In ‘Posthuman Cinema’ by Will Luers, Mark Amerika, and Chad Mossholder, the viewer is shown worlds both based in reality and completely generated by computers. The result is jarring and evolving, with a variety of styles produced. The clips vary from resembling old, degraded film to complete CGI animation, moving between a multitude of styles. The environment depicted in ‘Infinity Forest’ is mostly natural with humans as the focus. These environments, in combination with the AI generated visuals, create a fantastical and alien feeling.
While some of the generated animations have ‘incorrect’ and sometimes scary effects, these can add to the narrative or mood of the experience as ‘posthuman’. For example, in ‘Infinity Forest’, there is an ECU of a human(oid) eye. While it may just be an ‘incorrect’ depiction of an older human, the errors evoke feelings of an ape-like creature and can hint to themes of evolution.
Additionally, the use of AI generation and natural imagery, such as mushrooms, further pushes the feeling of evolution and somewhat alien aesthetics. Mushrooms, with their decomposing ability, can be unnerving to many humans. This is aided with the AI generated images, which can also be unnerving in its ‘uncanny valley’ effect.
These techniques, in my opinion, mostly challenge the idea of realism in traditional cinema. Due to the constantly evolving movement of the generated people, trees, and general images, it is hard to complete grasp onto realism in the videos. However, as I suggested earlier, rather than allowing this distance from reality to detract from the work, the creators used it to push the narrative further and create a clear exploration of cinema without clear traditional realism.