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Broken Social Scene create psychedelic AI-generated music video for ‘Can’t Find My Heart’ through Genero

Music 26 September, 2019

In Collaboration With Alex Mordvintsev, AI Pioneer & Creator of Google’s DeepDream.

Today, Broken Social Scene have released the psychedelic official video for their anthemic single “Can’t Find My Heart.” Directed by Josh Usheroff in partnership with Genero, the visually-captivating video features an endless vortex of performance footage run through a series of style transfers and surreal artificial intelligence-created textures. This cutting-edge approach was developed in collaboration with Alex Mordvintsev, a pioneer in neural network generated visuals and creator of Google’s DeepDream.

“I’m fascinated by the changes that AI and machine learning are bringing to all aspects of our culture. I wanted to see how this technology was being used in more creative disciplines,” explains Usheroff. “I started researching generative art and came across a video by Alex Mordvintsev. The video featured a series of still images zooming and transforming into one another. The results were mesmerizing.”

Usheroff approached Mordvintsev about creating a similar effect with video instead of stills and the concept was set. Broken Social Scene connected with Usheroff and his creative treatment through Genero, a global creative platform that connects artists with a network of directors and filmmakers.

“We captured the performance visuals in Montreal just a few hours before the band’s concert. My creative partner, Ben Goloff, sequenced the performances and applied style transfers to give the images a surreal and almost painterly aesthetic. We then sent the files to Alex to work his DeepDream magic.”

Josh Usheroff

The video effect is based on combining neural artistic style transfer with a zooming feedback loop. Alex gradually injected each new video clip into the mix, while simultaneously steering the global image style.

Cameron Reed, Marketing Director, Arts & Crafts said “Arts & Crafts partnered with Genero to find a novel idea to interpret this classically anthemic Broken Social Scene single. The response from filmmakers around the world was astounding and teeming with brilliant ideas. We ended up collaborating with a Canadian team which included the ground-breaking Google engineer who developed the psychedelic technology you see in the video. Having access to this massive network of filmmakers meant we were able to create something really unique with a team we would never have been able to find otherwise.”

Mark Roemer, Client Director – North America, Genero said “Broken Social Scene personifies the ever-evolving, experimental and pioneering spirit of independent music. As a cutting-edge tech and creative company, we take inspiration from the band’s indie swagger. And as fans of their music, we were thrilled to work with Broken Social Scene to facilitate their collaboration with a creative team that they’d have otherwise never found. We love creating music videos that push the limits of creativity and expression and giving our global creative network these great opportunities.”