WELCOME TO ‘THOUGHTS ON’… THE MOMENT WE GET TO UNFURL THE INNERS OF A CAREFULLY SELECTED HUMAN MIND FROM SOMEWHERE ACROSS PSYOP’S CREATIVE ECOSYSTEM. IT’S SIMPLE, WE’LL GIVE THEM BIG, BAD, BROAD TOPICS AND THEY'LL PICK ONLY THE JUICIEST BITS TO SPEAK TO. THEY KNOW THEIR SHIT SO… LET’S TEAR INTO IT!
WILL WE RUN OUT OF LITHIUM BATTERIES? AI ASIDE, WHAT WILL TECHNOLOGY BRING TO THE WORLD OF AI AND ___? AND ULTIMATELY, WHAT DOES ALAN WANT? ALAN WANTS COCKTAILS IN MEXICO (AS PICTURED) BUT HE ALSO WANTS TO SEE MORE REAL-TIME PRODUCTION, MORE BRAVERY AND AUTO BRANDS TAKING A CRUCIAL STEP BACK TOWARDS AUTHENTICITY. READ ON, READER. *NO DIGGITY TUNE*
I'VE ALWAYS BEEN OF THE MIND THAT YOU CAN'T DO SOMETHING REALLY WELL, WITHOUT REALLY, REALLY, CARING ABOUT IT. CARS HAVE BEEN A LIFELONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH ME. MY UNCLE, A BADASS STEVEN MCQUEEN DEAD RINGER WHO FLEW AUTOGYROS AND RACED MOTORCYCLES, CEMENTED HIS POSITION AS THE COOLEST MOTHERFUCKER I EVER MET WITH HIS ABILITY TO PINPOINT NOT ONLY CAR MODELS BUT THEIR YEAR JUST BY THEIR TAIL LIGHTS WHILE DRIVING AT NIGHT. AS A CHILD, THAT WAS TO ME THE EPITOME OF COOL. HOW I GOT FROM THAT TO LIVING CAR FREE IN BROOKLYN AND CATCHING THE SUBWAY EVERYWHERE, I HAVE NO IDEA.
WHEN I WAS ASKED MY THOUGHTS ON HOW WE’RE GOING TO BE FILMING CARS IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS, I STARTED WRITING ABOUT TRENDS IN AUTO ADVERTISING AND QUICKLY REALIZED YOU CAN'T DO THAT WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT CARS THEMSELVES. IT'S A MOMENT OF MASSIVE SHIFTS IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY, FILMMAKING AND IN ADVERTISING, EXCITING BUT ALSO SCARY. “MUCH TO DISCUSS”.
ELECTRIC NORMALITY
IT'S ASTOUNDING HOW ELECTRIC VEHICLES HAVE BECOME SO NORMALIZED IN JUST THE LAST FEW YEARS. TESLA IS AN EVERYDAY NAME. FORD HAS A (GREAT) ELECTRIC PICKUP. AMAZON DELIVERY TRUCKS ARE RIVIANS. HOWEVER, THE PUSH TOWARDS ELECTRIFICATION AND AUTOMATION MUST RELATE TO, AND ENGAGE WITH THE MASS MARKET OF REGULAR CAR BUYERS IF THEY'RE GOING EVER BE MORE THAN A FOOTNOTE.
THIS MEANS BRANDS NEED TO INSTILL CONFIDENCE THAT YOUR EV CAN DO AS MUCH AS YOUR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE (ICE) VEHICLE. WE’RE SEEING MOVES TOWARDS THIS WITH TESLA OPENING UP THEIR SUPERCHARGER NETWORK TO NON-TESLAS ALREADY, BUT ARE GOVERNMENTS GOING TO HAVE TO INTERVENE AND MAKE CHARGING NETWORKS PART OF PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE? AND AS EVS GET OLDER AND SECONDARY MARKETS, CONSUMERS WILL NEED TO SEE HOW THAT AFFECTS SERVICING, RELIABILITY AND SAFETY AS CURRENTLY THEY AREN’T HITTING THE MARK.
LITHIUM AVAILABILITY AND BATTERY RECYCLABILITY WILL AFFECT THE AMOUNT OF NEW EVS AVAILABLE. SUSTAINABILITY IS GOING TO BECOME AN ISSUE: MOST MESSAGING HAS BEEN AROUND THE ECOLOGICAL ADVANTAGES OF EVS - AS A SOCIETY WE HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT THE NEGATIVES OF EV PRODUCTION, AND WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO. THE FIRST BRANDS TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES WILL HAVE A MASSIVE ADVANTAGE. WITH THAT SAID, OVERALL WE ARE LOOKING AT THE END OF LIFE FOR A LOT OF ICE VEHICLE LINES, AND ICE SALES IN GENERAL LOWERING.
