Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Interview: Peter Böving - Writer, Director, Producer of The Heaviest Order (Part 2)

ROFFEKE: There are new artificial intelligence tools that, with a prompt, someone can create animated music videos or short films within minutes. What are your views on artificial intelligence? As a stop motion animator, what are the ways you see artificial intelligence being of use? What would you never use artificial intelligence for when it comes to animation?

PETER Böving: My sense is that AI will play a significant role in the creation of computer-generated animations. It seems like there won't be a stone left unturned. I can't elaborate much further as I have given my heart to the analog approach. The greatest strength of stop-motion animation lies in its analog nature, allowing one to potentially smell the materials and adhesives used in a film. Naturally, AI is gradually finding its way into my film and audio software without me actively installing anything.
However, something often overlooked in creative processes is that experimenting with mistakes often leads to entirely new ideas, possibly even the best ones! This only works when one has previously tinkered with the controls oneself. AI works largely flawlessly and doesn't reveal any vulnerabilities. But there are aspects of AI that I already wouldn't want to do without: the potential in the area of image scaling and restoration.

I will consciously keep artificial intelligence away from sound and music production, though. The evolution in this field has taken peculiar turns even before the era of AI: Instruments are being played live less and less, and arranging is often done using modular systems. However, in music, my observation is that it's not as easy to deceive as in the film medium. Those who merely 'claim' or hide behind 'effects' will be exposed much quicker by the human ear!
 
ROFFEKE: What are you doing in your own life to prevent wasting your food?
 
PETER: The whole program, I think: Planned shopping, making use of leftovers, proper storage, and minimizing waste or composting. However, I also know no other way: My parental home has greatly influenced me in this regard. We threw out little, whether it was money or food. Despite having the financial means, at our home, recycling came first before considering buying something new (of course, food was not recycled:). Probably, the post-war years, which strongly influenced my parents, still play a role here.

What I have newly discovered for myself, though, is the 'regrowth' of vegetable scraps. In our kitchen, there are little water glasses in every corner where leeks or vegetable onions grow again. That a harvested plant sprouts again is almost a miracle! After 4 weeks, there are fully grown, harvestable plants in the glasses again. Anyone who has ever grown leeks in their garden would have reason to doubt now. After 4 weeks, not much has happened in the home garden bed with a young plant, to be honest.
 
(Look out for part 3 of the interview. You can read part 1 of the interview HERE


No comments:

Post a Comment