How Animated Short 'Flicker' Came to Life at the Crossroads of Art and Science

Flicker is a heartfelt short film produced by a resourceful team of passionate creators and scientists working together at Amazon MGM Studios.

Led by writer and director Cris Fudge, the team dared to explore how it could bring a deeply human story to life with the power of AI tools. In its creative journey, the team was determined to adhere faithfully to its artistic vision, leveraging the potential of AI without sacrificing artistic control. For Flicker, both the film and its production are stories about perseverance, connection, and how sometimes those of us who are lost just need a small act of kindness to find our way.

It All Begins with a Spark

Flicker originated from a true story Fudge's wife told him. "It's not a long story, but it stuck with me in a way that I could have never anticipated," he says.

"As my wife was quietly reading in a library, she observed an older woman turning on and off the desk lamps in a study area with no discernible purpose," Fudge recalls. "She would just go table to table and turn on each lamp, one by one. She was repeatedly told to stop, but refused. So, because she was disturbing those around her, and causing complaints, a librarian decided to usher her out of the library. No questions asked."

That's when inspiration hit.

"I thought to myself, what would cause the woman to behave this way? What was her purpose?" Fudge says. "There was something very important to her about those lamps ... but that was the end of the story."

The spark of Flicker sprung to life from one simple question: What if someone had cared enough to help?

The Collaboration of Art and Science

Flicker's production started like any other. The team behind the production, FuzzyPixel, wrote a story, designed their own unique style, painted concept art, produced storyboards, drafted 3D sets, and held dailies. What was different was that Flicker's path included scientists and engineers who agonized over the creative alongside other members of the crew.

Together, they constantly evaluated, refined, and polished to ensure that the human heart of the story shone through. "If we're making a story about caring," Fudge says, "We have to make the audience feel that every step of the way."

The team knew that using new techniques for their film would come with challenges, but as it started production, it began to see that the AI tools weren't ready for primetime. For example, the team crafted key art by hand, as well as 3D character models, props, and environments.

"We thought that by using these images to fine tune AI models, and 3D assets as inputs to better direct the models, that we would be able to very quickly create the visuals for the show," Fudge explains. "What we found to be the case, though, was that there was always random drift in the AI output."

Not enough quality, not enough control. Fudge and his crew found themselves spending more time manually cleaning up the AI's mistakes and less time creating the heartfelt story they had dreamed of. Frustration mounted. Deadlines loomed.

But this is where the team received a key act of kindness. One of the applied scientists on the Amazon MGM Studios team, Seungbae Bang, had been pulled onto another high-priority project, but was so touched by the story that he spent extra time of his own to help solve the issue.

He built a clever approach that created matching representations between different character rig states and the AI's output that allowed the creative team to more precisely control the posing of the characters.

"In the end, we each had a piece of the puzzle," Fudge continues. "But only by partnering the creative and the science were we able to create a method where the drift in the AI output was significantly reduced."

Perseverance and connection won the day.

"Only a seasoned animator can really craft and determine the quality of an AI motion output. Only a skilled character artist understands the nuances of the characters enough to create them with quality and consistency," Fudge explains.

"Only a clever scientist can create solutions that didn't exist yesterday. As much as AI does things quickly, it's a tool. It's the skill of the individual, and the collective quality of the team, using it that produces the highest-quality results. Nothing can replace talent."

The goal of Flicker was to tell a story that moved people, by pioneering new methods, tools, and technologies to pave the way for future filmmakers. It's because of internal creators like FuzzyPixel working closely with leadership, product, engineering and science, that Fudge and his team were able to create a film that helped define a service as well as AI Studios' philosophy for how AI should serve filmmaking.

What is AI Studios?

AI Studios is a team within Amazon MGM Studios tasked with pioneering new and innovative technologies in the AI space to help filmmakers bring their visions to life.

The team operates like a startup, building technology in partnership with artists through real-world productions to prove out both the creative and technical viability of their tools. By developing its own in-house content, the team aims to tell compelling stories and solve technical and creative problems. When AI is used properly, it can both make production more efficient and more ambitious storytelling possible.

What is the philosophy behind AI Studios?

AI Studios operates under a set of principles that guide how the technology is developed and used:

Human creativity leads. Writing, design, performance, direction, and cinematography are human-driven. Filmmakers set the vision and drive the creative choices. AI is a tool that frees creators to focus on craft.

• Telling stories that weren't possible to tell before. By reducing the time and resources required for manual and repetitive work, AI allows smaller teams to take on stories that might not have been feasible otherwise.
• Expertise matters more, not less. The most talented creatives get the best results from AI, just like any other tool. Creative judgment and years of craft are what make the difference. There are no shortcuts.
• It all starts with understanding the needs of artists. The team tests, learns, and adapts its practices based on feedback from the artists who use these tools. They set the quality standard and help us define best practices.

What is Amazon's AI-Assisted creative suite?

Amazon is building a production service based on the reliability and scalability of AWS, and designed for cinematic storytelling. It's a collaborative workspace that will connect production specific AI tools with the professional software filmmakers already use: Maya, Blender, Nuke, Unreal Engine, and Adobe Suite meeting artists where they're at.

The service supports both animation and live-action productions, allowing creative teams to create, make edits, provide feedback, and track progress in real time.

Key features include:

• A choice of AI tools in one place. Creators access all available AI tools in a unified environment that integrates with the software they already know.
• Built for teams. The service supports workflows built for collaborative crews.
• Powered by AWS. Global cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities that scale to production demands.

What comes next?

The team will continue to create, solve problems, and collaborate at the crossroads of art and science, paving the way for the next generation of innovative storytellers, artists, and filmmakers. It's a future where artists can thrive, and where there's still room for perseverance, connection, and acts of kindness.

Watch a teaser for Flicker below: