Short Film Review: CHECKED BAGS. Directed by Mark Cline

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Synopsis:

A combat veteran is traveling by a civilian airline. The airline now requires all passengers to check their emotional baggage before boarding any flight. After checking his bags, the man experiences the serenity of becoming unburdened by the guilt and trauma that he carries inside all the time.

Review by Victoria Olson

Artificial intelligence is generating multiple conversations in the world today. The film CHECKED BAGS shows exactly what it looks like when it comes to filmmaking. The images are pristine as if an artist carefully designed every aspect of the frame. A soothing voice of a female British airline attendant opens the short narrative by explaining the process for her particular airline. This simple, but familiar voice instantly relaxes the viewer through the dialogue. 

The scene quickly changes to an artificially generated man who looks familiar, almost a blend of several popular actors, with a rough beard. The shots are rapid black and white images that represent the memories of this particular character. The quickness shows he is being forced to release his emotional baggage before the scene opens to a bright and colorful terminal. He is now relaxed and clean shaven, signifying that he has dropped his emotional baggage. 

The film is composed of still images giving the illusion of movement through the use of time-lapsed illustrations. This allows the film to progress rapidly in order to give an example of artificial intelligence to create a concept of what could eventually be a full film. The concept of using emotional baggage before being allowed to board a flight is unique, which makes this film almost a trailer for a longer film. The idea being presented is clear and could be made into a feature film that would leave the audience feeling relaxed by the end. The tone is already there in the brief concept that artificial intelligence created and it would be wonderful to have people take over a feature in order to bring the idea of checking emotional baggage to a longer film. 

CHECKED BAGS is a great film to see what artificial intelligence can do in regards to film without overstepping the boundaries of the need for human creations. It was designed using both AI and humans to create the short, showing how both can work together to create a concept while bringing up a dialogue about what the world would look like if people could check emotional baggage. 

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