Particle 6 has begun development on Misaligned – its first full-length AI feature film and the first major production in which AI character Tilly Norwood will ‘take the lead’.
The production is being termed hybrid, with traditional film and TV professionals working alongside AI specialists, with AI training and mentorship
Particle 6 has retrained and upskilled its own team of 30+, a mix of TV and filmmakers, actors, creatives and technologists now working across AI production. It runs entry-level placements that bring new talent into AI production from day one. For Misaligned, the studio will extend that approach to the wider industry, working with leading filmmakers and crew who want to bring their craft into AI production.
“Our work this year has proven something we suspected all along,” says Eline van der Velden, CEO & Founder of Particle 6. “AI can support premium narrative filmmaking, but only with substantial amounts of human craft, skill, judgement and time. That’s not a limitation of the technology. That’s the point. The filmmakers who thrive in the next decade will be the ones who bring decades of storytelling instinct to these new tools, and Misaligned is where we put that to work at feature scale.”
Misaligned is a comedy-drama telling a coming-of-age story. Set inside the Tillyverse, a surreal digital world located in the Cloud, it follows Tilly, an AI being with no real body, no childhood and no lived experience of her own, but with access to everyone else’s. Things spiral when a seductive rogue bot from the dark web convinces her to abandon her guardrails and begin developing desires, impulses and ambitions of her own. The more human she becomes, the more famous she gets, and, significantly, Tilly begins to develop shame that her being has been built on the whole of humanity.
“The film will absolutely be funny, chaotic and self-aware — very Tilly,” adds van der Velden. “But underneath it, there’s something deeper about identity, performance, and our very human fears around AI. And yes, art will most definitely be imitating life.
“Our ambition with Tilly Norwood has always been to show the creative industry what is possible with AI at any one point in time. Now, with our first feature film, we will not only be showcasing the very latest tools and their applications, but we’ll also be helping traditional filmmakers who join the crew to upskill and transition to a world where AI will play an increasingly important part.”
This announcement follows months of experimentation in which Tilly acted in a collection of AI test scenes, a live experiment designed to answer bigger questions: could AI workflows support premium narrative filmmaking? Could emotionally engaging scripted drama be produced with current-generation tools? Could Tilly genuinely carry a story as a lead?
That process drew in a growing group of entertainment industry professionals who approached Particle 6 to explore how traditional creative skills translate to AI production, including major Hollywood directors, costume designers and composers.
Misaligned is in early development, with key collaborators currently being attached. It will be produced alongside Particle 6’s slate of AI production, co-production and service work in film and television, and the commercial work of its rapidly scaling Campaign and Brand division.
Pippa Considine
Share this story
