Knight Foundation: Informed
How I Created a Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Create Fake News Through the Use of AI on a Video Where Journalists, Professors, and Politicians Warn Audiences About the Dangers of Using AI to Create Fake News
Late in 2022, I got the call to shoot b-roll for the Knight Foundation’s first annual “Informed” conference. For two days at the Biltmore Hotel, thought leaders gathered and held panels on some of the industry’s most pressing topics. The event featured curated discussions with Kara Swisher, Secretaries of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia and Jocelyn Benson of Michigan, White House representatives Alondra Nelson and Lt Col (Dr) Ashish Kumar Jha, and Harvard Research Director Professor and author of “Meme Wars,” Joan Donovan, Ph.D.
Nelson Hernandez directed the interviews and had long discussions with guest speakers long after the cameras stopped rolling.
Danny Rosenberg set up the interviews and shot them.
April Acevedo worked as an associate producer and also recorded the sound.
I wandered the halls and rooms of the Biltmore, gimbal in hand, looking for genuine moments of human interaction. I have a long career of shooting events, so I feel at home framing strangers cinematically in ways that cut well for video.
MariaVictoria Duque worked on the edit for a few weeks, combing through all the footage, making selects, and structuring the narrative. She did most of the post-work for this one.
By the time I got this video, it was 80% done. I tightened it up with timely edits, and musical cues, and used Midjourney to create relevant b-roll. I thought it would be ironic to show people how to create fake news in a video about fake news, but it also served a purpose in showing how easy it is, and why their warnings on the threat to democracy should be taken seriously.