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The Human
behind Human Made
Hi, I'm writer director William Grave. My films have featured on BBC news and Talk TV, and have earned awards at festivals around the world. You can find more of my work on bywilliamgrave.com
What I love about directing is the amazing human talent I get to collaborate with. I can't make music to safe my life, but I get to work with brilliant composers to create score for my films. I can't act to save my life, but I get to work with fantastic actors. And I couldn't be trusted holding a camera at a family wedding, but I'm very fortunate to collaborate and learn from talented cinematographers. But, it's also the unsung talent on a film-set that make a film. I will never forget on my mental health film Benchmarks, when our make up-artist Isabella Larter mentioned in pre-production that the semi-colon (;) in the community of those who have survived a suicide attempt, means that life didn't come to a full stop, it continued. The semi-colon is a symbol of hope. I thought wow, how beautiful. Even if it's seen and understood by a small percentage of the audience, it felt right for the main character to have it tattooed on his hand, and for the semi-colons to take the place of the letter 'i' in the end-credits. The human village of artists coming together and collaborating in unexpected ways can't be replicated in AI films.
The original inspiration for Human Made came when Coca Cola decided to created a Christmas Ad that was completely AI: there were no human actors, no human crew in the making of the film. Some people in the industry believed 'ah, it looks fake... this isn't the future.' But, I showed it to my father without mentioning it was AI and simply said, 'check out this new Christmas ad by Coca Cola'. The penny dropped for me, after even watching it twice he didn't notice anything unusual about the commercial. Other brands have followed suit and this year, gen AI has been creeping more and more into the film industry. I believe we can't stop the tsunami of AI films, but what we can control is how audiences perceive them by celebrating work with humans in font of the camera and behind it too, creating a premium for Human Made films.
About
Human Made
Film as an art-form is unique because of the incredible collaboration of so many artists working together. It’s the human touch at every step of the journey that leaves a mark on the film, and becomes part of its DNA. But, with gen AI ‘films’ there are no make up artists. There are no gaffers. There are no set designers. There are no runners. There are no cinematographers. There are no storyboard artists. There are no sound recordists. There are no actors. The human village that comes together to create is under threat like never before.
Luckily, the future isn’t written yet. What we do now can change everything. That’s why we have created the Human Made Mark to help create a premium for Human Made films and commercials. A certified mark that celebrates the fact humans are in front of the camera and behind it. In the same way, the FairTrade logo nudges people in the supermarkets to buy ethical products, we believe we can nudge audiences in the right direction and reward film-makers, studios and brands for creating Human Made work, so that human artists can continue to thrive and inspire the next generation of artists.
There is no art without humanity.
With Human Made, it’s time to make your mark.
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