Charismatic

A keystone of our research is working with leading screen partners to discover the potential of emergent technologies to aid and advance creative practice. A central theme of this project is the use of these technologies in assisting creatives in developing work for the screen, and providing tools with which we can enable underrepresented groups to respond through lowering the barriers to film and television production. In terms of the potential for research and knowledge exchange, we’re interested in exploring and reporting on the changes to cultures of production that surround these technologies.

There are three key objectives of this project:

Broaden Access 

Accelerate, improve and strengthen storytelling skills within underprivileged and disadvantaged communities 

Bridge AI to the Creative Industries 

Increase value within the creative industries with new creators and revenue streams 

Create New Story Forms Across Multiple Media 

Inspire a new mindset for storytelling that explores narrative design, characters and audience participation 

The process to deliver the outcomes of this project will follow a research pathway agreed between UAL and Falmouth University. A key step is the provision of workshops that will engage new content creators from diverse backgrounds to provide a broad frame of reference, and continually test the project’s assumptions. 

UAL and Falmouth have international reputations for creative technology and storytelling through the Creative Computing Institute and School of Film and Television’s Sound/Image Cinema Lab respectively. These two universities are working with Charismatic and our partners to research how to apply artificial intelligence to the story-writing and production processes. 

Details around the practical research approach, and its technical application to the technology platform being worked on by Charismatic, are detailed below: 

The research will be split into three streams: 1) Computational creativity focusing on prompting generative AI systems to generate compelling characters and story scripts; 2) The leveraging of existing intellectual property as inspiration and data sets to optimise these generative AI systems to improve the quality of the creative output; 3) New ways to describe story genres and tropes to accurately prompt generative AI systems, 4) Systems to generate audiovisual and experiential versions of the output scripts, and; 5) Optimal methods to transfer academic results from research organizations to industry and creative practitioners. 

The research is cogent to the values of Falmouth University as an institution dedicated  to values of inclusion, diversity and equality, and directly addresses the need for inclusive and diverse talent development in the UK film industry. Falmouth’s own film production and existing partnerships with production companies and the regional screen agency have positioned Cornwall as a centre of creative film and television production. The independent screen and commercial production sectors are thriving and fast moving, aided by recent changes to the UK tax relief for studios and indie films. The Charismatic R&D project  serves as a flagship and marker of innovation for ongoing creative activity and partnerships with the Sound/Image Cinema Lab, and its place within the Falmouth University’s School of Film & Television and presents a great deal of potential to further reflect this in international research and knowledge exchange. 

This project leverages emergent technologies to improve the efficiency and productivity within the creative industries, leading to increased AI adoption and diffusion within these industries. This will reduce cost barriers, skills gaps and ROI uncertainty for creators, and the project is situated within an ethical framework to encourage diverse audiences. 

Our primary end user is the creator who is creating entertainment content. This could be both a new entrant to the creative industries who does not have access to funds or industry, and established creators seeking to enhance productivity and lower costs in the pre-production and previsualisation phase of their work. 

Principal Investigator Dr Kingsley Marshall is the Head of the School of Film & Television at Falmouth, and the practice research lead within the Pedagogy Futures research centre, responsible for the dissemination of practice and traditional research outputs for screen media. This project aligns with both the Blended Realities and Pedagogy Futures research centres at Falmouth University. 

The teaching, learning, research & innovation in Falmouth University’s School of Film & Television (SoFT) is orientated around contemporary film and television practices combined with a critical understanding of the history, present and future of screen-based media. Reflecting a fast moving sector, this is made relevant in terms of our partners and adaptability to guidance from these partners and accrediting bodies (including ScreenSkills, CILECT, NAHEMI, Albert, ARRI, and AVID), inclusive in terms of the teaching content and delivery, the people involved in front of and behind the camera, as well as the diverse and inclusive stories created and considered by these students, staff and our partners, and connected to the world in terms of relationships made manifest through our research, our curriculum, visiting speakers, placements, opportunity for study visits and through the wider schools with national and global partners. 

Within the school, the Sound/Image Cinema Lab has a great deal of experience in framing professional screen making environment governed by the contexts of industrial practice within 

a safe space for questions and questioning established modes practice – where social competence, self-compassion, empathy and understanding of others, and resilience is valued – and where assessment champions critical examination and reflection, and an attitude of failing forward by learning through doing. 

We are driven to support diverse learners whose stories and scholarship are ambitious, and who aim to lead in roles that reflect or inspire social impact, following the principles of the 5As created by the TV Access Project as guidelines for inclusion in UK television production – Anticipate, Ask, Assess, Adjust, Advocate. We champion craft and scholarship that explores and engages with the world outside of the university and articulate new voices that are drivers for positive change. The ‘real world’ of creative practice that awaits our students is often focused on work with a socio-political consideration, with staff and students reflecting upon and presenting a critique of the global, colonial, exclusive, and often existential crises of our time, and our students have a history of challenging this, empowered by a curriculum that allowsthem to explore distinct and diverse voices.  

Work from our students has directly represented or inferred the impact of climate change, COVID-19 and preceding global pandemics, terrorism, asymmetrical warfare and global migration, decolonial ideas, depicting underrepresented groups in front of and behind the camera in addition to considering the many challenges presented by technological and cultural change to democracy and the economics of late-capitalism globally. Common themes within our student’s work and staff practices include representations of the future and past, new and underrepresented voices, and the manner with which the recent pace of technological change has disrupted identity in gender and sexuality, race, mental and physical health, and class.  

Key Stages 

April-June 2024  

• Establish parameters for the research. Incorporate commercial goals of audience reach and revenue into research goals.  
• Start production on demonstrator project. Establish marketing and comms channels and publish project ‘diary’ from the production to grow social media reach.  
• Functional/non-functional documentation produced.  
   

June-August 2024 

• Develop initial prototype version.  

July-October 2024 

• Approach appropriate digital publishers to explore co-marketing opportunities.  
• Deliver workshops with partners 

November 2024 – January 2025 

• Launch Beta version to closed user group to build audience and test concepts.  
• Write research paper ready for dissemination.  
• Schedule event to release results of research paper and workshops.  

January-March 2025 

• Release of results, promotional video, press activation