The Manningtree Witches: Brief overview of testing Runaway AI Video Generator

During my digital marketing course with The Skills Network, we were introduced to Pika, an AI video generator. Although similar to its competitor, Runway, I found Runway's interface easier to navigate. Runway allows for seamless toggling between text-generated AI, image-generated AI, and a combination of both to create AI.

My 4-second AI video project was inspired by the history of Manningtree, Essex. The town was known for being a place where people were accused of witchcraft and subjected to horrific treatment. Matthew Hopkins' home, which is now a pub, served as a prison for those he suspected of witchcraft. The legend of the ancient tree, Old Knobbley, says that is was (and maybe still is) a sanctuary for hunted witches.

Using Runway's text and image-generated AI, I created a mix of witches dancing around the tree. Google images of witches were also used to generate the video, particularly for the faces, as I noticed that AI did not animate faces well. The distortion added to the effect of the witch, however, if the distortion is a hiderance in other cases, AI would not do a great job.

As a previous film student, I appreciate the doors that AI can open. However, as someone who knows visually what they want, it is hard when things don't look the way I want them to. While AI has the potential to be great, not knowing what text to input to get the right outcome can be disappointing.

Overall, the video I created was one of the strangest and weirdest videos I have ever made.