Tagged / National Centre For Computer Animation

Interdisciplinary research team to create short film using artificial intelligence in AHRC-funded project

Awarded & submitted bids

Researchers from BU will create a short film entirely using artificial intelligence (AI) to explore the creative and legal issues surrounding the use of these tools in media production.

The research project has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and will investigate the use of generative AI tools in media creation – focusing on collaboration, creativity, and representation. This includes concerns about copyright, job security, and other ethical and legal challenges.

Multiple screens in a computer generated landscape

“There has been a lot of thinking about responsible AI and the way it is used and implemented, as well as the implications for things like production and jobs and how roles in the industry will be affected,” said Dr Szilvia Ruszev, Senior Lecturer in Post Production, who is leading the project.

“We hope that through the discussions and the use of these tools, we can develop a more nuanced understanding of how we can still be creative and use AI in a responsible way.”

The BU research team also includes Dr Maxine Gee (Principal Academic in Screenwriting), Professor Xiaosong Yang (Professor of Computer Animation and Deputy Head of Department), Dr Tom Davis (Associate Professor in Music and Audio Technology) and Dr Melanie Stockton-Brown (Principal Academic in Law), as well as partners from the University of Michigan, USA and Zhejiang University, China.

They will use generative AI tools at each stage of the production process, such as the script writing, image creation, sound and music, and for the post production on the film.

They will also evaluate these tools from the perspectives of representation, collaboration and creativity as well as exploring key legal aspects, including copyright.

At each stage of the process, the team will hold workshops which will include talks about the issues being investigated and hands-on experience with helping to create the AI-generated film. The workshops will be open to BU staff and students, as well as industry stakeholders and policymakers.

Dr Ruszev said: “Fictional media has a history of shaping societal understanding of stereotypes through media representation but the data used to create content through AI is not objective and so we are looking at what sort of impact that will have on the representation of identities and groups.

“There are also issues around copyright to explore – such as who owns the idea, and the ethical and legal challenges that need to be addressed.”

The project has received over £170,000 in funding from the AHRC as part of the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme, which will support the development of responsible AI and how it can be embedded across key sectors.

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of the AHRC, said: “The impact of AI can already be felt in many areas of our lives. It will transform our jobs and livelihoods, and impact on areas as diverse as education, policing and the creative industries, and much more besides.

“The research which AHRC announced today will provide lasting contributions to the definition and practice of responsible AI, informing the practice and tools that are crucial to ensure this transformative technology provides benefits for all of society.”

New publication by NCCA academics and students in the top journal

Fusion, open access, student research

The SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences (“SIIMS – a broad authoritative source for fundamental results in imaging sciences, with a unique combination of mathematics and applications”), an influential Q1-journal with a significant Impact Factor and SJR indicator, has just published the paper “Automatically Controlled Morphing of 2D Shapes with Textures” authored by NCCA academics and students. This multidisciplinary paper proposes a novel theoretical and practical framework resulting in a suite of mathematically substantiated techniques important in the context of 2D imagery, artistic design, computer animation, and emerging streaming and interactive applications.

The paper has a rather long and non-trivial history related to the fusion of academic and student research. Initially, NCCA UG student Felix Marrington-Reeve (“Computer Visualisation and Animation” course, Level 6) undertook his R&D project within the “Innovations” unit and got some interesting results. The 8-page paper written on the basis of his project and co-authored with his supervisors Dr Valery Adzhiev and Prof Alexander Pasko, was, however, rejected in 2017 by two international conferences (they were prepared to accept a short version but the authors thought the work deserved a better fate).

After Felix’s graduation (he started working in a leading production company Framestore) Dr Oleg Fryazinov and PhD student Alexander Tereshin joined the project team. A lot of additional theoretical and practical work had been done, and in February 2019 the radically modified and extended 30-page version was submitted to SIIMS. After two-stage rigorous peer-reviewing process, in October 2019 the paper was accepted by this prestigious journal.

References:

  • Tereshin, A., Adzhiev, V., Fryazinov, O., Marrington-Reeve, F., Pasko, A. (2020). “Automatically Controlled Morphing of 2D Shapes with Textures”, The SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 78-107. DOI: 10.1137/19M1241581
  • Full text of the paper: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33366/

New publication by NCCA: 4D Cubism as a novel artistic technology

Fusion, Publishing, REF Subjects, staff profile pages, Student Engagement, student research

“IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications”, an influential magazine with a wide readership in both academia and industry, has just published the paper “4D Cubism: Modeling, Animation and Fabrication of Artistic Shapes”.

This multidisciplinary paper proposing a novel technology on the edge of art and science has been written by a team from the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) of the Faculty of Media and Communication. The authors are Quentin Corker-Marin, Prof Alexander Pasko, and Dr Valery Adzhiev.

