actually, none of that made the final cut, with everything being created from text prompts.
LBB> What kind prompts did you feed the model and how long did the process of creation take?
Chris> Prompting was pretty broad, initially, just looking for stuff that could pass as a commercial in as realistic a manner as possible. Then when we saw what was going wrong within some of the footage, we leant into it to create a nice little arc of weirdness.
The camera moves are more tricky to dial in with prompts, but eventually, we got enough tight, mid, and establishing shots that we felt like we could cut something decent together.
LBB> We’d love to know how you ‘edited’ the spot to get it into the shape you wanted - or was it a case of putting in the prompts and seeing what happened?
Chris> It’s cut like any other commercial we’d make. We generated A LOT of footage, maybe 20 minutes worth, and then just shot-selected to make the narrative.
LBB> Smash Mouth’s ‘All-Star’ is the featured song. Whose idea was it: yours or the AI’s?
Chris> Ours, it seemed to fit that feel-good, slightly retro Americana world, and its recursive nature meant that it played nicely with the growing uncanniness towards the end of the film.
LBB> How much extra work went into making it a ‘finished’ spot and what did you have to do?
Chris> To be honest not that much, a tiny bit of clean-up, some reframing and some grading.
LBB> The spot has an uncanny valley look - how do you feel about its aesthetic?
Chris> We love the aesthetic. It’s creepy AF. At first glance, it passes for normal, but then when you look closer, you realise how much is wrong. That, I think, makes for an unsettling experience at an almost primal level as I think unconsciously a viewer picks up on it instinctively - it’s very similar to the uncanny valley - you know it’s wrong, but maybe not why.
It’s grasping for human, but not quite reaching… or overreaching, and visually encapsulates where we are right now with AI.
LBB> How, if at all, will you incorporate AI in your work in the future?
Chris> Utility-wise we all do already, it’s been happening for years, from rotoscoping to file structuring. In terms of stuff like the beer advert - generative image - I think in the short-term, it will become a sort of fourth plinth - somewhere between animation, live-action and stock. Long-term - it will accelerate what’s happening already, which is the blending of live action with post. That’s just my guess, though!
LBB> What’s your attitude and opinion on the developments in AI and how it might affect the industry?
Chris> It’s complicated, and honestly, I don’t know - but I feel almost certainly the changes are going to be pretty far-reaching - and that’s not just at an industry level but a social level - that’s why the film has touched a nerve.
We’ve all seen new waves of tech come in and upend how work gets made, but the speed of advancement in AI is quite disconcerting. What was a pipe dream two months ago is now widely available on your iPhone. This isn’t the metaverse, it’s real, and it’s here, and it’s happening.
I do think we need to legislate better and faster in the field in a way that doesn’t blinker industry to the advantages. Above all, it’s a tool, so it needs to be treated as such. I think the ongoing discussions by the WGA in the States are a really good way to begin the process - but it requires a global or, at least, a governmental response too.
