Joe Dixon directs an unsettling, AI-manipulated promo for Cordelia Gartide.

The video for 16xo draws viewers into a hall of mirrors that represents the internet’s infancy. A place made of distance where almost everything is a disguise, including the teenage Cordelia, who we gradually realise is a faceless simulation.

“The process of working with the AI was slow and intuitive, we learned quickly we had to treat it like a collaborator rather than another piece of software," Dixon explains.

"At the same time, I really wanted to avoid it being ‘an AI’ film, so we used more traditional filmic techniques like split diopter shots to pull the two worlds together."

The innovative, surrealistic promo perfectly encapsulates the emotional themes of the track, and the blend of real world and AI technology feels like a step up from some of the more generative examples floating about in the community. By using it in a collaborative process as opposed to just prompting and cutting it together, it suggests a way to enrich the visual world the filmmaker has envisioned, rather than a shortcut to a style. 

"I am very happy with the results," says Dixon. "The visuals are beautiful, and they really build on the song's message. However, for me, the true centre of the video is Cordelia’s brilliant and haunting performance, rather than the technology we used to capture it.”