CML Web Discussion 2025-07-09: Cinematographers and AI

Cinematographers and AI tech creatives working together to better the art form: how can we be partners in this new world? A special Zoom session with Maddie Hong on Wednesday July 9 2025.

Maddie Hong is a creative technologist and filmmaker specializing in AI’s transformation of media production workflows and narrative possibilities. Her career has spanned creative work for companies such as Secret Level and Microsoft; editing movie trailers; and technology teams at major studios such as Netflix. Her innovative AI filmmaking has earned several accolades, including Finalist in Runway's Gen48 competition and Second Place in the Culver Cup sponsored by FBRC.AI and AWS. Her most recent film, Emergence, premiering in Runway’s 3rd Annual AI Film Festival, uses both real-world photography and fine-tuned AI models to tell an emotional story that puts audiences into the perspective of an insect’s metamorphosis. She is currently producing the world's largest AI filmmaking competition, in partnership with ElevenLabs, to foster a creative ecosystem where new technologies such as AI allow stories from anywhere and anyone to be celebrated.

“What I'm interested in exploring is knowledge sharing in this new paradigm. How do creatives ‘package’ looks for AI? Prompts? LoRAs? Proprietary workflows? And specifically what does the cinematographer want from the AI, the tech team and how can we work together to get the desired results?”

Maddie is a member of creator partner programs for Runway, Luma Labs, and Pika Labs and actively contributes industry research and programming for SMPTE, the Hollywood Professional Association, and the USC Entertainment Technology Center. website - https://linktr.ee/maddiehong, @hmdehong, linkedin.com/in/maddiehong/, https://www.instagram.com/hmdehong.

After Maddie’s talk, there is a discussion of various AI experiences, plus the use and value of storyboards. Edited to remove off-topic discursions and playback of an unfinished work-in-progress, “The Bends”. Apologies for the resulting jumps in the conversation.