Brian Holloway – Fan Film Factor

How I’m using AI to help MARK NACCARATO make THE ROMULAN WAR… (part 4 of 4)

Last time, I showed you all how I was able to use Artificial intelligence (AI) to turn this…

into this…

And this…

into this…

Both of these video segments are intended for a short Star Trek fan film in THE ROMULAN WAR: WAR STORIES series tentatively titled “THE STILES FILES.” I offered to use AI to help showrunner MARK NACCARATO to create some brief video clips for this and assorted other related projects he’s working on. It’s a win-win for both of us, as he’ll get shots that he needs that likely couldn’t be created in any other way—while I’ll have an opportunity to learn some of the latest AI tools through directed tasks and problems to solve.

Actually, the above scenes with Captain Aaron Stiles of the USS Challenger NX-03 could very easily have been created without using AI. Actor BRIAN HOLLOWAY had already recorded his lines in uniform against a green screen, and many fan filmmakers have both the tools and the skills to composite him against a stationary background of the captain’s quarters or ready room screen cap from Star Trek: Enterprise. AI simply made the shots look more realistic in terms of costume and sets…and better lit, as well.

However, the other three shots that Mark asked for my help creating (and which I will show you presently) could absolutely, in no conceivable way, have been produced practically without tremendous time and financial resources—and perhaps not even then! With AI, however, I was able to generate each requested video clip in a matter of days for a combined AI cost of less than $100.

Keep in mind, though, that we were already spending a relatively small amount of money. I was using Google Gemini, which has a free version that allows you to generate up to 20 still images over a 24-hour period. And then I was using Grok to turn those images into videos. Grok offers a $30/month subscription that allows for a limited number of 720p resolution videos each day—the same resolution as those videos featured above. After you reach your maximum allotted daily allowance, the resolution of your Grok-generated videos drops to 480p until your meter resets. (I should mention that Google Gemini “outsources” its image generating tasks to another AI engine called Nano Banana, but that’s deeper into the weeds than most of my readers will need to know about.)

For the first of the three videos I describe below, I continued with the Gemini-to-Grok recipe. But then I ran into the limitations of 720p video and decided to take the plunge into Kling 3.0 and Kling Omni, allowing me to operate at a whole other level. And that, my friends, made all the difference in the universe!

Read on…

How I’m using AI to help MARK NACCARATO make THE ROMULAN WAR… (part 3 of 4)

Last time, I showed how I used a combination of the AI tools of Google Gemini and Grok to turn this…

into this…

The above video clip is intended to be a part of one of MARK NACCARATO’s upcoming fan films that take place during THE ROMULAN WAR. It was the second time I used AI to help create a short scene for him. The first time was a couple of days earlier when I used a combination of those same two AI applications to produce this short clip of a young T’Pau giving a speech to the Vulcan Council…

Part 2 blog showed how many different prompts I had to go through to change the four fans in front of a green screen into a starting “seed” still image of the four Starfleet officers drinking in the 602 Club. And then I had to go through a few different video prompts and renderings to then turn that one seed image the 10-second toast scene that I wanted. AI takes patience, persistence, and an ability to try to figure out what went wrong with your previous prompt and then to write something more carefully to avoid the same problem again…and again. Lather, rinse, repeat—possibly dozens of times!

AI isn’t a mind-reader quite yet. In fact, it’s frustratingly literal most of the time and unpredictable much of the rest of the time. But it still does some mind-blowing things in just a minute or two—occasionally for free or for a relatively affordable cost considering what it’s able to do for you.

Today, I’m going to continue this 4-part series with the third challenge handed to me by Mark: turn a series of flatly-lit green screen takes of actor BRIAN HOLLOWAY into Captain Aaron Stiles of the USS Challenger NX-03, sending a series of subspace messages from his quarters to Captain Jonathan Archer of the USS Enterprise NX-01. (Brian had previously worked on fan films for STAR TREK: PHASE II, THE FEDERATION FILES, and DREADNOUGHT DOMINION.)

