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UK-based AI creative studio Wonder Studios has released the first episode in its four-part Black Mirror-style anthology Beyond The Loop, which it is billing as the first series of its kind to be created by an AI-native film studio.

Launched on YouTube today, the sci-fi drama entitled Memory Maker is written and directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Nik Kleverov, who is also Chief Creative Officer of California-based AI studio Native Foreign.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has fallen under the dominion of advanced androids, it follows Dr. Turner, one of the last celebrated “memory makers” – artists who craft vivid, lifelike memories that can be implanted into androids to give them a taste of what it means to feel alive. Turner and all the other characters in the drama are entirely AI generated.

“Creating Memory Maker was a really exciting journey of discovery,” said Kleverov. “We could iterate on complex visual sequences in real-time,...

James Lamont and Jon Foster, part of the writing team behind Paddington in Peru, are set to write Critterz, an AI-assisted animated feature from Vertigo Films and Native Foreign. Expanding on the world introduced in the 2023 short film, the project brings together human creativity and AI technology.

The original Critterz short, written and directed by Chad Nelson, was the first film to use OpenAI’s Dall·E system alongside traditional animation. It premiered at Annecy, Tribeca, and Cannes Lions and was nominated for a PGA Innovation Award. A remastered version, using OpenAI’s Sora, was released this year, showing the rapid development of AI-assisted filmmaking.

Lamont and Foster, known for their work on The Adventures of Paddington and Channel 4’s Wasted, said the creative approach behind Critterz drew them to the project. “We’re very excited to be putting storytelling at the heart of this groundbreaking project,” they said.

In April, Toys R Us partnered with AI marketing company Native Foreign to release the “first ever brand film” created with Sora, OpenAI’s flagship generative AI model. The result hit hard on the industry. A few hours ago, Native Foreign published the prompt. Explore it below.

BTS of Toys R Us commercial by Sora The first brand to use Sora for video commercial

It’s not a secret that Sora, which hand-picked creators are testing, generated text-to-video results that were recognized as Vimeo Staff Pick. However, this is the first time a major brand (Toys R Us) is using Sora for a video commercial. Does this commercial indicate an increase in brand adoption of generative AI? We hope not! Anyway, as stated by the press release: “The iconic Toys R Us brand is leaping ahead of the curve by creating the first-ever brand film using OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool,...

Exclusive: UTA has signed creative agency and production company Native Foreign for representation.

Native Foreign is an Emmy-nominated, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council-certified women-owned, creative agency and storytelling company that incorporates AI into their creative practice. Their stories are crafted soup to nuts with strategic intent, deploying their deep understanding of AI while still appreciating the use of traditional hand skills, touts UTA in a release.

The company was behind the recently viral Toys“R”Us brand film, which utilized OpenAI’s Sora to create a visual narrative of the origin story of the toy brand. With the help of AI, the film went from concept to completion in a few weeks.

Nik Kleverov, Native Foreign’s Chief Creative Officer who directed the project, was announced as one of seven Sora alpha artists by OpenAI in late March. Since then, Kleverov has been experimenting with how the AI model...

Revived retailer Toys ‘R’ Us is the first brand to use Sora, OpenAI’s highly anticipated text-to-video tool, for its advertising — and the one-minute spot it debuted at a conference in France this week is garnering mixed reviews online.

Toys ‘R’ Us, the once-ubiquitous toy store brand that shuttered all locations when it went bankrupt in 2017 only to be revived in Macy’s store locations in 2022, premiered the 66-second spot at Cannes Lions, the annual gathering of the ad world’s elite on the French Riviera. The ad utilizes Sora, the yet-to-be-released artificial intelligence tool from OpenAI, to which the brand’s creative partner, Native Foreign, had early access.

“Charles Lazarus was a visionary ahead of his time and we wanted to honor his legacy with a spot using the most cutting-edge technology available,” said Kim Miller Olko, the company’s global chief marketing officer and president of Toys ‘R’ Us Studios.