OpenAI’s DALL-E: Critterz - BTS

Native Foreign have unveiled the first animated short film that is 100% designed using AI-generated visuals with DALL-E (a deep learning model developed by OpenAI to generate images from prompts), titled ‘Critterz’. The creative agency and production company partnered with writer and director Chad Nelson to create the unique film in celebration of the one-year anniversary of OpenAI’s DALL-E. Featuring a range of darling characters such as Blu the Red Spider and the lovable gruff Frank, ‘Critterz’ is an animated science documentary turned comedy that introduces an unexplored forest inhabited by mysterious little Critterz with unforeseen personalities. Harnessing the limitless possibilities of AI, the creatures originated from the director’s imagination, who then used the powerful AI system to generate all the background settings and create the initial character artworks. Native Foreign handled the production process once the images had been generated by DALL-E. AI enabled Chad to produce hundreds of visuals per day, making it faster to visualise his creative products and allowing Native Foreign to collaborate with insight on the script, voiceover talent casting, and most importantly, bringing the characters to life. The team worked with animators to create a 3D world from the still images generated by DALL-E, bringing these magical environments to life by adding pixie dust, sun flares, and depth.