As we continue our rush to the end of the year and the start of the TikiKiti International Festival, we are seeing an amazing array of talented artists bringing traditional and AI videos, as well as videos that blend both technologies. Here we have Marek Mardosewicz and Łukasz Markiewicz of blnk studio.
This interview is also a podcast on the TikiKiti YouTube channel. You can watch it in its entirety by clicking here.
Looking through their YouTube channel, we see a history — the encapsulation of how the AI music video has evolved this year. In fact, it was a year ago when we met Kinomo and the video he did for The Smile’s “We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings.” This is a groundbreaking video and a point in recent history that leads us to directly to blnk studio.
Thinking back, I realize it has only been one month since our paths first crossed. I remember it was this image from “Perception” that got me hooked (see above). As I followed them, I knew I was seeing this new technology being pushed in a direction it needed to go.
However, it was when I saw “Different Kind” that I realized where this industry was headed. This video uses brilliant colors and sharp images. “Different Kind” is not as abstract as it seems. With the development of AI animation, blnk is building a story. Each successive music video is another chapter.
Marek and Łukasz have found a space that allows them to break boundaries. With Łukasz composing the music and Marek building the visuals, they inspire each other. Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the visuals. Their methods are organic — formed naturally.
Since “Different Kind,” they have been exploring developing the narrative.
You know, telling a story. I have to accept the fact that this is likely a story without an ending. They are evolving their style and are continually adding new material.
With “My magic friend, Akiranu,” a preview of an AI anime, they began exploring a simple story. With “The Norse,” they discovered a sense of place. Here they were setting their feet down, and in “Bayou,” we follow them on an adventure.
In “Street Sadness,” we feel as if we are wandering the street in their native Poland.
But it is with “Deep Down” that they reached another level in their evolution. Here is a music video so realistic—the movements are fluid and the editing is nearly invisible—it all seems so natural.
Marek Mardosewicz and his musical partner Łukasz Markiewicz are both from Szczecin, Poland, although Marek is now living in Warsaw. Their partnership began when they were in high school. As with any friendship, they went through various stages and changes — from joining a band to composing music for Marek's plays and films. Łukasz enjoys composing music for the videos and does not see any future in which he is letting AI write music. (A position we also support.) The music is a human touch that is imperative to give videos the warmth that makes them compelling.
Łukasz says, “I did a lot of research on this topic. I learned that it is possible to create songs from scratch and that there are programs that arrange chord progressions. I also learned about AI mastering tools, but they didn't give me as many possibilities as finding the sound on my own and matching it to the genre I create.”
He concludes by saying that even though he’s not using any AI tools in music production at the moment, he is “fascinated by the tool for generating vocals of the text-to-speech type, which we use in the implementation of poems/short films, for example in the form of a narrator.”
Note: One of our rules for this year’s TikiKiti International Film Festival (TKIFF) is that all music is made by humans. We are giving out awards and do not want to consider who gets an award when no humans are involved. (We know, that’s not a thing, but you get the picture. We just aren’t there yet.)
Marek has a background in scriptwriting, so he found videos as a way to build stories. As a scriptwriter, he has little knowledge of such subtleties as camera placement and movement, so lighting and the movement of images were all part of his learning curve. The fact that the animations move effortlessly and naturally is a testament to his mastery of these skills.It is with “Deep Down” that they broke down walls. Movement becomes fluid. The jerky transformation we have been seeing, especially in humans, disappears. We are there. Underwater. In this environment. As one of our team remarked when she first saw this, “It’s not that it looks too real. But you do believe you are there.”
They have been busy. They are working tirelessly and producing new animated music videos every three to five days. Concentrating on story elements, they produced “Keep Dreamin’,” a short that explores the human figure in an everyday world; “Full Moon” takes into account the Halloween season, showing a very mysterious world that seems to be filled with… monsters?
blnk studio is not resting anytime soon. Plans are in the works for a variety of projects, including an AI-animated TV series (they have already acquired funding through a scholarship). This project is an adventure series for young teenagers called “The Detective with A Porpoise.” They are also in the early stages of developing an adult TV series about an ex-drug addict.
Then there is “Against All Odds” — a proof of concept production for a potential TV show. This seems to be the direction blnk studios is heading. With Marek’s background as a playwright and storyteller, they are getting more involved in the creation of longer pieces for a wider audience.
Soon Marek with be a speaker at a conference discussing AI animation, where he plans to use this opportunity to show blnk studio for the first time.
The studio seems to be in much demand. Looking at their portfolio of videos, it’s easy to see why. They are so much and at such a pace we can't possibly show them all here. Really, you need to go to their YouTube channel and see them all for yourself.
