Wrexham: 73 Degree Films share details of new project

The new film, written by ChatGPT and produced by 73 Degree Films, tells the story of an unlikely friendship when two people meet by chance in Bellevue Park.

Back in 2022, Public Health Wales had a callout for Welsh artists to send creative ideas to support their new mental health programme, ‘Hapus.’ One of the successful artists was Robert Corcoran, from 73 Degree Films.

Producer Robert Corcoran said: "I applied with an idea to ask people the question ‘What makes you happy?’ and use AI to transform the answers into a story we could film in Wrexham.

"The opportunity to spark a conversation about how technology influences mental health was really exciting.” 

Robert gathered 179 answers, feeding these into ChatGPT (the AI text generator that made headlines in 2023), to write a script.

Behind the scenes (Image: 73 Degree Films)

The final story features a student befriending an elderly man who teaches her how to play the violin.

A local crew, including Emmy-winner Leighton Cox, then shot the film in the bus station and Bellevue Park on 16mm film.

The physical film was developed at the famous Kodak lab in Pinewood Studios, outside of London. Finally, editing was completed, including an original score from DAACI, using new AI tools.

(Image: 73 Degree Films)

Now that the project is complete, a short documentary has been released on Youtube, covering the eventful process.

“The ‘making of’ this project is wild. We filmed in Wrexham on 16mm film. I got to go to Pinewood Studios", he continues.

"I met the composition team (DAACI) in Texas, while I was there with FOCUS Wales at SXSW festival. Then finally I ended up in Los Angeles when it was completed, right before the strikes.”

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Public Health Wales are holding a workshop at Ty Pawb to support the launch of Hapus on August 7th. Robert will be there to present the film and get involved in conversations too.

In the meantime, you can watch the final 16mm film written by ChatGPT here. And the documentary here.

The cast and crew members are: 

Rebekah Bentley, ChatGPT, Robert Corcoran, Leighton Cox, DAACI, Sasha Duchnowska, Owen Jones, Ben Jones, Sam Jones, Gee Parry, Summer Piscikaite, Tim Rooney, Alex Sitford, Joseph Smith, James Stevens, David Underwood, James Veal, Luiz Zarzo.