2021 was a year of ups and downs for all of us. Both within the global movie business and in just about every other one, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect us all and has prevented us from getting back to life as normal. All of us here at Largo hope that you made it through alright and wish to extend our best wishes for the coming year. Hopefully, we will all be back to normal in 2022.
While the ongoing disruptions caused by the Coronavirus have been very challenging, Largo is happy to announce that it has been a very successful year for Largo, both in terms of the advancement in our technology, Largo.ai, and in terms of the interest that it is generating within the global movie industry as a whole. We are proudly witnessing that Largo.ai is used by hundreds of producers around the world.
We have also shared our major activities and milestones this year. Let’s dive in to see the landmark news stories from 2021.
The year started off at full speed with a guest appearance on RTS Radio by our very own AI engineer Ilaria Lauzana. The broadcast went down a storm and helped us to reach new audiences and educate them on the use of AI in filmmaking.
https://largofilms.ch/largo-ai-on-rts-radio/embed/#?secret=yNg8JSWn96
Meanwhile, the Largo.ai blog published several articles that attempted to answer whether AI is the Answer to Hollywood’s Dominance of the European Box Office? and Who Should be the Director of Your Next Movie According to AI?
By April, the global film festival season was in full swing and Largo.ai CEO Sami Arpa was racing bank and forth across Europe and the United States in order to represent Largo in a number of exciting events.
The World’s First AI Award for Best Screenplay was presented at Ouchy Film Awards in April. The festival’s organizers asked Largo.ai to analyze a series of scripts to present an AI Award for Screenplay.
Sami stated that the purpose of the award was to “present the AI results (of the five screenplays) to the jury to see how it would affect things.”
Amazingly, Largo.ai concurred with the jury and picked ‘Impact’ (Mel L. Nieves, United States) as the winner.
Largo also attended an EFM Workshop to discuss The Usage of AI in European Movies, where Sami presented some of the findings from a MediaDesk Suisse supported initiative in which 22 European producers used our AI tools on 80 movies in the pre-production, post-production, & distribution phases.
The panel debated the findings and the enormous potential of AI to dramatically boost the effectiveness of many aspects of the filmmaking process.
https://largofilms.ch/the-usage-of-ai-in-european-movies/embed/#?secret=6n2JWdr2g2
https://largofilms.ch/what-european-producers-thought-of-largo-ai/embed/#?secret=hSWrSrjzPU
Next up Largo was invited to a workshop that was organized by Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI, The aim of this workshop was to highlight how Finnish producers would benefit from Largo’s AI technology when trying to understand trends in their domestic film market.
https://largofilms.ch/finnish-producers-met-with-largo-ai/embed/#?secret=TPdkgqNTs1
Later in the same month, Largo was back at the San Sebastian Film Festival after winning its best start-up award in 2019. Sami gave an extensive presentation to detail the advancements in the Largo.ai platform to show its increased accuracy and how European producers were getting along using it.
One example of the advancements in AI-assisted filmmaking tools or AIAFTs includes The Evolution of Artificial Intelligence Character Analysis.
The following month Largo was in Cannes demonstrating how AI can predict the next blockbuster, before heading to FEST New Directors | New Films Festival to discuss the potential of AI in the sale and marketing of films.
https://largofilms.ch/speaking-at-fest-new-directors-new-films-festival/embed/#?secret=a4o6KNhehR
Largo then visited Angoulême at the invitation of Courant3D festival team to present the implications of AI in content production with case-studies from Largo.ai.
https://largofilms.ch/largo-at-courant3d/embed/#?secret=m9G4Pj1eZx
We then attended the 5th edition of Conecta FICTION, together with Alexandra Lebret, Eduardo Carneros, Javier Fernández Fernández, Silvia Werd Elias, where Sami took part in a discussion on the use of AI in the Audiovisual Sector.
https://largofilms.ch/largo-at-conecta-fiction/embed/#?secret=GyJIxYpHIR
At this year’s American Film Market, Largo was invited to discuss how AI can be a leverage for solving the problems in casting. The event was much viewed and really helped to raise Largo.ai’s profile in the U.S movie market.
https://largofilms.ch/casting-ai-our-session-at-afm/embed/#?secret=1vtShTBmc8
Towards the end of the year, Largo took part in the MediaTech Hub Conference 2021 where Sami was asked to present his vision of Largo.ai‘s role in this age of the transformation in the audiovisual industry.
https://largofilms.ch/largo-at-mediatech-conference/embed/#?secret=cEuf6aUrZC
Last but not least, Largo was proud to become one of the award-winning companies at this year’s TechTour Alpine 2021. Other winners included Typwise, Readily3D, and Foodetective.
https://techtour.com/events/2021/10/event-tech-tour-alpine-2021.html?pageId=5576259
Last but not least, Largo closed its seed investment round.
As a result of our win, Largo received a seat to pitch in a global scene with Future22 in March 2022. We are excited about this event and look forward to attending.
While that is the main festival and awards covered, Largo.ai has also been making some big headlines both in Europe and in the United States. Aside from appearing in a number of prestigious publications including Handelszeitung and Makers magazine, Largo.ai also entered into a number of other partnerships and avenues of expansion.
https://largofilms.ch/ai-gets-creative/embed/#?secret=JmdsuEUnjg
Largo partnered with the prestigious Media Desk Suisse to offer free access to 20 selected producers and production companies to its SaaS platform. Not only did this really boost Largo’s profile in the industry but it also raised the understanding of AI and what it can do at the current time.
We were also invited to attend an event across the Atlantic by Plug & Play, the world’s largest accelerator from Silicon Valley. We completed a 12-weeks program that concluded with a summit day organized in California on October 20. The event was a great success and we wish to thank Plug & Play for their generous hospitality and the change to showcase the power of Largo.ai.
https://largofilms.ch/largo-became-a-plug-play-alumni/embed/#?secret=kMPw7MKZoY
Leaving the best for last, Largo just announced the addition of a powerful new tool to its SaaS platform that allows filmmakers and producers to apply its AI technology to help them in the process of creating commercials for the advertising industry.
After teaming up with Stories AG, Largo is proud to announce that it is now finally making available its brand new commercial analysis tool.
So as you can see, 2021 has been a very, very busy year for all of us here at Largo. While we are very proud of our achievements, we will be back stronger than ever in 2022.
2021 was a year of ups and downs for all of us. Both within the global movie business and in just about every other one, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect us all and has prevented us from getting back to life as normal.
