British writer/director/producer Dan Hartley, whose HBO/Sky feature documentary The Boy Who Lived was BAFTA and Emmy-nominated, has teamed up with Chris Bird, former MD of Amazon Prime UK, to launch CineMe, a visual development tool for filmmakers powered by proprietary AI.
CineMe is billed as an AI tool to empower content creators, enabling them to build a visual world from script to screen.
Chris Bird has also launched data analysis platform, HawksHead AI.
CineMe uses AI and generative-AI and video to support an end-to-end workflow “that will democratise access to a type of technology that was previously the preserve of major studios and streamers.”
CineMe takes a script and automatically creates a visual storyboard of photo-realistic images in seconds, enabling “collaboration between producers, directors, production designers, DPs, locations, costume designers and VFX teams, simplifying the way ideas are shared and saving significant time and money.”
CineMe is currently in the Beta phase of its development, with a series of “confidential, high-profile” productions on board. Key advisors and industry names from across the film, technology and investment sectors will soon be announced. As the platform scales, it will introduce generative AI VFX capabilities, “allowing productions to create complex visual effects such as explosions or large-scale set pieces entirely through AI, reducing the need for costly practical shoots.”
One of the founding commitments from Hartley and Bird is the formation of the CineMe Future Fund which will provide 5% of the company to a charitable trust, with the goal of providing enterprise-grade artificial intelligence to the screen-based creative industries workforce. Hartley, who was one of many freelancers impacted by financial insecurity in the wake of the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, “hopes the Future Fund will ignite a conversation about how we support the tens of thousands of freelancers who are the most vulnerable to disruption, whilst also ensuring that we harness this once-in-a-lifetime technology to make sure that the UK remains at the forefront of the global film industry.”
Commenting on the launch of CineMe, Dan Hartley said,”Over a 20-year career I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the leading luminaries in the British film industry, and I’ve seen first-hand how important it is to align teams around a creative vision. I see CineMe’s role as supporting the next generation of storytellers and filmmakers, by giving them access to affordable tools that will transform how they develop, produce and distribute films. Before CineMe you used to have to wait until you’d made a film before you could see it, now you don’t.”
Chris Bird added: “After 15 years at Amazon, seeing first-hand how new technologies can help reduce cost, improve decision-making and increase efficiency, I’m excited to bring that ethos to the UK content creation space with CineMe. We sit on the precipice of significant change in our industry, and CineMe is perfectly placed to help creators bring their vision to screen more easily than has ever been possible.”
Chris Bird has also launched HawksHead AI, a data analysis platform that “helps content creators predict how their projects will perform with audiences at the earliest stages of development from script or synopsis.” Using proprietary AI tooling and private databases, HawksHead analyses the likely performance of a project within specific audience cohorts and provides guidance on how to adjust a script, casting, or creative approach to improve its resonance with target demographics. The platform is designed to support creators in winning commissions or securing investment from broadcasters and streamers by “backing creative instinct with robust data.” HawksHead also offers a “Synthetic Panel” capability, allowing creators to test changes and gauge results in advance, “getting feedback in hours rather than weeks.”
Jon Creamer
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