One Film, Two Ways: Presenting ‘A Very Long Carriage Ride’
Presenting ‘A Very Long Carriage Ride,’ heralding a new age of the malleable film.
A film is no longer a film, a film is a series of possibilities.
One day, films will be reverse engineered by algorithms, but that time is not now, and there is an entire world of possibility between now and then. With the introduction of malleable cinema, we are serving audiences an ability to have it their own way in a new era where opinions are wildly scattered across every single demographic and subculture. Cinema is branching off into two forms: films for audiences, and films with unique points of view by singular auteurs.
These are not mutually exclusive by any means. The branch has to begin somewhere and it will even join together at points, before we reach the machine totality of algorithmic, automated cinema. There we will have, one, the automated film, and, two, the ultimate auteur film; One Person, One Film.
AI presents all paths, just as a blank canvas presents all paths to a painting.
But to understand A Very Long Carriage Ride and what’s behind it, I explore new phenomenon has emerged in the last decade, as well as its solution.
We have seen the emergence of a new audience demand. Audiences have come to demand an equal voice in the creative process.
This has been frustrating for creators because, simultaneously, the audience is not unified in its demand. Every time one subculture is placated, another subculture gets even angrier that their demands weren’t. This has presented an impossible situation for filmmakers.
This is not to say the audiences are wrong to push back against cinema they dislike. There is something inherently wrong with a small group people in control of the cinema mechanism, who cater to a small subculture of the loudest voices and create a film that neither the disgruntled subculture appreciate, or the broader audience. Film has become a weapon between different subcultures aimed at each other. The film itself often comes last.
The question turns in both directions, inward, through the weaponization of attention, both ends become antagonistic toward the artist at center.
What happens when both input and output are corrupted? AI did not come from nowhere, but out of total necessity.
Machine cinema allows us to see evolution in real time. AI is not the evolution of cinema, it is evolution itself. It was always leading to this, we just didn’t realize it in the preceding decade as we were reaping the benefits of automation, collectivization and streamlining this would seep into cinema too.
Now, cinema will allow any audience to have any movie in any aesthetic without being troubled by budget, financing, logistics, and distribution.
One Person, One Film, will soon become One Click, One Film.
But there are oceans of possibilities between now and then.
So I present A Very Long Carriage Ride, proving the concept I outlined in The Living, Breathing Cinema in my book of essays, The New Machine Cinema: Foundational Essays in AI Film Theory. It begins with a concept: One Film, Two Ways.
On May 30th, 2025, I will be releasing two versions of A Very Long Carriage Ride; two versions of the exact same film.
The completely AI golden age style 2D animated version inspired by classic Disney, Warner Brothers and Fleischer animation. And the fully AI stop motion animated version, inspired by Ladislas Starevich, Aardman’s claymation, Laika Studios, and Tim Burton / Henry Selick.
I considered complexifying the concept. I considered making both versions have alternate endings, a happy ending, and a sad one. Or two different music scores, or alternate paths on the map to the final destination. After all, audiences demands bend not only toward aesthetics, but toward outcomes.
Instead, I decided that A Very Long Carriage Ride should offer the simplest proof of concept, nothing more: One Film, Two Ways.
Other filmmakers, studios, and algorithms, can take this in any direction they please. Different endings, different scores, different outcomes. I have gone through great lengths to do it the long way so that others may follow. Every mountain that I climbed, I turned around returning, climbing it a second time.
I did not make one single version and then press a button creating a 1:1 approximation. I crafted and animated the film one image at a time using a complete AI workflow, directing both movies simultaneously. It had to be difficult so that it will be easy later.
A film can happen exactly how someone wants it. A film can have different endings or plot developments or different characters. “You” can see yourself as the star of the movie. We have identified the problem: audiences and creators are completely out of lockstep due to the increasing variety of needs. And the Living, Breathing Cinema solves it forever. Once solved, it can’t be unsolved. You can’t unsee it.
So my purpose in presenting A Very Long Carriage Ride in two ways is just that. One Film, Two Ways.
It is the plainest possible starting point for this concept, and from this, others can take the concept and run with it.
Can a film unfold in five different ways?
Can we type in a prompt and see different scenarios play out?
Can we watch a film 100 times and every time it’s different?
Can we figure out through audience consensus what is the most beloved possible ending for this movie? Or, what is the most hated ending for this movie?
In proving the Living, Breathing Cinema, we can now play with our films like a rubics cube, opening the door to a more creative future where everyone gets to be creative and an artist is more of an architect creating a work of art like a building that people get to walk through.
Last, I want to say, A Very Carriage Ride is, irrespective of the technology, a work I went through great lengths to make a good film for viewers to enjoy. The film is a passion project, not a tech demo, and the film I have been waiting to make for my whole life, and only AI has made that possible. Where I go back and forth, I am certain the one I’m watching in the current moment is the best version. This is the fun of the new malleable cinema, it is up to viewers to decide.
