The first sci-fi film of Vietnamese cinema: Produced entirely by AI on… phones

Up to this point, “Touch” by director Pham Vinh Khuong is the only film created entirely based on artificial intelligence (AI) with a total production time of up to 3,000 hours. This is considered a revolution in filmmaking in Vietnam.

A technological revolution

The reason why Pham Vinh Khuong’s “Touch” has been getting attention recently is because the entire production process of the film, from the initial idea to the final footage, was done entirely by AI. This is an unprecedented breakthrough in the history of Vietnamese cinema.

Ideation, which is often considered a highly personal creative process for filmmakers, is now significantly assisted by AI. AI algorithms can analyze millions of data points, from existing films, market trends, to even audience psychology to come up with unique creative suggestions.

After the initial idea, AI continues to play an important role in visual design, creating vivid and realistic scenes. From character design, setting construction to creating complex special effects, AI can handle it all.

The second thing that surprised the audience about “Touch” was that the entire film production process was done on mobile devices. Using smartphones to create a complete film is a bold idea, breaking all the space and time limits of the traditional film production process.

This approach proves that anyone, anywhere, can become a filmmaker.

With the help of AI, director Pham Vinh Khuong can make a complete film with just a smartphone

Set in a world on the brink of apocalypse, where life is slowly fading, “Touch” takes the audience on a fraught journey. The characters, once caught up in the whirlwind of ambition and fame, now face the collapse of everything they once thought important.

When the outside world is full of dangers, they realize that the true value of life lies in strong relationships and love, and amidst uncertainty, love and interpersonal relationships emerge as the most resilient anchors.

Produced on a non-profit basis, Pham Vinh Khuong said that “Touch” hopes to contribute a meaningful voice to community connections. The director sees the film as both an experiment and a personal challenge, trying to create a powerful cinematic experience with minimal resources.

Anyone can make movies with AI

Pham Vinh Khuong is known as the “boss of making movies with phones” in Vietnam. Previously, in 2023, at the “Artificial Intelligence Film Festival” (AIFF) organized by Runway AI - an American company specializing in researching and producing AI platforms - Khuong's “Or we stay like this for ten thousand years” received many compliments from the organizers.

The short film he made using AI on his phone is in the “super fantasy” genre, combining abstraction and metaphors. The fantasy characters convey human concerns about the rapid development of future technology, raising the question “why do we strive to compete with technology, but doubt the future will have to confront it”.

Recently, this young director continued to release the film “The Great Viet Picture” which is more than five minutes long. The film is a praise of the beauty and history of Vietnam, made entirely by AI on mobile phones. Experts predict that if using traditional cameras and production methods, “The Great Viet Picture” would have cost at least three billion VND.

However, thanks to AI, the cost of film production is only 3 million VND. With practical experience, Pham Vinh Khuong believes that AI technology opens up a solution for filmmakers who are just starting out in the film industry and are not yet able to approach and convince large investors to invest.

Despite the many advantages, Pham Vinh Khuong himself admitted that using AI in filmmaking also poses some challenges. For example, finding and processing data to train AI is a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. In addition, creating deep and meaningful stories with AI is also a difficult problem.

To address these challenges, Pham Vinh Khuong took the initiative to collect a large number of images of Vietnam, from historical photos to everyday photos, to enrich the AI database. At the same time, he also combined different AI tools to create special effects and impressive scenes.

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