041 — Human-made
5 Things I've done, thought about, read, collected, observed or discovered this week.
Notes from the Lab is a semi-regular dispatch of ideas, a journal of progress or failure, and a peek behind the curtain into the creative process of being a photographer, filmmaker, parent, and husband.
It is supposed to be an honest and subjective view of the creative industry and an attempt to share everything I experience and learn on the way as relentlessly as possible - because gatekeeping sucks.
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HOUSEKEEPING
Dear friends,
We’ve just passed the spring equinox, and the first magnolias bloom. With it comes a new wave of energy and optimism.
I feared that this would be a problematic year regarding work. Still, the general mood in the industry turned out to be much more hopeful than I thought—at the moment, at least… considering the number of insecurities and horrific events in the world around us and a declining economy worldwide. But let’s look ahead and unpack the events around us as well as possible.
One key takeaway from my latest agency meeting frenzy was that there seems to be a clearer picture and a few boundaries for advertising agencies and clients regarding the use of AI. What appears to be following after the first wave of excitement, fear of disruption, and novelty is a better understanding of this new technology's fundamentals and real-world implications for the creative industry. Seeing such a solid unity for protecting human-made content without being entirely opposed to using new technologies was pretty baffling.
There is a lot of movement in the creative sphere right now, and we are just getting an initial grasp of the implications. Still, there is a newfound shimmer of a chance for human-made work, with all its flaws and imperfections, to gain a new level of value in an age of endless reproducibility…because robots don’t cry - yet.
Let’s unpack this massive topic, starting this week with the Under Armour “AI-powered” commercial and its controversy in section III below. I will try to tackle this matter from a subjective perspective throughout the following newsletters (and this will stay for a while), but let’s start with this week’s discoveries and some personal work.
Hugs and kisses,
— Ramon
I. PERSONAL WORK UPDATE
Spring cleaning at the office is just around the corner, and I can feel it coming looking at the mess on my work table, scattered equipment, empty cans, and piles of paper.
Luckily, my floor is decently clean. I was smart enough to get a vacuum robot for the studio, which is on diligent duty at least once a day, but at the expense of terrifying my dog, who is partially responsible for the mess on the floor. The hairy beast she is.
In the last installment of this newsletter, I wrote in the initial sentences that I have been working primarily in the shadows lately. This is especially true for personal work, and I am slowly starting to share progress on my Instagram without having a remarkably coherent topic in mind. I followed my instinct, met a few new and old friends, and a few ideas or short concepts in my bag, and we started collaborating.
This is the most fulfilling approach to my perception of personal work. I started to accept myself as a person of many curiosities, never with one particular interest. My work is instinct-driven and often forms a coherent narrative in the edit. But it is also driven by a playful approach to interacting with people I admire and a curiosity about the world around us from a very subjective perspective. Ideally, everything I do is a work in progress and never settles for good.
As you might have seen from previous issues, one of the outlets for all the scattered work is my sketchbooks, and following the process of arranging images, pieces of writing, and layouts, I started to gain more significant interest in printmaking, prototyping zines, and everything else regarding the printed matter.
Continuous, Self-inspiring, Exploration, Correlation, Documentation as artwork
At first glance, this seems counterintuitive in the age of over-digitalization, and we’ll get to that shortly. Still, I find great joy in the process, and it’s inspiring to move beyond photography and explore different paths using various media, from photography to graphic design and typography, moving images to sound design, writing, and beyond.
I’ll let you follow along the way throughout the subsequent letters.
II. LIKE FATHER LIKE SON
Like Father Like Son by Justin Tyler Close
After discovering that he could not have biological children on his own, director Justin Tyler Close went on a very personal journey to find the nuances of fatherhood through the stories of real sons and fathers.
As a father of a boy, I know the struggle to break generational trauma and redefine what masculinity means through the lens of compassion and unconditional love. These stories are stories of hope and diverse and unique perspectives with one common ground—a father's love for his son.
III. UNDER ARMOUR AND THE AI CONTROVERSY
There has been a massive controversy in the filmmaking industry lately, ignited by the release of the latest Under Armour commercial featuring champion boxer Anthony Joshua, which claims to be the first-ever “AI-powered sports commercial.” It features a plethora of flashy AI-generated VFX, some CGI work, and even an AI-generated version of the athlete's natural voice that served as the backbone for the piece as a voiceover.
However, the most significant controversy was the use of director Gustav Johannson's preexisting but unmentioned film-based footage. Although UA legally owns the rights to the (-uncredited) footage, it still ignited noteworthy discussions on the ethical use of original, human-made material in the age of AI dispute. The credits were added to the clip only after a public outcry.
Though we might have many discussions on using AI in the creative industries, mainly as a cost-cutting measure, this case is incredibly delicate because it uses preexisting original material. This is a fascinating debate we must lead to take a stand and develop an opinion as creatives in a still unexplored field.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a natural-born skeptic of new technologies; I embrace AI as a tool to make our lives as creatives easier. Even this text is corrected by AI (Thanks, Grammarly!), and I use AI tools daily as a photographer. They are beneficial, especially for retouching and redundant, repetitive creative tasks. But I see the worth of discussing copyright and attribution of human-made creative efforts. And, in all fairness and the rushed development, I have to say: This ad looks and feels terrible. Or, to quote director and cinematographer Reed Morano: “It has no soul.”
IV. THE ZONE OF INTEREST - SOUND DESIGN
I vividly remember watching Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” with a friend at a local cinema. A few minutes into the movie, my friend turned to me and asked what the constant rumbling sound in the background might be. I told him that it was the sound of the constantly burning crematorium in Auschwitz.
Starkly contrasts the idyllic scenes of family life and a seemingly perfect home against the horror of the concentration camp that it borders, divided only by a wall. It is almost like watching two films: one you see and one you hear. And this was the most powerful implementation of sound I’ve ever seen.
Watch the video above for an interview with sound designer Johnnie Burn, who won an Oskar for his work on “The Zone of Interest.” It’s so interesting to hear more about the process.
V. BOOKSHELF
Out of the Grid – Italian Zine 1978-2006 - Dafne Boggeri
2024, Les presses du réel
Out of the Grid is a massive curated collection of Italian counter-culture zines collected by Dafne Boggeri with the collaboration of Sara Serighelli. It’s an enormous book, tackling the various streams of music, queer culture, political and societal topics, and a must-read and look for everybody interested in self-publishing, graphic design, and counter-culture.
Thanks for reading Notes from the Lab!
Thank you Ramon! Another very inspiring and very well curated newsletter post. :)