Fellini Forward is a groundbreaking project that breaks the rules of traditional filmmaking and harnesses the power of technology to signpost the future of cinema. Endeavouring to emulate the creative genius of one of the greatest filmmakers is no small feat, and is something that has never been done before. Artificial Intelligence has made this possible. What we’ve created is a truly innovative art experiment that uses a wealth of new technologies and tools, combined in a bespoke way, to provide invaluable input into the filmmaking process and produce a unique
piece of cinema influenced by Italy’s greatest director.
Since its creation, Campari has pushed the boundaries of creativity, and its relationship with the arts - especially cinema - has grown strong. Having worked with the iconic film director Federico Fellini on one of his few brand collaborations in 1984, Campari wanted to celebrate his legacy with a forward-thinking project that blends creativity and innovation in the cinema industry with the most cutting-edge technology. Was there a way to bring the Maestro back from the grave to direct a new short film?
Using AI, we aimed to unearth Fellini’s creative genius in ways that had never been done before, creating a new short film infused with his essence. By training an AI on Fellini’s past works, we would be able to extract and analyse past data in order to generate ideas for a new piece of cinema that would feel authentically Felliniesque.
We used a combination of pre-existing AI tools and brand new ones which we developed, brought together in a completely unique workflow to analyse Fellini’s past works and offer new suggestions for our short film. Using AI was the quickest and most effective way to extract and analyse the huge amounts of data we needed in order to create an authentic ode to Fellini.
Using computer vision and machine learning frameworks - such as real time object and multiperson tracking, face detection and shot type classifier models, emotion analysis services, and text prediction models - we analysed Fellini’s past work to extract data and establish patterns of signature Fellini creative decisions. We looked at shot type, camera movement, dialogue and facial emotion amongst other elements.
A new AI-driven script-writing tool was created using the existing GPT-2 AI model. The model was retrained on Fellini transcripts as well as film script structure and syntax in order to make Felliniesque dialogue, characters, action and parentheticals contributions to the new script.
We then developed a pre-visualisation tool from scratch which was used to bring the overall vision of the short film to life. The AI model at the core of the tool, the Fellini shot prediction model, was developed as a plug-in for real-time 3D creation platform, Unreal Engine. The Felliniesque nature of the AI-generated ideas pre-shoot were therefore able to be accessed as real-time renders in Unreal Engine. The entire process had the independent validation of members of Fellini’s original crew.

 
Additional Information
Fellini Forward is a groundbreaking project made possible by harnessing the power of AI to extract and analyse huge amounts of data and convert this into creative output in order to enhance the filmmaking process. Whilst the data-driven world of AI has not always been synonymous with the emotion-fuelled craft of creativity, the way that data has been used within this collaborative workflow between humans and machines has resulted in a new,
completely original piece of cinema influenced by one of Italy’s greatest creative minds - Federico Fellini.
Endeavouring to emulate the creative genius of one of Italy’s greatest filmmakers is something that has never been done before. There were so many unknown elements at the beginning of the project that we didn’t even know if what we were setting out to do was possible. But what we created after two years of research, development, discovery, testing and production is a truly innovative art experiment that uses a wealth of data, new technologies and tools, combined in a bespoke way, to provide invaluable input into the filmmaking process and
produce a unique piece of cinema influenced by Italy’s greatest director.
Using data in this way has revolutionised the filmmaking process, not just by speeding up the scriptwriting and pre-visualisation process significantly but also by making a significant creative contribution. This seamless collaboration between human creative minds and artificial intelligence showcases how the emotional and the data-driven can come together to create a brand-new piece of art, sparking an interesting debate on the role of AI and data in the future of cinema.
The short film premiered at Venice Film Festival to great critical acclaim and garnered a huge media response, with 2 billion impressions in the first week after launch and coverage from publications including Variety, Vanity Fair, Elle and The Economist. The expert verdict of close members of Fellini’s family and past crew was that the final output certainly fulfilled our objective to create a new piece of cinema that aligned with the director’s style - something that would never have been possible without harnessing the power of data analysis and AI.

Please note: in case of trouble viewing the film through the link we provided please search “Fellini Forward” on Amazon Prime​