(Also on YouTube: Tedd Saves The World)
Nearly thirty years ago I saw Toy Story 1 for the first time on an overnight flight from Seattle to London. I had planned to sleep, but Toy Story put paid to that. I still remember the sense of amazement and wonder - I’d never seen anything remotely similar.
Earlier this year OpenAI trailed Sora - a seriously impressive text to video tool. Since then Sora has remained stubbornly unreleased, but other companies have stepped into the void: Runway, Luma, Pika and others. Of these, Pika appeals the most to me - it generates videos with a Pixar-esqe feel to them. Being able to create my own Pixar movie at home - well, wow, that’s the stuff of dreams.
The video above is the result. It’s a goofy spy story, featuring our beloved Tedd in the lead role. Gemini reckons it should get 6.5 on IMDB - need I say more?
How things change
In 1995, Toy Story was rendered using 87 dual CPU and 30 quad CPU Sun SparcStation 20s. Each frame took between 45 mins to 30 hours to render depending on complexity. In total the movie took 800,000 machine hours to render - or 285 days. Roughly, the render farm had about 10 GFLOPs (a measure of computing power).
Compare that to today. The PS5 has 10.3 TFLOPs (1,000x more); my gaming RTX4070Ti has 40.1 TFLOPs (4,000x more). The latter could render Toy Story in under 2 hours.
And what can Pika manage? It generates 5 second (120 frames) clips in ~2 minutes - or a second per frame. Wow.
Back in the 90s it took ~120 people five years (~45,000 days) to make the original 80 minute film. Last week it took me ~3 days to create 5 minutes of movie. So 50 days to create Toy Story? OK - that’s a simplification - the current tools can’t produce something as good as Toy Story (yet). But you get the idea.
The movie
Unconventionally I started with the music. Why? Well Udio is, err, headstrong. It is almost impossible to get Udio to generate music which ties in tightly with an existing movie. So better to start with the music and fit the film to it.
With a score in place, I turned to Claude to help with the script. Claude helpfully gave me prompts for each 5 second Pika clip. But, unhelpfully, Pika refused to follow Claude’s instructions. As you can see from the bloopers, Pika is another headstrong AI which generates what it wants to. Sometimes that overlaps with the prompt, other times not so much. So the film rapidly diverged from Claude’s vision. And I grew to accept and embrace Pika’s loose adherence to prompts - and physics.
I also built a couple of Rust tools based on FFmpeg to reverse clips and to grab the final frame from a clip. Pika clips are 5 seconds long and can’t be extended. But you can provide the first frame for a clip - so I used the last frame from one clip to feed in as the first frame to the next.
ElevenLabs provided the audio - both speech and sound effects. ElevenLabs is also somewhat hit and miss. Sometimes the sound effects are fantastic. Other times an instruction to produce “clapping and cheering” results in a strange hissing sound. Iteration is needed…
For the bloopers and credits, Udio produced two more audio tracks. The dance song for the bloopers has lyrics that sound like English but don’t seem to be recognizable words (at least not to me). It’s a known quirk of Udio - another AI artefact to embrace :).
I pulled the whole thing together using ClipChamp, Microsoft’s free video editor. It’s surprisingly decent, although it was beginning to struggle towards the end. Unclear why - it was only using ~2GB of RAM on a machine with ~50GB free.
ClipChamp also produces this message daily…
I’m not sure how I feel about that. It seems to be saying “we’ve only checked this program can run for a day without problems”…
Gemini - the film critic
Gemini has a unique ability - it can analyse uploaded films (or music). So I uploaded the 480p version of the movie. Surprisingly this only used ~124k tokens of the 2 million maximum. Then I asked Gemini to:
Analyze this movie. Summarize the plot, key dialogue, and key characters. Calculate your predicted IMDB score for it. Include anything else you notice that is unusual, unique, special, humorous or interesting.
