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Tilly Norwood Creator’s New Project? An AI Talking-Dog Movie With the Co-Director of ‘The Lion King’
Eline van der Velden, creator of AI-generated performer Tilly Norwood, is developing *Storm Dogs*, a hybrid live-action and animated family film, with *The Lion King* co-director Rob Minkoff. The project follows a group of dogs helping a toddler lost in the woods, and its creators say AI could make scenes involving talking dogs and young children more practical to produce.
AI-generated characters will portray the child and dogs, while human actors provide the dogs’ voices and adult performers appear in some live-action scenes. Minkoff says AI could avoid the difficulties of filming with animals and toddlers, though he acknowledges that keeping dogs’ appearance and movement consistent will be challenging. The team plans to show a two-and-a-half-minute proof of concept; Minkoff estimates completing the film’s development and production work could take about a year. It is privately financed and will seek studio distribution later.
In short
- Rob Minkoff is directing an AI-assisted talking-dog family film.
- AI will create the toddler and dogs; actors will voice the dogs.
- The team aims to complete the film in about a year.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
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The case for
AI-generated characters could make scenes with talking dogs and a young child easier to stage, while avoiding some practical constraints of filming with real animals and toddlers. The hybrid approach still uses human voice actors and adult performers, and could give filmmakers more creative control over performance and visual consistency if the technology works as intended.
The case against
Using AI-generated characters may weaken the sense of spontaneity and emotional connection that real performances can bring to a family film. Keeping generated dogs’ appearance and movement consistent is already a recognised challenge, and relying on the technology could add production uncertainty without guaranteeing that it is more practical or compelling.
Explained simply
Eline van der Velden is a producer who created Tilly Norwood, a performer generated with artificial intelligence (AI). For this family film, AI-generated characters are planned for the child and dogs, while human actors will voice the dogs and appear in some scenes.
Rob Minkoff, who co-directed the animated film The Lion King, is working on the project. Using AI for scenes with dogs and a toddler may make filming easier, but keeping the characters’ looks and movements consistent is a challenge.
The film is privately financed, with its makers planning to seek a studio distributor later. The project sits within a wider debate about how AI may change film-making and the roles of performers and production crews.
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