THE PLACE BETWEEN
A Film Experiment by Chris Peters
Running Time: 72m
2024
Overview
Film made from the memories of dead people, from hours of 16mm home movies discarded by families at estate sales... and all of it in radiant Kodachrome color.
Score by 2024 Grammy Award winner Carla Patullo.
A great write-up in IndieWire.
MEMENTO MORI AS 3,684 CYANOTYPE SUNPRINTS
A Film Experiment by Chris Peters
Running Time: 2m 27s
2022
Overview
This film is a sequence of 3,684 separate Cyanotype Sunprints, developed using a photographic process invented in 1847. Frame-by-frame the images were fixed to coated art paper by strong UV (sun) light, developed in 5% vinegar, dried for 24 hours to complete oxidation, then scanned and hand aligned. The "grain" you see is actually wood pulp from the paper!
The poem was written by GPT-2, an early A.I. writing engine. It is presented verbatim, edited only for length.
THIS DESOLATE SHORE
A Film Experiment by Chris Peters
Running Time: 8m 13s
2022
Overview
Can an A.I. be creative?
In early 2021, a machine intelligence spent two days watching several films by the legendary director Jean-Luc Godard. Starting with a blank slate, the A.I. used these films to learn about our visual world for the first time.
Later, a separate A.I. was used to write the poetry heard in the narration. It is presented verbatim, edited only for length.
To complete the experiment a live action narrative, shot in vintage 16mm, was wrapped around this otherwise A.I. generated film.
With machine-generated imagery and narration, the film gives us a glimpse into our world as seen by a new intelligence of our own design.
Winner - Best Experimental Film, Toronto Arthouse Film Festival 2022
24,483 DREAMS OF DEATH
A Film Experiment by Chris Peters
Running Time: 14m 52s
2021
Overview
Can an A.I. be creative?
A machine intelligence spent six days watching the Mario Bava classic La Maschera del Demonio, then made its own disturbing movie.
Website
The full website for the film is here: 24,483 DREAMS OF DEATH
Press
A great review and interview in Filmmaker Magazine.
The electronic press kit can be downloaded here: Press Kit (PDF)
VERTIGO A.I.
A Film Experiment by Chris Peters
Running Time: 5 min
2020
Overview
Over a two day period, an A.I. repeatedly watched the movie Vertigo.
Starting as a blank slate, the A.I. received its entire knowledge of our visual world from this classic film. During the process, artist Chris Peters recorded the machine's neural network forming in real time - the “movie experience” made manifest.
A 5 minute film was made from these recordings, not footage in the traditional sense of photographed scenes, but footage of the internal experience of a new intelligence learning about our world for the first time.
To complete the experiment, a separate A.I. was used to write a narration for the recordings. Given a few lines of dialogue from Vertigo, the machine generated sentences that went off on their own wild tangents. The bizarre results were used verbatim, only edited for length.
With machine-generated imagery and narration, the film gives us a glimpse into a world at once familiar and fantastic – our world, as seen by a new intelligence of our own design.
Winner - Peter Wilde Award for Most Technically Innovative Film // 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival
TO DUST RETURN
Written and Directed by Chris Peters
Running Time: 10 min
2015
Overview
Sam Jaeger and Jennifer Morrison play a couple struggling to cope with the death of their newborn son. In his despair, the husband must transform how he sees his wife and find a way to accept her dark wisdom.
It was an official selection of the 2015 Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego California, where it had it's world premiere.
Reviews
“The excellent performances by Sam Jaeger and Jennifer Morrison, along with the fantastic execution of Chris Peters, makes To Dust Return a powerful short film that will leave you thinking ... 5 out of 5 Stubs.”
— Mark Krawczyk, 4GeeksLikeYou
“I would rate this short very highly, for the emotional sincerity of the excellent performances and for creating a hook that actually caught something meaningful in the process.”
“With a run time of 10 minutes it’s impressive that this film packs the emotional punch it does ... recommend seeing”
— Ashley Benson, Once Upon A Fan
Website
The full website for the film is here: TO DUST RETURN
Images Copyright © 2003-2023 Chris Peters. All rights reserved.
