Hey readers,

One year ago, if someone said “films without cameras,” it felt like clickbait. A gimmick. A science project from Silicon Valley or some NFT-fueled fever dream.

But now it’s just part of how things are.

No camera. No crew. No lights, sets, or even actors in some cases. And still, films are being made.

And not just in Los Angeles or London. From Mumbai to Manila, Nairobi to New York, the rules of cinema are being rewritten in real time.

June 2024: When Everything Shifted

There wasn’t one big headline. It was more like a domino run.

• Luma AI released 'Dream Machine' and suddenly, creators across India, South Korea, Brazil, and Germany were rendering shots that felt cinematic… without ever stepping outside.

• OpenAI’s Sora demoed footage so polished that even veteran DPs couldn’t dismiss it.

• Kling AI went viral in China, democratizing filmmaking for local creators, some with just a smartphone and a dream.

This wasn’t just a tech moment. It was a creative redistribution of power.

Because for the first time, access didn’t depend on money, gear, or gatekeepers.

India, Too, Is In The Frame

We’re seeing young Indian creators post AI-generated mythological shorts on X or Instagram. Ad filmmakers are storyboarding concepts in hours, not weeks. And studios are quietly experimenting with AI to mock up scenes before greenlighting projects.

A few whispers from the Indian side of things:

→ An indie Kannada filmmaker used AI to render a surreal forest sequence he couldn’t afford to shoot practically.

→ A fashion brand in Mumbai generated entire mood films, featuring non-existent models, futuristic streets, and imagined Paris runways.

→ And at FTII, film students are toying with prompt-based tools as part of visual development. It’s still early. But it’s happening.

The Good, The Weird, The Real

✅ What AI is making possible:

• Zero-budget visualisation: Want a war scene or an underwater sequence? Render it instead of renting it.

• Global creative voices: Filmmakers from small towns in Odisha or Cairo or Lagos are suddenly on a level visual playing field.

• Speed: You can prototype ideas while you’re still writing the script.

⚠️ What’s still broken:

• Soulless perfection: Many AI films look good but feel… lifeless. Like a dream someone else had.

• Jobs + credit: Who gets credit when a film is made with prompts, models, and tools built by someone else?

• Culture lag: Many current models reflect Western training data. An AI can nail LA lighting. Ask it for a South Bombay monsoon and it short-circuits.

A Few Films That Made Me Think

Some recent AI-led films that stood out:

• “The Frost” – A haunting short made entirely with AI. Visuals on point. Emotion are still debatable.

• “Vampire’s Verdict” – A feature-length AI horror film made for under ₹40,000 ($405). It’s messy but it’s here.

• Ad reels and pitch decks from India, Indonesia, Turkey, and Argentina, being shared privately by creators who couldn’t afford a shoot, but couldn’t afford to wait either.

And the most exciting thing? Most of this stuff is coming from outside traditional film power centers.

Where Are We Headed?

A few honest observations after watching this unfold:

AI isn’t replacing cinema. It’s just moving the power from film schools and studios to bedrooms and browser tabs. The tools are out there, but it still takes taste to shape something watchable. We’re watching a new visual language form. Just like handheld cameras gave us Dogme 95, AI will bring a style that’s glitchy, fluid, maybe even genreless.

The next "movement" in cinema might not come from Cannes. It could come from a 17-year-old in Coimbatore with a laptop and a very specific imagination.

We’re only a year in.

Some of this feels awkward and half-baked. Some of it feels like the most liberating creative moment since YouTube let the world upload in 2005.

But this much is clear: We’re not going back.

Not when a kid in Shillong can render a rainforest action scene in 4K without touching a GoPro. Not when an ad director in Delhi can pitch five alternate endings overnight. Not when you, right now, can type a scene into a box and watch it play out with shadows, tension, and soundtrack.

This doesn’t mean human cinema is over.

It just means human creativity is now riding shotgun with a strange, powerful new co-director.

P.S. Want my shortlist of the wildest AI-generated videos from the past year —good, bad, and totally unhinged? Reply with “Send it.” I’ll drop a curated reel list in your inbox.

Until next frame,

Vipul Agrawal, Leeds1888

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