SO FAR, THE MARKET SHARE FOR EVS HAS BEEN AT A PREMIUM PRICE POINT, AIMED AT AUDIENCES WHO WILL SPECIFICALLY BUY ONE TO ESTABLISH THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL BONAFIDES AND TO FLEX. THE MARKET NEEDS TO MAKE THE JUMP TO PEOPLE WHO WILL BUY AN EV JUST BECAUSE IT'S THE BEST CAR FOR THEM. THAT IT IS THE FASTEST, THE BEST VALUE, THE MOST FUN, THE CAR THAT SOLVES THEIR UNIQUE PROBLEMS. WE’LL SEE A MARKETING SHIFT TO REFLECT THAT - I'VE ALREADY STARTED SEEING SCRIPTS THAT TREAT THE EV AS THE BEST OPTION FOR THE REGULAR CAR BUYER, RATHER THAN ITS ELECTRIFICATION BEING THE SOLE REASON TO BUY IT.
SELF DRIVE
AUTOMATION IS FEELING A LITTLE LIKE A RED HERRING RIGHT NOW: THE BIG PROMISE OF LEVEL 4 AUTOMATION (TRUE SELF DRIVING VEHICLES) IS FEELING MORE LIKE A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED RATHER THAN A TECHNOLOGICAL ONE. TESLA JUST RECALLED ALL THEIR FSD “FULL SELF DRIVING” SOFTWARE OVER THE AIR, AFTER A SERIES OF VERY PUBLIC ACCIDENTS. BETA TESTING WITH HUMAN LIVES AS HAS (SURPRISE,SURPRISE) TURNED OUT TO BE UNACCEPTABLE TO THE PUBLIC. TRUCKING AND SHIPPING, WHICH SEEMED LIKE IT WAS GOING TO BE THE FIRST, EASY USE CASE FOR AUTOMATION, HAS STILL NOT FULFILLED ITS PROMISE - YET ANOTHER AUTONOMOUS TRUCKING STARTUP ‘EMBARK’ SHUT DOWN RECENTLY.
THAT'S NOT TO SAY THAT SELF-DRIVING ISN'T A BIG PART OF OUR FUTURE, BUT IT’S SEEMING LIKE IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN AS A CHIASTIC, GLOBAL SHIFT, RATHER THAN BEING ‘UNEVENLY DISTRIBUTED’. LOOK AT VIDEO CONFERENCING, ZOOM CALLS AND GOOGLE MEETS. THE PANDEMIC FORCED US ALL TO ADOPT THIS TECHNOLOGY AND BECOME COMFORTABLE WITH IT AT THE SAME TIME, ALL TOGETHER. AUTONOMOUS DRIVING ON OUR ROADS MAY NEED TO GO THROUGH A SIMILAR SHIFT, WHERE WE GO FROM SELF DRIVING BEING A NOVELTY TO THE GENERAL POPULATION BEING HORRIFIED AT THE IDEA OF UNASSISTED HUMANS DRIVING OVERNIGHT.
WHAT I'M SEEING IS A SERIES OF INCREMENTAL NEW TECHNOLOGIES THAT MAKE OUR DRIVING EXPERIENCE BETTER. BETTER, SAFER, MORE ENJOYABLE. A SLOW WARM BATH RATHER THAN ‘MOVING FAST AND BREAKING STUFF’. TECHNOLOGIES ARE FOCUSSING ON TAKING THE DRUDGERY OUT OF DRIVING BUT LEAVING THE ENJOYMENT AND AUTONOMY IN OUR HANDS FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. GM’S ‘SUPER CRUISE 'IS A GREAT ADDITION TO THE ADDITION OF DRIVING LONG DISTANCES, FOR EXAMPLE. IRONICALLY, THE CONDITION KNOWN AS ‘HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS’ , WHEN YOU CAN'T REMEMBER DRIVING THE LAST FEW HOURS BUT APPEAR TO HAVE SAFELY GOT TO YOUR DESTINATION, IS THE BRAIN AUTOMATING REPETITIVE TASKS…LIKE HIGHWAY DRIVING. HAVING MACHINES TAKE OVER THESE TASKS IS ARGUABLY SAFER THAN DOING THEM OURSELVES.
