A Renowned Actor in Dialogue with an AI Character
In the fifth episode of The Fyrtel Chronicles, we combined Michał Grudziński’s performance with Wena, the series’ digital protagonist, in a scene built from footage shot on camera and AI-generated imagery.
Wena, an American reporter with Polish roots, wants to make a chronicle episode about Gniezno, but two men from Poznań stand in her way. One challenges the myth of Poland’s first capital; the other, a renowned actor, refuses to perform with AI. For the film to be made, Wena has to win both disputes.
The dialogue between Michał Grudziński and Wena explores the place of artificial intelligence in art and the concerns its development raises among people working in film.
We also created a visual biography of Michał Grudziński based on selected episodes from his life and career. Using AI, we portrayed the actor in his youth, including as a commando during a parachute jump and on the stage of Poznań’s Teatr Nowy in the 1970s.
Michał Grudziński’s performance also gave emotion to the animated statues of kings in Gniezno, which appear in the film’s finale.
The film is a hybrid production combining camera footage of Michał Grudziński with an AI-generated Wena. We used Kling 4K Native for the first time on this production. At the time, the model was brand new and generated video directly at 3840 × 2160. This made it easier to combine generated shots with camera footage.
The film is the fifth episode of The Fyrtel Chronicles, our original series combining documentary, fiction and generative artificial intelligence. Müllermilch is the episode partner.