Neusatz Trailer

Overview

The Neusatz Project trailer is an initial exploration of how modern AI tools can be used to reimagine the history of Novi Sad, Serbia. By combining historical photographs, AI-generated imagery using Midjourney, and video generation with Runway Gen-3 Alpha, the trailer sets the stage for future development while experimenting with how these tools can be used to merge reality with speculative fiction.

The trailer introduces Neusatz, an alternate version of Novi Sad, positioning the city itself as a character in its own right. This project is the foundation for a broader initiative, including a future board game, where players will interact with the city’s layered history and imagined narratives.

Objective

This trailer serves as an early creative experiment, testing how historical storytelling can be augmented with AI-driven visual elements. The objective was to explore how real history could blend with speculative, AI-generated imagery, creating a narrative that feels both familiar and surreal.

Historical Foundation

At the core of the project are real historical elements. I gathered photographs and maps from Novi Sad’s mid-20th century archives, including a digitally restored 1949 map of the city, which provides an authentic visual foundation for the trailer.

AI-Generated Imagery with Midjourney

To build on this historical base, I used Midjourney AI to generate surreal, speculative imagery that reimagines Novi Sad as Neusatz — a parallel world. These AI visuals were employed to:

Forward Into the Future

The marriage of AI and music in this project has shown us that as we tread into the future, the lines between machine-made and human-made art will blur. Each attempt, each collaboration, and every piece of feedback will bring us one step closer to refining this melding of worlds.

• Create atmospheric layers: Midjourney helped introduce a dreamlike quality to the trailer, allowing viewers to experience Neusatz as a blend of historical accuracy and imaginative speculation.

• Contrast reality and fantasy: The combination of real photos with AI visuals created a tension between the familiar and the unknown, inviting viewers to explore a fictionalized version of the city.

Runway Gen-3 Alpha: Early Video Integration

I used Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha as an exploratory tool to integrate static images and AI-generated visuals into a cohesive video. This experiment in video generation was aimed at testing Gen-3 Alpha’s ability to blend distinct visual elements while maintaining a unified tone.

Features of Gen-3 Alpha that were instrumental in this exploratory phase include:

• Temporal control: Gen-3 Alpha’s capacity to maintain smooth transitions between scenes allowed for the seamless blending of real and AI-generated content. This was critical in achieving a cinematic feel for the trailer​

• Creative adaptability: Its ability to generate highly detailed, cinematic sequences made it an excellent tool for testing how AI can bring historical photos to life​

Though still in its experimental phase, Runway’s technology offered valuable insights into how AI-generated videos might evolve to support more immersive storytelling.

Visual Style and Themes

In this exploration, several visual themes were central to the Neusatz Project trailer:

• Neighborhood Crests: Custom-designed crests for each neighborhood in Neusatz, symbolizing its historical identity, were prominently featured. These elements add a layer of symbolism to the speculative reimagining of the city.

• Vintage Aesthetics: Sepia tones and vintage textures evoke nostalgia, which helps ground the speculative AI visuals in historical reality.

• The 1949 Map: The restored map of Novi Sad serves as a narrative guide, inviting viewers to travel through the city’s real and imagined history. In the trailer, the map’s paths lead viewers through various neighborhoods as they transition between reality and fiction.

Challenges and Learnings

As an early-stage experiment, the Neusatz trailer faced several challenges:

• Visual Coherence: One of the key challenges was maintaining consistency between the real historical photographs and the AI-generated visuals. Ensuring that the speculative elements felt natural alongside the historical content required careful attention to transitions and motion effects, enabled by Runway’s Gen-3 Alpha​

• Balancing History and Fiction: The project sought to explore how far creative freedom could be pushed without losing touch with the historical roots of Novi Sad. This required a careful balance between artistic speculation and historical authenticity.

Next Steps and Future Exploration

The Neusatz Project trailer is only the beginning of a broader creative journey. Moving forward, the project will delve deeper into how AI can be used to create interactive storytelling experiences, particularly as the project transitions into the development of a board game. This trailer serves as a prototype, exploring how the city’s history can be reimagined in new and engaging ways.

Conclusion

The Neusatz Project trailer marks an early exploration of how AI tools like Midjourney and Runway Gen-3 Alpha can be harnessed to reimagine historical narratives. While still in the experimental phase, the project demonstrates the potential for blending real-world history with AI-driven speculation, laying the groundwork for future interactive experiences where players and viewers can explore a reimagined version of Novi Sad.