Stress and anxiety are the enemies of creativity, so I never underestimate the value of downright silliness in my attempts to remain relatively sane.
In the TV industry, fiddling about with the minutiae can consume unfeasible quantities of time.
In “Unscripted”, twiddling with the …err… script is high on the dither list. There really is nothing like fine-tuning commentary that has already been comprehensively rewritten by a battalion of meddlers to lift the spirits and gladden the heart.
Changing a music track for the umpteenth time is another perennial favourite. An editor may have spent weeks finessing a sequence beyond frame-accuracy, only for a commissioner to insist that Hans Zimmer be replaced by Showaddywaddy.
These relentless drives for perfection may have busted budgets and extended contracts ever since Lord Reith was in nappies, but they have hit a bit of a proverbial wall when it comes to creative AI tools.
You see, when you are working on a job where absolute precision is demanded, using AI tools can be rather like directing an immensely talented actor who happens to be from Jupiter, and doesn’t quite get Earth.
Simple tasks, like opening a door, can become impossible challenges. Other, seemingly complex tasks can be conquered in breathtaking fashion.
You just have to Compromise, Improvise, Bastardise, as the old socialist motto didn’t go.
One recent example is a good “for instance”. I was working on a video project for a psychotherapist, and the first step was to illustrate a simple breathing exercise designed to ease anxiety.
A laudable aim, you might think, and I cheerfully attempted to generate a model of the human body.
I was prompting for things like “a clean, 3D minimalist visualization of a translucent, hollow human body silhouette. The body is iridescent and glass-like, standing against a soft, neutral studio background.” Sounds harmless, a bit arty even – but no, this seemed to violate every AI protocol known to botkind.
Even though my intentions were noble, our digital friends were having none of it Was this gore? Was this sex? Or was it something decidedly weird? No, it wasn’t. But that didn’t matter.
After a few hours of frustration, I managed to con one of the platforms into thinking I was promptong for a humanoid sculpture rather than a body – and I was able to make the video.
Ultimately satisfying, but fiddly? Yes.
When you are doing more flexible things for your own social media sites, it is often possible to bring your own daft ideas to public attention with minimal fiddling.
After listening to endless “Better Help” adverts in almost every corner of public life, I thought it was high time that my unemployed life coach character Cuthbert Huntsman launched a mental health campaign of his own.
The concept was simple: “Wetter Help”. Rather than overthinking everything and getting your proverbial knickers in a twist, why not ask a friend to dump a bucket of water over your head? That way, you’d only have being wet to worry about, and it might take your mind off things for a bit.
Luckily, the bots had little objection to slapstick, and minimal fiddling was involved. Job done:
