Message from SHL
So, I have mulled over this decision for a little bit now. For the sake of transparency, I don’t really know how I ultimately feel about it. I am conflicted to say the least. But sometimes you need to pull off the bandaid – I, Damien Woods, have made an AI film.
Someone I am close to in this business had been encouraging me for sometime now to play with the new tools available in the AI space, I was resistant. My favorite part of making SHIP films is getting to make them with real warm body living women. I am sure many of you would jump at the chance of getting to see and direct this stuff up close and personal, especially when it all comes together perfectly and relate to that sentiment.
I have also spent my life as an artist (outside of filmmaking) doing the hard work, so I have plenty of moral objections to big tech companies sucking in all this human work, distilling it into a algorithm and selling it for their own profit. I also don’t agree with the sentiment that if you can’t beat them, you should join them. But I would be lying if I were to say I have not benefited from leveraging AI tools for my work. In that way, maybe I am a hypocrite.
As early as TKJ (2023) – I used AI to write the TV reporters dialogue, to make it sound more official without having to imagine the words myself (I tried, it wasn’t convincing enough to me). I also used AI to create a few story insert images during the TV reporter section of said film. Shortly after, when making Heroine News – I also used AI processing to make generic images to promote the site (including the banner of this site which includes an AI image under the text) or whenever I have the occasional sale (anyone remember the Christmas blind box?).
Those are all arguably things I could have paid an artist to do. I didn’t. (Side note, I did try to hire some artist to make images for this site, they didn’t want to be associated with adult work. But thats another story.)
Even more recently, I reached out to Rye to help me create a couple AI generated video shots for Spectral and Wonder Woman: Fallen Angel (the shot of the two men leaving the room when Spectral is on the ground and the VFX shot of Ares vanishing into a portal). One of them was a shot I missed during production, the other was to make my life easier and save 4 days of hard labor for a throw away shot.
All that to say, my hands are not clean. I have been using the technology, just not as a primary product. So I gave myself an ‘out’, that since I wasn’t selling the AI art per se, that I wasn’t a participant in the behavior. But, thats bullshit right? I am.
So, after months and months of encouragement (maybe closer to a year now), I bite the bullet. During some downtime I did some research, I learned some of the tools, I got my hands dirty. And the slippery slope and the bug bit me – I saw the potential of telling a unique SHIP story with the technology. So brick by brick I assembled and played. I built a story. I worked up an expensive AI bill. And then I had to figure out what to do with the child I gave birth too – smother it and toss it in a vault? Or put it out there for consumers to chomp on.
Transparency part 2: I considered deceiving you. New studio name, new producer name, no-one has to know… right? If people didn’t buy it, no harm, no reputational foul. Hands clean. Move on with my life. It makes sense anyway doesn’t it? A guy with a secret identity fetish, finding a round about way to make a secret identity for his secret identity (my name isn’t really Damien, in case you didn’t know). But, I think I would be lying to myself that you, as a person who has watched my work (some of you for over a decade now, almost two decades for the rare few), wouldn’t at the very least be suspicious when you see all my staples pop up in this random new filmmakers work. To deceive you would be to assume you weren’t smart enough to figure it out for yourself.
I would slip up somewhere. How I type, what I focus on, signing into the wrong profile when responding to a comment. I am human. I don’t think the ruse would be worth it. And all that to do what? Not sully my good dirty fetish name?
There are some things I think I need to clarify for you, the viewer, the fan, the hater, the audience for this genre. 1. I do not plan on becoming an AI creator only. I want to make films with real people. That hasn’t changed. 2. I plan on their being a separation of my AI films from my non AI films (SHL as a branding will be humans only), VIXEN-AI would be the studio name/alas for my AI work. 3. I have plenty of real human films shot, being actively worked on, and will be out in the near future. 4. I plan on making films with humans for as long as I am capable of doing so.
That all being said. I have made an AI film. I decided not to vault it. I decided I should be honest that I did it. I do think many of you would enjoy it. I don’t know how I will feel about this in the long term. I will probably continue to use these tools, at the very least, to make my human films stronger when it comes to things that aren’t possible to do on a limited budget (think heroine stopping a runaway train). Ultimately, it is up to you, the consumer, to support what you want and not buy what you don’t. I will not argue in defense of AI, especially when I have moral objections to it. You are welcomed to post your criticism of this decision in away you choose too, I will not moderate most of what you have to say (within reason, like obviously death threats would probably get deleted). But I also have no desire to partake in debates regarding a topic that I already struggle with to begin with. For all I know, in a years time maybe I regret this decision and put down the digital axe.
I hope that all makes sense. If you have any questions for something I failed to address, ask below in the comments.
With love,
Damien Woods
DOWNLOAD TRAILER
PURCHASE FILM
Synopsis: Luminara tracks down the villain Kaido at a remote location, but he is more powerful than she anticipated.
Content: Superheroine fight, pantyhose, peril, combat, beatdown, debooting, forced sex, no nudity.
Price: $30 USD / Length: 18 Minutes
Hello, Director, I’ve always really liked your work, and I was very happy to see that you’re making an AI movie. I come from China, the country with the strongest video model, seedacne2.5. I post on Douyin, and I have quite a few followers (abroad you call it TikTok). From your screenshots, I feel that your production skills are still a bit raw, maybe because this model comes from China. I’ve been using this model since January this year. I’ve always wanted to release some ship works, but unfortunately, that’s not allowed in our country. I’d like to ask if there’s a chance to collaborate. If you think it’s possible, please give me your contact info, and I’ll send you my works (I believe they look no different from real people). I’m sure you’ll also think the work is really good.
I’m quite against AI these days. Apart from all the environmental issues and the crazy concentration of capital in the hands of a few big techs, I really dislike the fact that it encourages filmmakers to be lazier. This isn’t the case here!
I would go as far as calling this a masterpiece. To me the scenes you don’t typically get in a live action SHIP film truly make this special. The scene in the shower after she was defeated really shows how devastating it is to be a defeated heroine. And the coda? Damien does a great job building this character. And the performance? Gosh it goes to places I didn’t think an AI film would go. Though there are plenty of traces of unnaturalness, the character does have a personality that feels innocent in a way that does suit a person not from this ordinary planet.
Lastly, as a tights lover, the high shine of the nylon speaks to my kinks 100%
I bought the film yesterday and I’ve watched it a few times. It holds up to repeated viewings. Bravo.
I appreciate the honesty with this, and overall I’m a bit less hardline 100% against AI in these movies than I once was, but that only comes to things like the news reports, effects shots if needed. A full AI film is something I have no interest in.
That being said, based on the preview it doesn’t look as bad as 90% of other fully AI videos and that’s genuinely a credit to you as a filmmaker, but this is a hard pass for me.
Trying my best to be upfront in a way that feels as transparent as I can be. I appreciate the compliment.
And just in case anyone is reading this: if an all AI film is a hard pass for you… you don’t have to tell me. I don’t need 20 comments saying you aren’t interested in buying this. Not buying it says more than enough. LOL.
I invite people to post criticism of the fact that I used AI to begin with. No one here is wondering what the guy next to him is buying. No one has ever asked me what my favorite shampoo is. My sales data is all the messaging I need about what people do and do not buy.
At the end of the day, let the market decide. I applaud your efforts and transparency. As with any medium, there is growth and change. In this case, you are still the story creator. As a customer, I’m paying for the story, costume, selection of actors/actresses, setting, lights and all. You still have creative control of those. AI is just a new medium for you to flex your creative powers.
I understand both sides of the argument. I’m still not completely comfortable with this venture. But I decided to go through with it cause I saw an opportunity to use the tech in a unique way to me. And at the end of the day, like I mentioned below, any money I’ve ever made in the last twenty years of my life directly goes back into making heroine films with real people. In recent years I’ve had to be more creative with how I do that, as luxury spending money is on the decline for everybody.
I do now see the potential better though, on how I can use this technology to possibly benefit my other work. So maybe the rising tide with raise all the ships
Hello, video looked great! Would you ever consider mixing AI with real actors? Use AI for complicated or more visual fighting scenes etc then return to normal for the peril scenes?
That’s the plan, as long as it can be close to seamless
I am curious; do you think you would bring this character into live action.
If I could have an actress that can look and play the part, that would be amazing
Nothing to really do with this release, but man I really hate the new SHG Media layout. It used to just go to the homepage with all the recent releases and now I have to agree to terms and conditions everytime and then search on a store by store basis. Please bring back the old default recent releases page.
I don’t own SHG, have anything to do with their website layout and cannot help you
Hi Bob. Thank you for the awesome suggestions. You did have to accept TOS on the old site every time as well but it was more conveniently laid out. I will lay that out better and make it last longer so that that it is less of an issue. Additionally I will add an all products link at some point so you can have the original product layout. That being said, shg is migrating towards each creator having their own store so that their products can be viewed uncluttered from other sellers content and so people can selectively view the creators they enjoy while avoiding the ones they do not. I appreciate your suggestions on the TOS and having the option for a new release page.
Also have to say I really enjoyed this video. The depth of story, the setup for future storytelling, the deliberate design of the lead character and her personality traits, and the drama and psychology that both characters experience, was really great to see in a medium that usually can’t convey such things. Very well done!
This looks good, just like Rye’s. As soon as there explicit sexual peril and nudity in them I will start buying. I know you mentioned below about that being a possibility in the future. Would you said it’s a likelihood?
This has potential, but at the time being (softcore, short, good video quality and “acting” / you did really good considering AI porn out there / but still a bit unrealistic acting overall) it is a pass from me, sorry. Maybe a year from now?
I would say that to use AI for special effects to save you some time and money is completely fine.
OMG I’ve followed your work for almost a decade now, and this is one of the ones I’m most excited to see. The AI space is one where you can have your EXACT kink fantasy fulfilled. I just wish I had the skills to pull something like this off, this is fuq’n fire!
I mean I’m really not a fan of anything generative AI but….
As long as it’s clearly marked as AI so I can ignore it(And real people stays the focus) that’s ok.
I wil just add it to ignored AI List as I do with most anything generative AI.
It would be nice if you could not include the AI Films into the none AI newsletter though, for new movies I mean.
wondering if this doesnt go to full on sex maybe some forced oral showing the heroine from behind might work? hopefully the other wife character gets drawn into this at some point as well. would be nice to see both in much less clothing. i thought the sweating effect was really interesting and the foot movement scenes seemed a little reminiscent of uninvited the original version.
great AI product! hope there’s more coming. keep up the storyline and the violence…do we get to the nudity at some point? maybe some shower scenes pre or post mission?
It’s OK that directors try this new tools, but the pricing feels rediculus to me. No nudity but mire expensive than real life actors while i find similar Stuff on deviantards for much lower costs or even free.
The Pricung absolutely doesnt match with the delivered Content. Il stay with my Deviants here and pass those expensive PG13 Movie
The other day I bought fast food, and after taxes it costed me $18 USD. So, this film is priced slightly more than a hamburger and fries. Value is in the eye of the beholder. In the future I am sure it will be included in a blind box or in a sale.
To add another perspective, I am rich enough to buy 100+ USD hardcore Black Label, but not rich enough to pay 30 USD for softcore short content, sorry. Doesn´t really matter whether it is AI or not.
So i should spend my money on overpriced AI slop because of you eating to much expensive Fastfood? Nah, man, not gonna happen!
The other day i bought an membership at giga heroine for the same price and there is a lot more value in it than in one PG13 AI Video. Sorry, i really like your movies and bought many of them even for the full price to support your work, and they are totally worth it in my opinion, but the pricing here is absolutely not reasonable. It feels greedy and to be honest this kind of production a bit lazy too.
Rise quality or lower the price. Otherwise you can’t count on my financial support any longer.
I hope you make the right decission
Best
giga is censored … you cannot really compare censored jav with softcore AI …
I need you to buy me hamburgers. You’re German aren’t you? Ever hear of… Hamburg… Germany?
Looks great, I’ll give it a go.
The thing with AI is that it gives you an opportunity to do things that you never would be able to do with a real actress and add scenery and special effects that would be prohibitively expensive, I think the 2 can live side by side I’ve seen some great sex stuff and horrific gory stuff made in AI and as the tech becomes better and cheaper then I would guess the way it handles nudity and sex will become easier.
Of course AI is a weighty subject with a lot of things to think about.
But looking at it strictly from the videos it produces, this current AI stuff kind of reminds me of what it was like to be in the early days of internet superheroine peril. Back when people were just starting to make this stuff, things were a little janky. People had very limited tech, and people were learning how to do all of the production stuff. But at the same time, there was this excitement that doesn’t exist as much anymore, where you never knew what people were going to do next. There were so many things to explore that hadn’t been explored and you never knew if something was going to deliver something you’d always wanted but had never seen before.
These days, the movies are all WAY better than they used to be, in terms of quality and execution, which is awesome, but it has been a while since there’s been that sense of unexplored possibilities.
AI stuff kind of reminds me of that a little. It’s definitely a bit janky at this stage and people are still figuring it out. But for the first time in a while, it feels like there’s so much stuff people could do but just haven’t done yet because it’s early days.
Disclaimer: I’m not saying AI videos are better than ones with real actors. I don’t think they are. The movies with actors in them that people are making are higher quality than they’ve ever been and still exploring new things. Just saying… the AI stuff does kind of rekindle that stuff from the early days of this genre, which has been tremendously fun, as well.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s a world where they can both exist.
To be honest I don’t know how much better I want this tech to get, because it can be uncanny in a way that makes me uncomfortable. But I agree with the sentiment about the unknown/unseen. You won’t believe how much time I have spent in my life trying to draft up plans on how to make a retractable plank with an alligator pit IRL, but, I don’t think I can ever really afford to make that happen for real. And arguably, I could def use AI for that
First and foremost due credit to you for your absolute honesty, transparency and clarity, both for the detail on the post and for what is in the film.
May I ask, as regards the no nudity, is that because it’s hard to do or that the AI software won’t let you or makes it difficult- I’ve heard this suggested but wanted to ask someone who genuinely know the answer.
Due respect again for your frank and honest post
I am not opposed to it and it would be tricky (obviously there are guardrails with this stuff). But when I was originally making this film, I had no intention of what I would do with it, if I would complete it to begin with, let alone release it. I kind of just fell in love with the character, who she was, what she would do, that I kept plucking away at it. By the time I was in too deep – trying to shoehorn something like nudity into the film would have been too expensive and it might reduce watch quality for the sake of adding time. Historically, I prefer as much of a costume stays on. So I wasn’t concerned with that when it was just a private project for me.
Thanks for taking the time to answer, on that basis i have just made the purchase, good luck for the future and let’s have Luminara back, knickers down !
Sorry, but hard pass… actors and actresses need jobs and even part time AI content is not the way forward, but you already knew that, just got peer pressured into looking futher. But you have to keep resisting, it’s the only way to rid it from creative spaces.
I dunno how long you’ve been around here, but what do you think I do with profit? I put all my money into making more and more films. Hiring real actors is why I’m broke. Especially since the current economy means less people have money to spend. So, if this film is profitable, real actors will be the beneficiaries of my extra spending money. That’s always been my prerogative
Hey Damian, I’d love to share a few thoughts. I’ve been following your work for a decade—maybe even longer—and I really enjoy your films. Compared to others, yours are more polished and have a more cinematic feel; the action and erotic scenes are more intense (I don’t mean to criticize other creators or cause offense; I’m just sharing my perspective). Because your productions are so refined, the production time and costs are significantly higher, which is exactly why I look forward to your new releases so much—I’ve bought almost every one of them. Regarding AI, my view is that it diminishes the sense of realism; when I start watching, I’m immediately aware that I’m looking at virtual characters. Even if their facial expressions are more expressive than those of real actors, I know it’s all artificial. I prefer authentic filmmaking, and I find it hard to truly immerse myself in AI-generated content. That said, AI could perhaps serve as a nice enhancement—for instance, in rendering large-scale scenes—but I hope you’ll keep your primary focus on films featuring real actors. Looking forward to your next project. All the best.
Nicely done. Looks great!
Thank you senpai
I also was against ai, still am in most principles. But it can be helpful as a tool. I started to use it to create images of scenarios that likely could never make it into a human acted ship film like public settings, large set pieces, monster villains. Curious to see the concepts that come out of this!
Hi Damien.. I actually like that you’re advancing with the AI technology and delving into that territory, and I’m thinking that you can probably create content with limitless imagination when it comes to peril, set pieces , storylines , villians, etc. Just please keep your superheroines pantyhose-clad .. that’s my only request . Lol
Good luck on this endeavor. I’m probably gonna pass on this though.
Would you say that AI films are actually cheaper ?
Well, considering how much this cost to make, if I tripled its runtime to be closer to my actual films (which are usually 60 minutes) it might actually become more expensive than some of my normal films. Unless it’s a bigger production like either Ares film, or something like TKJ. Granted, I was in the learning phase, so there was extra cost with early mistakes I made in the process. But it isn’t cheap.
I didn’t even notice there was a trailer, oh well. doesn’t matter, I trust the director. purchased!!!!!
Yes I heard from some film makers. Because of the tokens. It’s actually cheaper making some movies. I don’t see the value in moving to AI other than the hassle and efficiency. But it’s doesn’t seem to be cheaper as some say it is. What about a combination of both? AI assisted? I suppose it would be an issue of figuring out at what point in the film AI would be used. Perhaps AI could generate the villain ? Unrelated to SHIP I’ve seen some very good AI assisted films. Definitely burns less tokens
IRL if I were to build a room size death trap, AI would be significantly cheaper. My intention with even doing this is to venture into stuff that isn’t cost prohibitive IRL or possible. The opening shot is a great example of something I could never pull off IRL. Or like with Ryes recent work – hiring 100 actors to be spectators in a stadium isn’t possible. So I don’t think breaking it down into a cost/efficiency is the reason why I am doing this. I can’t speak for Rye or his perspective.
As far as merging the two, I need to do more experiments. There is no high quality 4k video generators that would seamless match with the way I shoot films. Most people only watch my films in 1080P, so maybe that doesn’t matter in the end. But I would really hate to not have the integration be seamless. I don’t know it’s possible today, but who knows what the future holds.
I believe there is an efficient way to combine the two having experience with AI. No point wasting money on tokens even if this film looks amazing. There are some impressive channels, films out there that combine both very effectively. Maybe I will send you an email 🙂
Hey folks, I’ve seen this and was blown away! The heroine is gorgeous, the action and peril was great and there is an actual engaging story in this. I would say a major factor that puts this above over AI videos in general is that it was seamless. Everything flowed nicely and you could see there was great effort and appreciation of the SHIP genre put into it. Check it out!