AI and Innovation: Pixels and Pencils

Written By: Maddox Pipkin

Another SCAD Film Fest means another amazing panel by Variety editor Clayton Davis, and this year was no exception. If you have never had the pleasure of attending the Pixels and Pencils panel, it’s a panel made up of the year’s animation directors. But more than that, it’s an opportunity to take part in the community of animation.

Davis is a strong interviewer, but what really captivates me is his passion for the medium. It is his love for all aspects of animation that makes him an incredibly charismatic and genuine host. Every year he invites a student onto the stage to showcase their work and get feedback from the guests, which just goes to show how committed he is to getting people invested. This year, SCAD hosted a total of 6 animation directors from all corners of the industry including Brad Bird of Pixar fame, Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado from Dreamworks, Travis Knight who runs Laika, Lia Nelson, and Daniel Chong of Cartoon Network and Disney. These directors represent five different animation movies of the year like Ray Gunn, Forgotten Island, Wildwood, Tangles, and Hoppers that are all varying in style and vision. The hot topic of the panel this year was AI technology in the industry.

The animation industry is no stranger to technological shifts. Famously, in 2010 Disney switched their model from hand drawn 2D to full CGI while Spider-Verse revolutionized how animation looks in the modern day. So why is there so much more pushback towards artificial intelligence in animation? As a titan in the industry, Bird had some very interesting insights. Bird has worked on Pixar and Disney films for decades, having seen the technology evolve firsthand. His directorial debut was the Iron Giant and his new film Ray Gunn uses CGI technology, a completely different visual feel. It makes someone wonder just how far we can take something before it becomes too much.

“Before AI we had bad executives.” Bird described. Which is to say he remembers executives making decisions he didn’t agree with for his films, and having to push back against that. Knight echoed the sentiment, saying that execs were using generative AI to undervalue the artists that work on these films.

Bird continued; “I’ve never wondered what my movie would look like if it had no soul,” a feeling shared by the entire panel, but particularly by Nelson who explains that her movie would not exist without the human element. But it’s not the feelings about AI that are the most important to these artists, it is the feelings behind their movie that were their most passionate. For example, Crawford and Mercado’s partnership was integral to how they portrayed the best friend main characters in their movie.

We cannot close Pandora’s Box, but that does not stop these directors. The prevalence of AI does not discourage them, but instead makes their work even more valued as the tools they bring to the table are something no computer can replicate.