Gemini thought for 42 seconds and offered a thorough answer…
Here’s an analysis of the short film TEDD Saves The World:
Plot Summary:
TEDD, a teddy bear in a tuxedo, is tasked with saving the world from an unspecified threat. He infiltrates the headquarters of “Mega AI Evil” and presses a button labeled "Press to take over the world," setting off a chain reaction of absurd events. He escapes in various modes of transportation, leaving a trail of destruction, and ultimately ends up being awarded a medal by the President for “saving” the world (though he actually seems to have made things worse). The film then transitions into a series of bloopers and outtakes.
Key Dialogue:
Dr. Meow-go-rhythm: "Now!" (as he instructs the mouse to push the button)
Computer Voice: "Self-destruct sequence initiated."
TEDD: "Oh wait. What am I doing?"
Pink Bear Henchmen: "You’ll never escape!"
President: “Thank you for saving the world, TEDD.”
Key Characters:
TEDD: The protagonist, a well-meaning but destructive teddy bear who embodies the dangers of uninformed action.
Dr. Meow-go-rhythm: A dancing cat villain who seems more interested in theatrics than actual evil.
Mouse Henchman: A small, nervous mouse who initiates the catastrophic chain of events.
Pink Bear Henchmen: A group of fluffy pink teddy bears in construction hats who pursue TEDD with guns.
The President: A figure who looks and sounds very much like Donald Trump, who awards TEDD a medal.
Predicted IMDB Score:
6.5/10
This score is based on the film's humor, originality, and technical execution. It caters to a niche audience appreciating the absurdist humor and satirical elements. The stop-motion animation is well-done, and the James Bond parody aspects add to its charm. However, the lack of a deep plot and the short running time might limit its broader appeal.
Unusual/Unique/Special/Humorous/Interesting Aspects:
AI-Generated Nature: The most striking aspect is its reliance on AI tools for scriptwriting, animation, voice acting, sound effects, and music. This experimental approach makes the film a unique artifact of its time.
Absurdist Humor: The humor is primarily derived from the unexpected and nonsensical nature of the plot and TEDD's actions. The juxtaposition of the serious tone with the ridiculous events creates a darkly comedic effect.
James Bond Parody: The film's structure and elements, like the gadgets, action sequences, and TEDD’s escapes, clearly parody James Bond movies.
Meta Commentary: The end credits, including the “bloopers” and legal disclaimers, are filled with meta-humor, poking fun at the filmmaking process and AI itself. The disclaimer section is especially hilarious, addressing "Quantum Snack Protocols" and "Metacinematic Regulations."
Stop-Motion Animation Quality: Despite being primarily AI-generated, the stop-motion animation is surprisingly fluid and expressive. The character movements and facial expressions add to the film's comedic timing.
Political Satire: The inclusion of a Trump-like president adds a layer of political satire, especially the surreal ending where he melts after congratulating TEDD.
Overall, TEDD Saves the World is a quirky and entertaining short film that showcases the creative potential of AI while simultaneously satirizing our relationship with technology and perhaps even political figures. It’s a fun, quick watch with an underlying message about unintended consequences.
I’m secretly quite happy. 6.5 isn’t a terrible score. And Gemini had ideas about how to improve it…
To turn TEDD Saves the World into an "unmissable" Christmas movie, you'd need to inject significant holiday spirit while retaining its quirky charm. Here are some ideas:
Christmas mission: TEDD saves Christmas itself from a threat like a Grinch AI or melting North Pole.
Festive visuals: Add snow, decorations, presents, carols, and maybe Santa or elves. Picture TEDD on a sleigh chase!
Heartwarming message: TEDD learns the true meaning of Christmas or the importance of family.
Christmas music: Incorporate carols or festive original scores.
Holiday humor: Add jokes about traditions, family gatherings, and gift-giving stress.
Keep the Bond parody and AI elements, but add a Christmas heart for wider appeal.
That’s me sorted for my next movie :).