Just to help me do a proof of concept, Mark sent me the following clip of part of one of Stiles’ messages to Archer. It was a thank you for a recording Archer had made expressing his condolences on the death of one of Captain Stiles’ sons, Brandon, a tribute that was played during the funeral…

The main difference between this project and the previous one of the officers giving the toast was that with Stiles, we already had the audio, which Mark wanted to keep. For the toast, Grok’s AI just created new voices that said what I typed in. But this time, Brian’s voice needed to remain intact in the final video. Turns out that Grok doesn’t have that ability at this time. So I needed to find an AI application that could retain the initial sound and render a new video with lips that synced to it.

Once again, I asked the “AI Whisperer,” my good friend ADAM “MOJO” LEBOWITZ for the solution, and he quickly told me: Kling Omni…

DREADNOUGHT DOMINION’S “MOM” debuts on Mother’s Day…of course! (interview with GARY DAVIS)

Ya just gotta love the folks at DREADNOUGHT DOMINION. Well, you don’t have to love them, but it’s hard not to! They spread such fun and joy through their fan films.

You would think that a fan series set on board a three-nacelled dreadnought-class starship would involve lots of battles and intense, serious action. And you would be wrong. Out of all of the most active ongoing Star Trek fan series, Dominion is one of the ones that takes themselves the LEAST seriously. Although they have had a handful of dramatic releases, they’ve also had a whole bunch of good, wholesome, fun-for-the-whole-family style episodes that just make you want to laugh and smile.

And what could be more wholesome than the captain’s mother visiting her son on the bridge of his starship? And what could be more family-friendly than releasing an episode titled “MOM” on Mother’s Day? Are you ready for something adorable…?

Seriously, how cute was that??!

Yeah, I know. Nothing like that would REALLY happen on a Federation dreadnought starship …or any starship, most likely. And the repercussions of a cloaked Klingon scout ship deep within Federation space could lead to interstellar war. And to that I say: “Stop complaining and go call your mother and tell her that you love her!” (My apologies to any out there who have lost their mothers, but if you know any mothers in your life, send them a link to this wonderful vignette and put a smile on their face.)

Speaking of smiles, I just couldn’t wait to ask GARY DAVIS, longtime Dominion showrunner and Captain Jason Brousseau himself, some things about this precious piece of production positivity…

TREKLANTA is back, baby…and this year, it’s VIRTUAL!!!

Believe it or not, the Star Trek fan film community DOES have its own convention every year…or at least it did until COVID shut down the entire world in 2020!

Granted, TREKLANTA isn’t only a fan film convention. Since 2011, ERIC L. WATTS, Founder and Chairman of the the Treklanta mini-con (originally called TrekTrax), has invited a wide range of guests over the years that’s included a wealth of Star Trek and sci-fi veteran actors, authors, and production people…along with other fine folks whom fans have always enjoyed seeing and meeting.

But Treklanta is also the convention that Star Trek fan filmmakers call “home.” For the past half-decade, Treklanta has presented the annual BJO AWARDS—the only competition devoted exclusively to recognizing and honoring Star Trek fan films. It’s the closest thing we have to the Oscars (only “Oscar” is now the woman who saved Star Trek from cancellation with a giant letter-writing campaign back in the 1960s!).

Sadly, Treklanta didn’t happen at all last year because of the pandemic. And because this mini-con is typically funded with revenue from the previous year’s event, there wasn’t enough in the coffers to entirely finance an in-person Treklanta this year. Fortunately, fifteen months of quarantining has taught fans that the show CAN go on—and you don’t even have to leave your house!

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Treklanta™ on the Holodeck!

This year’s Treklanta event will be a full day of FREE virtual panels beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time and going straight through till 10:00 p.m. THIS SATURDAY (August 7, 2021). All of the panels will be accessible via Google Meet at the following link:

https://meet.google.com/nxm-nnmz-ppf?fbclid=IwAR3FltmbCZgHPr-tjK5-hI-n_BXCSu1KvVl3kXOgVKifMPWMlx3qzc68eFI

The only requirement is that you have a Google/Gmail account to participate in the online events. And what if you don’t? Well, creating a free Google account is free and easy and doesn’t take very long. And you never have to use the Google account again if you don’t want to. But aside from that one requirement, Treklanta™ on the Holodeck is open to anyone at anytime during the day on Saturday. Start watching a panel, stick around for bit, ask a question or two, leave, come back, or just keep the link open all day long. It’s the easiest convention you’ve ever stayed home for!

Here’s the schedule of events (including a Fan Film “Power Panel” at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time that you will NOT want to miss!)…