Native Foreign Produces First AI-Designed Short Film Utilising OpenAI’s DALL-E AI Technology

Native Foreign have unveiled the first animated short film that is 100% designed using AI-generated visuals with DALL-E (a deep learning model developed by OpenAI to generate images from prompts), titled ‘Critterz’. The creative agency and production company partnered with writer and director Chad Nelson to create the unique film in celebration of the one-year anniversary of OpenAI’s DALL-E.

Featuring a range of darling characters such as Blu the Red Spider and the lovable gruff Frank, ‘Critterz’ is an animated science documentary turned comedy that introduces an unexplored forest inhabited by mysterious little Critterz with unforeseen personalities. 

Harnessing the limitless possibilities of AI, the creatures originated from the director’s imagination, who then used the powerful AI system to generate all the background settings and create the initial character artworks. Native Foreign handled the production process once the images had been generated by DALL-E.

AI enabled Chad to produce hundreds of visuals per day, making it faster to visualise his creative products and allowing Native Foreign to collaborate with insight on the script, voiceover talent casting, and most importantly, bringing the characters to life. The team worked with animators to create a 3D world from the still images generated by DALL-E, bringing these magical environments to life by adding pixie dust, sun flares, and depth.

Critterz is now available to watch at critterz.tv.

Natalie Summers, communications and artist relations at OpenAI, comments on the film, “It’s been magical to watch Chad’s creativity flow from his brain, through DALL-E and onto the screen with so much heart. Critterz is a vibrant example of how artists can use AI tools to unlock ideas that were once out of reach because of budget, time or resources.”

Nik Kleverov, creative director at Native Foreign, adds, “Chad and I have a long-standing working relationship and decided to collaborate on this film as a bit of a side project to see how AI tools can be put to use. We are so thrilled to finally release Critterz, the first film of its kind.”

Chad Nelson, writer, director and creator of Critterz, comments, “Ultimately, I hope it’s an inspiration. Whatever’s in someone’s mind, their imagination – now they have technology which allows them to go make something, tell a story, build a world- because now you can.”