News

The AI-Powered Legacy: 48 Hours AI Filmmaking Competition Concludes with Groundbreaking masterpieces

PolyU Research Centre for Cultural and Art Technology, in collaboration with PolyU-NVIDIA Joint Research Centre and School of Design, proudly announces the successful conclusion of "The AI-Powered Legacy," a pioneering 48-hour filmmaking competition held at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) from 2 November to 4 November, 2024. This unique event brought together 25 teams of AI experts and film practitioners to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and filmmaking, resulting in a dynamic showcase of creativity and technological innovation. Participants were challenged to leverage cutting-edge AI technologies to produce compelling visual narratives, pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling.   Ahead of the event, participants had the chance to attend exclusive workshops hosted by the research centers. They learnt from a series of workshops with topics covering NVIDIA NIM, inference microservices for flexible deployment across multiple platforms; AIGC Creation class led by the founders of 32 Digital Omnimedia Co., focusing on the use of ComfyUI, LoRA, ControlNet, and more. The workshops concluded with story-telling skills and technique training, featuring insights from Director Nicolas Lesaffre of an award-winning animation studio Nikopicto. Participants were equipped with access to state-of-the-art resources, including generative video and image platforms, cloud computing extend introduction to AI creation, before embarking on their creative journeys.   The success of "The AI-Powered Legacy" underscores the transformative potential of AI in filmmaking and sets the stage for future collaborations and innovations in the field. The organizers express their gratitude to all participants, judges, and sponsors for their contributions to this landmark event.   Please stay tuned for the announcement of the winners in December! Select submissions will be featured in the upcoming Art Tech Exhibition, scheduled to run from 24 January through 27 February 2025 in School of Design, PolyU, offering further exposure to the innovative works produced during the competition.   For more information, please contact Miss Wong at rc.cat@polyu.edu.hk.

Researcher Won a Prestigious AI Film Award

PolyU Research Centre for Cultural and Art Technology and PolyU-NVIDIA Joint Research Centre are proud to announce that our Research Associate, Miss Yao CHEN received the 3rd runner up in the “Dream”, an inaugural AI Film Making Contest organized by Dreamina, owned by CapCut, ByteDance. As one of the most rapidly growth GenAI video platform, the contest received almost 80 applications and demonstrated the creative and technical capabilities of AI systems in producing short films. The Research Associate’s entry, titled "Freedom or Prison?", was recognised by the judges for its creative storytelling, impressive visual effects, and technical sophistication.   "We are thrilled and honored to have our Research Associate recognized in this prestigious competition," said Prof. Henry Duh. "This achievement is a testament to our capabilities in generative AI, which is developed to master a wide range of tasks, from research and analysis to creative projects like film production."   CHEN Yao’s achievement finished in the AI Film Making Contest underscores research centres' commitment to developing innovative AI solutions that push the boundaries of what is possible. By empowering its AI technology to engage in creative endeavors, research centres aim to showcase the transformative potential of this technology and inspire others to explore new frontiers in AI-powered applications.

PolyU Design collaborates with Moleskine to promote local art, design and culture on an international stage

We are delighted to announce that PolyU Design and Moleskine have established collaboration through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 1 November 2023. The MoU intends to facilitate collaboration to support art, design and cultural development, especially local designers, artists and cultural practitioners. The potential areas of collaboration include organising public exhibitions, workshops and other events to increase international exposure of local students, designers and artists’ works on Moleskine’s products and shops internationally.   Riding on the collaboration, Moleskine is hosting an exhibition of “Rediscovering Hong Kong” that is supported by MSc in Innovative Multimedia Entertainment of PolyU Design and PolyU Research Centre for Cultural and Art Technology at K11 MUSEA to showcase artworks that express the creativity and new ways of presentation for culture, art and design. The Inaugural Exhibition Opening Ceremony announced the top three winners of PolyU Design x Moleskine notebook design competition. 12 shortlisted artworks from PolyU design students are showcased in the exhibition and will be published on custom-designed Moleskine notebook based on customer demand.   The MOU Signing Ceremony cum Exhibition Opening was successfully held at Moleskine pop-up shop, K11 MUSEA. The MoU was signed by Prof. Kun-pyo Lee, Dean of PolyU Design, and Mr. Merwann Younes, Global Head of Direct Channels of Moleskine with the witness of guest of honours Italian Consulate General, Mr Carmelo Ficarra.   Moleskine is, based in Milan, Italy, a global luxury brand and platform which celebrates talent, champions originality and cherishes long-term thinking and innovation. Their notebook is the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers such as Vincent Van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway and Bruce Chatwin over the past two centuries.

Asia Pacific Art and Culture Technology Forum cum the Opening of Research Centre for Cultural and Art Technology Centre and PolyU-NVIDIA Joint Research Centre

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced the establishment of the Research Centre on Cultural and Art Technology and the PolyU-NVIDIA Joint Research Centre on 24 July 2023. The Centres' Opening Ceremony, hosted by Professor Christopher Chao, Vice President (Research and Innovation) of PolyU, was held together with the Asia Pacific Art and Culture Technology Forum where renowned industry leaders shared insights on the applications of generative AI. Centre Director Professor Henry Duh announced the "Call for Global Collaboration" that targeted to support Hong Kong art and culture. The event was attended by guests from different industries, including Invest HK, the British Consulate-General, Adobe, Moleskine, Unity, Tencent Games Lightspeed Studios, and more, who are also important stakeholders of the Centre's. The Centre looks forward to partnering with institutions and funding bodies to work together and support local art community and cultural groups.