The paper has a non-trivial history. Initially, there was an UG student project (“Innovations” unit, “Computer Visualisation and Animation” course, Level 6) that was submitted as a Poster to the ACM SIGGRAPH 2017 conference in Los Angeles. As it was reported in the Research Blog in September 2017, Quentin was awarded there the second prize in the prestigious ACM Student Research Competition sponsored by Microsoft. Then a full-scale paper was submitted to the top magazine, and after successful peer-reviewing it was accepted and published. As to Quentin, in the end of 2017 he graduated from NCCA with a first class honours degree in computer visualisation and animation and works now in London as a 3D Artist for an award-winning production company Glassworks.

References

Computer Animation Techniques Workshop

AniNex – 23 June 2017

The 3rd Workshop for EU IRSES project on Next Generation Computer Animation Techniques

Chair: Dr. Jian Chang – The National Centre for Computer Animation, Bournemouth University

Co-Chairs: Prof Nadia Magnenat Thalmann – MIRALab, University of Geneva, Switzerland and NTU, Singapore.
Prof Jian J Zhang – The National Centre for Computer Animation, Centre for Digital Entertainment, Bournemouth University

The “AniNex” (www.aninex.org) is an EU FP7 funded exchange project, which is designed to prepare and lead the development of next generation techniques related to computer animation and its applications. The workshop will be coordinated as part of the Edutainment conference programme at Bournemouth in June 2017.

Authors are welcome to send their queries through email to Dr Jian Chang at: jchang@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

We would like to invite you to participate in the workshop on Computer Animation Techniques, which will be held in Bournemouth in June 23, 2017.  We would also like to invite you to join the international conference Edutainment 2017 in June 26-28.

The event will publish a post proceeding in Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.

Submission of extended abstracts (up to 2 A4 pages): 23rd Apr, 2017

Notification of results (successful submissions will be invited to be presented as either full papers or posters at the workshop,  all of which will be invited to submit a full version to be considered for the LNCS): 2nd May, 2017

Submission of full papers for the LNCS proceeding: 7th Jun, 2017

The LNCS proceeding notification: 16 Jun, 2017

Camera ready version for publication: 10 Aug, 2017

For more information on the workshop and for the Edutainment conference, please visit (http://www.edutainment2017.org/workshops) and (http://www.edutainment2017.org/ ).

BFX Academic Conference 2014

The BFX Conference “Digital Convergences 2014” runs next Monday and Tuesday on the Talbot Campus.

Keynote Speakers are Professor Lev Manovich, author of ‘Software Takes Command’ and ‘The Language of New Media’; and Professor Sean Cubitt, author of ‘The Cinema Effect’ and ‘Studying the Event Film: The Lord of the Rings’.

This conference intends to present and analyse the convergences that are occurring across and within the genres of moving image, in part resulting from the impact of digital technologies. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the BFX conference invites authors to examine various theoretical positionings with a view to realign the discussion in the light of current technologies. The conference seeks to revisit the arguments that position film, animation and art as aesthetically, structurally and intellectually different.

The conference director is Ms Paula Callus of the NCCA Visual Research Group.

Further information is available from:

http://www.bfxfestival.com/conference/

https://bfxconf.bournemouth.ac.uk/index.php?conference=BFX&schedConf=2014

BFX Final Films 2013

BFX, Bournemouth’s excting new Visual Effects and Animation Festival, has finished after 6 weeks and a lot of blood, sweat and tears.  The 10 competing teams have finished their films – and they are awesome!

You can watch all of the films here: http://www.bfxfestival.com/bfx-final-films-2013/

There has been a great variety of work, completed in such a small period of time and with only 6-7 machines between them to work and render on – so their time keeping had to be spot on.  Most of these students haven’t even graduated yet.

Truly astonishing what they have managed to produce.

If you like what you see, leave a vote on Youtube; for a bit of fun we have a ‘ Best Film – Public Vote’ category.

Once again thanks to all the feedback and mentoring from lecturers at the NCCA, Arts University Bournemouth and artists from Framestore, Double-Negative, The Mill, MPC, Realise Studios, Hibbert Ralph Animation, Outpost VFX and Cinesite.

If your interested in making similar films, or how the creative industries work – check out our September Festival in Bournemouth 

The BFX Festival is organised by the VFX Hub, funded by BU’s HEIF grant.

FIF – The Poole & Purbeck Portal

Awarded & submitted bids, Fusion

The Poole and Purbeck Portal is a new inter-school collaboration between the School of Applied Sciences, the Media School and the National Centre for Computer Animation – made possible by the Fusion Investment Fund.

The Portal will be launching in February, creating a shop window to showcase excellence in research from both our Academics, and our Students – further cementing BU’s leadership in the region. The Portal will engage the key stakeholders in the area; and work with the local community to provide the answers to the big questions relating to the regions rich natural environment, heritage and future.

Through the engagement of key stakeholders, new partnerships will emerge – students will benefit from work placements, research projects, and potentially graduate employment. The university will benefit from these new collaborations by, for example, increased consultancy projects.

The Portal itself was constructed within the ethos of the Fusion Fund – 2nd year media students were recruited to design and build the website, Red Balloon & the VFX Hub were commissioned to create a film-integrated animation promotional video, opening up cross collaborative streams across the University.