The first short social AI movie in Ukraine

New Strategies created the first short social AI movie in Ukraine «My Power». To boost the morale of Ukrainians, the agency decided to create a social movie. However, there were many such videos, making it hard to attract new attention. So, they decided to take an unconventional approach and utilize AI. Thus, they used neural networks to exclusively create an AI film.

The Ukrainian population is demotivated due to the failure of the counteroffensive, mobilization laws, corruption scandals, and more, adding to the stress and nerves. Most people are beginning to give up morally, but that doesn’t cancel the war. To support the population, we decided to create a social movie. However, there were many such videos, and attracting new attention was difficult. So, we decided to take an unconventional approach and utilize AI. We used neural networks to exclusively create an AI movie.

The idea didn’t come immediately. Initially, we wanted to play on the internal conflict – «I could help, if I could really do something, if I were Superman or otherwise strong. But since I can’t, I’m just a weak person, so I do nothing and ignore the war. Especially against the backdrop of bad news». This insight tells us that people give up because they feel weak and insignificant. But that wasn’t enough. Therefore, we layered a message that we shouldn’t give up and must remember who we are.

Shooting such a video with all the locations, equipment, and actors would have cost several million UAH and months of work. With AI, we were able to convey the same sense hundreds of times cheaper and much faster. It took up to two weeks of pure time.

We almost used up the entire Pro package of Midjourney (about 2000 generations) and selected 130 frames. Then, we processed them through Magnific AI to enhance the image quality. Afterward, we animated them in the neural network RunWay – for a 3.5-minute video, we needed to create more than 7 thousand seconds of variations. We also generated about 30 different music compositions in Epidemic Sound and created separate sound design and voice-over. The result is the first social movie in Ukraine entirely based on AI.

Yes, it’s not perfect yet, but realistic enough to convey the meanings. The main thing is the meaning and emotions that the movie can evoke.

Our promotion budget is limited. So, we used other tools: PR articles in advertising media and other media, publications on Telegram, bloggers, and TikTokers, all on a free basis.

As a result, we already have 308 thousand views on YouTube and about 100 thousand on Facebook separately. By the end of March, we plan to reach half a million views.