Production company and AI specialist, Deep Fusion Films, has partnered with historical-picture archive agency, Topfoto..
Under the deal, Deep Fusion will be granted access to a curated selection of Topfoto’s archive material to produce 12 premium one-hour documentaries, grouped into four thematic collections. Each documentary will be supported by a portfolio of shortform content, designed for social-media platforms.
Deep Fusion will employ its proprietary software Weavr on the project which analyses archival material and assists producers in curating that material, through visual analysis, for a given documentary topic. The software further assists producers to draft a script, create a guide voiceover track, auto-assign the archive material to the right moments in the script before creating a draft edit, which can be imported into Premiere for finessing. “Critical to the application of Weavr is that human involvement is necessary at every stage in the process to ensure accuracy and creative control reducing the production timeline from weeks to under 5 days.”
The first documentary collections to flow from the new partnership will draw on Topfoto’s rich archive of royals, presidents and feats of industrial engineering. The documentaries will be released in three-title collections over a six-month period, with all distribution revenues to be evenly split between the two parties. Deep Fusion’s head of sales, Niki Page, will lead the international distribution, targeting legacy broadcasters, digital platforms and the expanding FAST channel universe.
The partnership will take a ‘story first’ approach to creating premium documentaries that, “in today’s challenging content marketplace, would struggle to find a commission.”
Flora Smith, Managing Partner at Topfoto, said: “Topfoto is thrilled to be starting off on this adventure with Deep Fusion. We have thrived for nearly a century by recognising and adapting to profound technological shifts. When those shifts have occurred, we have always got into the change and worked out how to navigate it successfully. We are interested in AI that is used by creatives to license work, support copyright and provide excellence in the creative marketplace and social spaces. With the historic integrity of our archive being underpinned by a range of things, including archive anchoring on blockchain, this supports us to be bolder in seeking out partnerships and experimental projects built on integrity. Our guiding motto is “innovate at the speed of trust” – which is why we are delighted to partner with Deep Fusion, who share our commitment to historical accuracy and the rights of photographers and creatives.”
Benjamin Field, co-founder and CEO of Deep Fusion Films, said: “This partnership with Topfoto opens up a treasure trove of stories — and stories that, in today’s over-saturated and under-funded content market, would remain in the vault without AI technology. It’s this efficiency that opens up the opportunity to create new programmes at scale for the new digital era, whilst maintaining authenticity and creativity. In essence, we are using non-traditional means to create traditional documentaries quickly and at a fraction of the cost. Our AI tools will expedite the long and costly research process that underpins premium documentary production, allowing us to tell niche stories, bring the explored past to life and to ‘create not scrape’ Topfoto’s unparalleled archive.”
Jon Creamer
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