THE TRICKY THING FROM AN ADVERTISING, AND FILMMAKING PERSPECTIVE, IS THAT SO MUCH OF CAR MARKETING, ESPECIALLY IN THE US, IS ABOUT FREEDOM, PERSONAL EXPRESSION, ENJOYMENT AND THE JOY OF THE DRIVE ITSELF. IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE WHEN THE ‘DRIVING EXPERIENCE’ BEGINS TO DISAPPEAR. I SEE IT GOING ONE OF TWO WAYS. EITHER LEANING IN TO VALUES SUCH AS SAFETY, COMFORT, AND CONVENIENCE FOR SOME BRANDS, OR SEEING A BACKLASH AND LEANING INTO THE IDEA OF A PURELY HUMAN, ENJOYABLE DRIVING EXPERIENCE WHEN YOU WANT IT, AND TECHNOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE ONLY WHEN YOU DON'T.
LIKE EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD OF LATE STAGE CAPITALISM, IT ALL TENDS TOWARDS THE EXTREME, AND EVERYONE WILL HAVE TO (SORRY) PICK A LANE. OR ‘CARS’ WILL BE A SUBSCRIPTION BASED, EGG SHAPED VEHICLE THAT SLOWLY AND SMOOTHLY TAKES YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO GO LIKE A DEMOLITION MAN OUTTAKE. BUT I DEARLY HOPE NOT.
AI, FEARS, HOPES AND DREAMS
IRONICALLY, THE JOBS OF TRUCK DRIVERS AND TAXI DRIVERS, WHICH A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE COMFORTABLE WITH ASSUMING WOULD BE THE FIRST TO DISAPPEAR DUE TO AUTOMATION, LOOK PRETTY SECURE RIGHT NOW. AI SEEMS TO BE BETTER SUITED TO WRITING COPY, ILLUSTRATING AND (PROBABLY) DIRECTING, OPPS!
THERE'S A LOT TO UNPACK ABOUT HOW CHATGPT, MIDJOURNEY, DREAMFIELD AND THE LIKES OF THESE BRANDS ARE GOING TO AFFECT HOW WE WORK AND WHAT WE DO. IT'S DEFINITELY SCARY, I FEEL THAT, BUT LET'S FOCUS ON SOME POSITIVES.REALISTICALLY, MACHINE LEARNING HAS BEEN SITTING BEHIND THE SCENES FOR A LOT OF WHAT WE DO FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS. WHILE IT FEELS LIKE IT BURST INTO THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS OVER THE LAST TWO MONTHS, IT'S BEEN BEHIND YOUR SUPER CUTE TIKTOK FILTER FACE TRACKING, REMOVING BACKGROUND TOOLS IN PHOTOSHOP, THE GRAMMAR CORRECTION THAT STOP YOU WRITING LIKE A 12 YEAR OLD, AND YOUR NEWS BUBBLE ALGORITHM (OK, SORRY, I SAID I’D STAY POSITIVE). IT'S REALLY JUST THE FACT IT NOW HAS A CONSUMER FACING INTERFACE THAT IT'S FINALLY NEWS. IT'S HERE NOW, THE GENIE IS OUT, AND IT'S UP TO US HOW TO DEAL WITH IT.
WE’RE TALKING ABOUT AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING AND FILMMAKING HERE SPECIFICALLY, BUT HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER CREATIVES IN RELATED FIELDS, FROM ARCHITECTURE TO CINEMATOGRAPHY TO GRAPHIC DESIGN, THERE'S A PRAGMATISM AND AVOIDANCE OF HYPOCRISY THAT I FIND VERY INTERESTING.
AT ANY POINT WHERE BARRIERS TO ENTRY DISAPPEAR, THERE WILL BE A FLOOD OF TERRIBLE CONTENT THAT FEELS IDENTICAL, THAT HAS A LEVEL OF FINESSE PREVIOUSLY ONLY AVAILABLE WITH THE APPLICATION OF CRAFT AND EXPERIENCE. SHIT WORK, TERRIBLE STORIES, FALSE NARRATIVES, REALISTIC PROPAGANDA WILL INCREASE. THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF ARTISTS AND ARTISTRY WILL TAKE YET ANOTHER HIT (HOPEFULLY TEMPORARILY). THE CYNICAL, LAZY, AND MORALLY LACKING WILL SEE THIS AS A MOMENT TO ADVANCE THEIR OWN AGENDA WITH NO THOUGHT TO OTHERS, OR TO THE REPERCUSSIONS OF STRONG AI. BUT ALSO, THERE WILL ALSO BE GREAT WORK AND GREAT STORIES TOLD THAT PREVIOUSLY COULDN'T BE TOLD. I REALLY REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THESE.
