Hollywood AI - Odyssey's Revolution in Filmmaking with Generative AI

Two veterans from the self-driving car industry are making a splash in Hollywood, not as actors but as pioneers of AI software set to revolutionize movie-making.

Odyssey: The New Contender

Based in San Francisco, Odyssey is a startup founded by Oliver Cameron and Jeff Hawke. It aims to compete with tech giants like OpenAI, Runway, Kuaishou, and Metaphysic by providing filmmakers and animators with cutting-edge generative AI tools. After operating in stealth mode for nearly a year, Odyssey has now secured $9 million in seed funding from GV (Google Ventures) and other investors.

Advanced AI for Filmmakers

Odyssey's AI software is similar to OpenAI’s Sora and Runway’s Gen 3, which can create short, high-quality cinematic videos from text descriptions. However, Odyssey aims to offer more fine-grained control over AI-generated shots, ensuring consistency in characters and backgrounds, realistic lighting, and visual effects across longer sequences.

Oliver Cameron, Odyssey's CEO, envisions a future where Hollywood-grade visual effects can be produced by a small team within a fraction of the current time and cost. The software is designed to support the most meticulous creators, significantly reducing the resources needed for high-quality productions.

Four Specialized AI Models

Odyssey's technology goes beyond a single text-to-video model. It employs a family of AI models that specialize in:

• Generating three-dimensional graphic renderings

• Creating material effects like water and cloth

• Producing motion

• Simulating lighting effects

These models work together to produce video frames, offering filmmakers complete creative control through various input methods, including text, stylus drawings, and digital images.

Founders’ Background and Vision

Cameron and Hawke bring extensive experience from the self-driving car industry. Cameron previously co-founded Voyage, which was acquired by Cruise, and served as Cruise’s vice president of product. Hawke was a founding member of Wayve, a British AI company focusing on self-driving technology.

Their expertise in AI and 3D modeling for self-driving cars translates seamlessly into the visual effects industry. At Wayve, Hawke developed GAIA, an AI model that generates realistic street-level videos, a concept he believes can be adapted for movie-making.

Unique Approach to Data Collection

Unlike other text-to-video AI developers, Odyssey gathers its own three-dimensional datasets from the real world. Cameron believes that existing online datasets are insufficient for building robust AI models required for their vision. The founders' experience in the self-driving sector has given them innovative methods for data collection, although these techniques remain undisclosed.

Future Plans

Odyssey intends to use its seed funding to expand its team and develop larger AI models, which necessitate substantial computational resources. The company’s goal is to democratize high-quality visual effects, enabling filmmakers to create stunning visuals with significantly reduced time and cost.

Learn more about Odyssey by visiting their website.