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Deepheist Short Film Shows How AI Is Redefining the Future of Cinema

When you hear about AI in filmmaking, it’s easy to imagine futuristic movies made entirely by artificial intelligence. But the reality is much more nuanced. A short film called Deepheist appeared on YouTube last year. It was made with a very small budget, yet it looks professionally made and gives us a glimpse of the future of cinema.
Created by Glen Vivaris and his team, Deepheist cleverly mixes live-action footage with AI-generated scenes, pushing the boundaries of storytelling without needing a massive Hollywood budget.
Glen explains it this way:
“The film combined Deepware’s proprietary face replacement technology with hybrid live-action and generative AI. We demo cutting between AI and live-action shots, AI versions of real actors, split-screen hybrids, full AI characters, complete head replacements, and even entirely AI-generated characters. We did this on a shoestring budget.”
And he’s right. Watching Deepheist, it’s hard not to feel impressed (and maybe even slightly unsettled) by just how seamlessly AI-generated components blend with real-life actors. It’s a tech-infused thriller where AI is both behind the scenes and part of the narrative itself.