I’LL FINISH ON THIS THOUGHT; WE HAVE AUTOMATED ARTISTRY WHILE STILL MAKING HUMANS DO THEIR TAXES.
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
I'M A MULTI-HYPHENATE CREATIVE (LOL). I WORK ACROSS A RANGE OF GENRES AND MEDIUMS BECAUSE I LOVE HAVING DIFFERENT WAYS TO TELL A STORY. THE MORE TOOLS I HAVE, THE MORE OPTIONS I HAVE. I'M ALWAYS OPEN TO SOMETHING NEW OR DIFFERENT, WHETHER CONCEPTUAL OR TECHNOLOGY BASED.
TECHNOLOGIES AND TOOLS CAN BRIDGE GAPS - WHETHER IN BUDGETS, PRODUCTION REALITY OR TIMEFRAMES. VIRTUAL PRODUCTION AND XR STAGES, FOR EXAMPLE, HAVE BEEN A HUGE OPPORTUNITY AND AN AMAZING TOOL TO TELL STORIES WE OTHERWISE CAN'T. I'VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME WORKING WITH REAL TIME PRODUCTION, USING UNREAL AND UNITY, TO FIND NEW PROCESSES IN PREVIS, RENDERING AND DELIVERY BUT ALSO IN PARALLEL AS THEY WORK WITH LINE PRODUCTION ON STAGE.
I'VE DONE A LOT OF THIS SORT OF WORK, AND WHILE IT'S A GREAT TOOL, IT'S NOT A MAGIC BULLET. I CONSTANTLY SEE SCRIPTS APPROACHING IT AS A ONE SHOT PRODUCTION SOLUTION FOR BUDGET CONSTRAINTS - AND IT AIN'T THAT. THE CONTENT FOR THE ACTUAL XR SCREENS STILL NEEDS TO BE CREATED - IF YOU WANT TO USE XR TO ‘SHOOT’ IN ALASKA, JOSHUA TREE OR MADRID, THE BACKGROUNDS NEED TO BE CREATED PHOTOREALISTICALLY IN UNREAL, OR YOU NEED TO GO AND SHOOT 'EM. WE ALREADY SEE A LOT OF WORK THAT IS GOING TO LOOK REALLY DATED AND FALSE IN A FEW YEARS - MEDIUM SHOTS WHERE WE NEVER SEE THE GROUND, NEVER LOOK UP, NEVER REALLY MOVE THROUGH SPACE… BECAUSE THE CAMERA IS ON A 14 FOOT STAGE, AND CAN'T MOVE LIKE IT CAN ON LOCATION. IT'S A TOOL, AND A GREAT ONE, BUT ONE THAT NEEDS TO BE USED IN PARALLEL WITH EVERY OTHER TOOL.
HOWEVER, I'VE HAD SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING SITUATIONS MISUSING THESE TECHNOLOGIES, USING THEM IN WAYS THEY WERE NOT DESIGNED FOR. AS ALWAYS.
AUTHENTICITY + BOLD MOVES
I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO FINISH THIS PIECE WITH WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO… THERE IS A LOT…
EVERYTHING I’VE MENTIONED BOILS DOWN TO AUDIENCES WANTING AND NEEDING TRUTH. AUTO BRANDS NEED TO TAKE A HUGE LEAP TOWARDS AUTHENTICITY AND TO INCREASE TRANSPARENCY AROUND THEIR PRODUCTS OR THEIR NEXT GENERATION OF BUYERS WON’T FEEL ALIGNED WITH THEIR BRAND AND QUITE SIMPLY, WON’T BE BUYERS... BUT PLEASE HEAR ME, THIS DOESN’T ALWAYS NEED TO MEAN LOSING CRAFT, STORIES OR SOPHISTICATION.
WHAT SORT OF SCRIPTS DO I WANT TO SEE?
BRAVERY, FUN, REAL INSIGHTS. THE MORE WE SEE AI CREATED WORK THE MORE WE WILL SEE EXCELLENT REGURGITATION, AND THAT ISN’T WHAT WE’RE AFTER EITHER.
IT'LL PUSH US TO MAKE REAL WORK, GOOD WORK, NEW WORK. IT’S GOING TO TAKE BOLD MOVES, RISK TAKING AND PROPER CRAFT. I LIKE THAT CHALLENGE.
