Ethical AI video tools for filmmakers.

Over the past few years, generative AI tools have burst onto the scene, promising to revolutionize how films are conceived, shot, and edited. From text-to-image generators that help you storyboard in seconds to AI-driven color grading suites that match cinematic palettes with a single click, AI in filmmaking offers both promise and fear for the damage it might do to employment in the industry. Netflix’s recent admission that they used AI to generate a scene in their new SCI-FI show has not done much to allay people’s fears. For first time filmmakers without access to Hollywood budgets these tools can be intoxicating. Platforms like Runway ML and Luma AI let indie creators whip up visual effects on a shoestring budget. Things have never felt more creative.

Yet beneath this creative gold rush lurks a less glamorous reality. Many of today’s AI video models are trained on vast caches of unlicensed footage scraped from the internet—raising serious questions around copyright, creative attribution, and legal liability. Filmmakers who bank on these tools can find themselves staring down takedown notices or, worse, infringement lawsuits, all while lacking transparency about where the training data came from.

This is where an “ethical AI” video model becomes more than just a buzzword. By insisting on openly licensed, opt-in datasets—and backing it up with indemnity guarantees—tools like the newly launched Moonvalley’s Marey aim to give filmmakers the legal peace of mind and creative control that every storyteller deserves.

Why “Ethical AI” Matters to Filmmakers

Moonvalley’s Marey isn’t just another text-to-video toy—it’s built on the promise of openly licensed training data, so you can create without wondering if your next clip will land you in legal hot water. In an era when other generative tools have scraped copyrighted footage (sometimes without recourse for creators), Marey stands apart by using only content from partners who have explicitly opted in and by offering an indemnity policy to shield you from takedown notices

Transparent Licensing & Creator Rights

• Exclusive, opt-in datasets. Moonvalley contracts “data brokers” and content owners to assemble fully licensed video libraries—no grey areas, no future disputes

• Opt-out & data deletion. Any creator whose work ends up in Marey can request removal. And if you supply your own footage, you can delete it from the model at any time.

• Indemnity guarantee. If someone claims Marey output infringes their rights, Moonvalley’s policy promises to have your back, letting you focus on the art instead of the paperwork

Democratizing Filmmaking, Ethically

We are all about democratizing film here at the festival so for us any tool that will open filmmaking up to the masses is worth looking into. For an independent filmmaker the biggest selling point is that it democratizes access to the top AI storytelling tools, especially for people who have long felt shut out of traditional filmmaking. It can cost hundreds of euro to rent equipment and a limited budget can inevitably end up limiting the scope of the stories people are trying to tell. Tools like Moon valleys Marley coupled with your mobile phone will help open up worlds to new voices in the industry- secure in the knowledge that every frame is legally sound.

Granular Creative Control, Guilt-Free

It’s not just about ethical filmmaking, it’s also about control. Moon valley’s Marey’s is also about giving it’s about filmmakers the tools to refine every shot:

• Frame-by-frame tweaks: Change camera angles, background elements, even lighting after generation.

• Source-footage remixing: Drop in your own clips and let Marey reframe them for new environments—from suburban roads to country highways

All without risking uncanny resemblances to unlicensed content—so your creative choices stay exactly that: yours. Behind the scenes, they’re also expanding their creator-partnership network, so the pool of ethical training footage keeps growing—and so does your peace of mind.

Takeaway: Ethics + Empowerment

The cat is well and truly out of the bag with this stuff. We even have an AI category at this point for Christ’s sake. (Something we have taken some heat on). What it’s about now is putting guard rails on it, making it fair for creatives.

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28 Years Later shows exactly how adventurous smartphone filmmaking can be. When the cameras started rolling on May 7, 2024, in the rolling hills of Northumberland, director Danny Boyle and Oscar-winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle made a bold choice: leave the big rigs behind and shoot primarily on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. Alongside action cameras, drones, and a few traditional digital and film cameras, that single pocket-sized device became the engine driving every eerie, wide-angle frame.

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A sequel 23 years in the making

Directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland, 28 Years Later reunites the creative duo behind the landmark 28 Days Later (2002). Set nearly three decades after the original Rage Virus outbreak, the film follows survivors living on a quarantined island who must confront new horrors when the virus resurfaces following a breach in their safe haven

28 years later

Why iPhones? Why not!

Boyle made headlines by shooting much of the film on iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max devices—marking the biggest blockbuster yet to fully embrace this consumer-grade format. His aim: replicate the gritty, visceral feel that made the first film so gripping. Just as the original used Canon XL-1 camcorders to replicate how people would have captured the apocalypse back then, this sequel employs modern counterparts—iPhones—to deliver a raw intensity and agile mobility across remote locations

How many IPhones did they use to film 28 Years later

At this point we have all heard about the “Poor Mans bullet time” but it truly is special. To capture key scenes, Boyle’s team used a custom rig housing up to 20 iPhones, creating an effect with simultaneous multi-angle filming. The result is a truly unique innovation allowing the edit to jump to different angles of the same shot or sweep around an arrow has it mashes into a zombie’s head. This setup, alongside compact drones allowed unprecedented flexibility during the rugged outdoor shooting in rural Northumberland.

“It’s very light, it’s cheap, and it allowed us to go to places that were very remote and bore very little evidence of human presence for many, many, many years,” Boyle told IndieWire in June 2025.

The iPhones shot in 4K/60fps, in a widescreen 2.76:1 aspect ratio. Similar to how Stephen Soderbergh deployed it in Unsane, the wide scope enhances the sense of unpredictability within the frame.

Why did Danny Boyle use IPhones to film 28 Years Later?

In interviews, Boyle stressed that the choice was not gimmicky or purely marketing-driven—he intended to evoke the same sense of documentary-like immediacy as in the first film. The narrative, set “28 years after,” called for modern consumer technology to maintain authenticity. As cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle explained, iPhones allowed lightweight, immersive shooting, with actors often handling them directly.

What is 28 Years later actually about anyway?

The narrative takes place…28 Years later after the original. It focuses on a family of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. This family includes Jamie (Aaron Taylor‑Johnson), his 12-year-old son Spike (The excellent Alfie Williams) and Isla (Jodie Comer) When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.

The cast also includes Jack O’Connell in a small role while Cillian Murphy (Jim from the original) is credited as an executive producer, though he doesn’t appear onscreen he has been confirmed as having a larger role in the second and third films in the trilogy (Thats right, it’s a trilogy which they hid in the marketing)

Was 28 Years later successful

Released June 20, 2025, across the UK, US, and Canada, the film debuted at around $30 million. With a production budget of approximately $60 million (some reports say $75 million), it grossed roughly $62.8 million, so far so good. The movie has a 7.2/10 on rotten tomatoes and an 89% on rotten tomatoes so we can expect the movie to have legs moving into the summer

What comes next? The Bone Temple trilogy

28 Years Later was shot back-to-back with its sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, slated for release on January 16, 2026. Has we mentioned Cillian Murphy returns in a supporting role, hinting at his character’s deeper importance in filming the trilogy’s final part.  Boyle steps back for this one and Candyman director Nia DaCosta takes the helm for the second installment

F1 the movie filmed with Iphones?

Find out how that movie is using custom iphones to film scenes in our other blog

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