Category: featured Blog

 

A View Conference 2025 Case Study from BOT VFX

AI at the Director’s Table

What if creativity had a new co-pilot? Imagine directing not just a cast and crew, but an orchestra of algorithms—responsive, adaptable, and capable of amplifying your vision frame by frame. That’s no longer a sci-fi fantasy: it’s the new frontier explored at View Conference 2025, where Srikanth S, Senior Technical Supervisor at BOT VFX, unveiled what happens when GenAI steps onto a real-world production pipeline.

The Project: Trace of One—Fashion Meets AI

At the heart of Srikanth’s talk was Trace of One, an experimental short film for fashion designer Mai Gidah. Here, every pixel sprang from generative AI, but every choice—from character pose to camera movement—remained in the hands of human creatives. The team set a high bar: could these new tools deliver outcomes strong enough to satisfy supervisors, clients, and brand storytellers in serious production?

Building the Workflow: Ideas to Final Frames

Production started with big ideas, swiftly supported by GPT-powered assistants. These language models generated drafts and mapped out story structure, working like junior creative collaborators that never overstepped the human impulse for direction and editing.

For visuals, things got hands-on. The team conducted a real photoshoot to build a data set of fashion models and outfits, trained LoRA models to secure talent and wardrobe consistency, and validated these assets just like you would for key VFX elements—testing lighting, angles, and composition before rolling into full shots and scenes.

Motion and pacing followed the traditions of film. The artists generated image-to-video takes for each shot, then stitched and refined them using editorial processes that made the final 4K master feel crafted, not random

Insights from the Session: Structure, Control, Adaptability

Attendees at View Conference saw firsthand that GenAI isn’t a magical shortcut. LLMs and generative image models are most powerful when directed with clear intent, acting more like creative partners than generic prompt machines. The excitement wasn’t in flashy outputs, but in blending real product, character design, and branded storytelling with the discipline of a production crew.

Throughout the talk, questions circled around control and adaptability—how does a director keep narrative and style consistent when new AI tools and features arrive mid-project? Srikanth’s answer was practical: flexibility, big-picture thinking, and ongoing iteration are the real sources of competitive edge.

Lessons for Every Audience

The Trace of One journey drove home several essential points. GenAI needs a director, not just a button-pusher. Off-the-shelf models won’t recognize your brand story unless you invest in training and refinement. Prompts work best as detailed stage directions, guiding action, mood, and style. AI workflows demand iterative thinking, not just modular tweaks, and adaptability must become a core strength as technology evolves.

Most of all, the team found that while tools might change, intent and judgment remain central. AI can expand horizons, accelerate work, and introduce new types of creativity, but only when the people behind the screen steer the process with vision and care.

For anyone in VFX, film, fashion, or brand work, the future lies in partnerships—between humans and machines, between vision and execution. At BOT VFX, Trace of One stands as proof that with the right direction, GenAI can help create compelling stories, remarkable visuals, and original work that reflects not just possibility, but purpose.

BOT VFX, collaborating with the talented client team led by VFX Supervisor Kris Sundberg and VFX Producer Lynzi Grant, has clinched this year’s Best VFX Feature – International award at the VAM Awards 2025 for its work on Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024). It’s yet another high-five moment for all the BOTs – a recognition that reaffirms the hearts we’ve won and the screens we’ve lit up over the years by doing what we love most: delivering high-quality, meaningful VFX.

“This win is yet another reminder of our ability to further our clients’ creative goals through great collaboration and excellent execution,” commented Hitesh Shah, BOT’s CEO.

High Stakes, High Standards

The film, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, is a 2024 action-comedy rollercoaster with a massive VFX appetite. BOT VFX was entrusted with delivering a wide spectrum of shots — each packed with technical complexity and creative nuance. Our work ranged from rig and safety pad removals, skid and crash pad clean-ups, set extensions, to color correction, retimes, and day-for-night transitions.

Our team also transformed on-location footage, swapping Georgia backdrops with vibrant Miami scenes using blue screen integration, sky replacements, and monitor inserts. These enhancements weren’t just about polish — they were about storytelling, mood-setting, and believability. From high-speed chases to a crashing helicopter’s cockpit, every shot got the BOT touch.

Creative Collaboration and Leadership

This win is also a reflection of the seamless collaboration with the VFX leadership at the studio side. BOT VFX is grateful to have partnered with our clients, whose trust, direction, and creative clarity helped steer the visual ambition of the project.

With over 100 artists contributing across all departments, this project was yet another example of BOT’s ability to scale with speed while maintaining quality and finesse.

More Than Just a Win

This recognition is more than an award — it’s a reminder of the trust placed in us by our clients, the craftsmanship of our artists, and the culture of excellence that binds every BOT together.

Here’s to many more frames, bold collaborations, and storytelling that goes beyond the screen.

Let’s ride.