Secret Level

It's been an insane week for us at Secret Level. First, we’re honored to be named?Ad Age’s Production Company to Watch for 2025! In just over a year, we’ve been pushing the boundaries of AI-driven filmmaking, and this recognition is a testament to the hard work of our incredible team. https://lnkd.in/gQS-UfbF Next, we just launched Mandingo, a fully AI-generated, Blaxploitation-inspired music video for Wu-Tang Clan & DJ Mathematics, crafted using Google Veo 2. A wild mix of 1970s NYC grit, kung-fu cinema, and cutting-edge storytelling—this is just the beginning of a much bigger world. OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO: https://lnkd.in/eYukJ9pq And finally, Satanizer—an AI-driven interactive experience for Ghost—has officially launched. Fans can insert themselves into the band’s latest video and get “Satanized” using generative AI. https://lnkd.in/g2dTSAMZ Exciting times ahead. Huge thanks to our team, partners, and collaborators! Full credits below. ?? MANDINGO Director/Editor:?Jason Zada Writer: Jason Zada /?Nate Atkins Producer:?Monica Monique AI Assist:?Federico Velez AI Assist:?Joe Rubalcaba Face Swap / Deep Fake:?Sanjit Juneja VFX:?Matt Petrocci Color:?Ale Amato SATANIZER Creative Director:?Jason Zada Producer:?Monica Monique Tech Supervisor:?Brian Jeremy Kupetz Technology: @DarwinStudios

Fantastic podcast featuring Jason Zada and many other legends!

We are proud to announce our involvement in the documentary, Free Leonard Peltier, premiering at Sundance! ?? Using generative AI, we created re-enactments of the infamous 1975 shootout, ensuring historical accuracy while adhering to Archival Producers Alliance (APA) guidelines for the ethical and transparent use of AI in storytelling. We were honored to collaborate with Public Square Films and the incredible directors, Jesse Short Bull and David France on this important documentary. #Sundance2025 #FreeLeonardPeltier

Hit up Jason Zada or Eric W. Shamlin if you're at CES tomorrow through Wednesday!

Happy Holidays from Secret Level! We’re proud to share that we created Coca-Cola’s holiday commercials using cutting-edge AI technology, with contributions from over a dozen talented artists from around the world. Check out this behind-the-scenes look at how their creativity brought this magical campaign to life. #SecretLevel #CocaCola #HolidayMagic

The holiday season brought us Sora this year & it… underwhelmed. But then Google revealed Veo 2 & it… “made THIS”! But, notably, NO IT DIDN’T (totally). Jason Zada of Secret Level did, USING Veo 2 (the new undisputed “king of video”, & as the apprehended protagonist of this short film (~90 secs) proclaims at the end). The continuity, physics, direction & overall asthetic are certainly impressive, with much credit going to the model itself (Veo, by Google DeepMind); but it was Jason’s creativity, superior prompts, PATIENCE (this is the result of thousands of generations, so many prompts & hours!), ability to master & leverage the tool/s. This could accurately be thought of as A.I.-in-the-loop creation or human-in-the-loop generation. To ensure that 2025 isn’t the year of reputation-killing, business-impacting, terrible deep-fakes — especially now that tech like this exists — we need next-gen verification tech. Good news! For the holidays we’re getting that too, it’s called VRFD?. I highly recommend checking them out. This text-to-movie technology will only be as good as the humans promoting it, just like the music industry. Yes, Suno is INCREDIBLE — even as a human musician, songwrite & recording artist myself, I am proud of some of the songs I’ve “made” there (or that it’s made “for”/with me) using their A.I. engine alongside my creativity, direction, creative & original lyrics as well as my patience as well. This is truly what I believe we humans need to get right. Technology could potentially render us unnecessary & obsolete, but then who will the observer & consumer be? Also, who would be the objective judges of what’s good & what’s not in the absence of humans is a worthy ponderence. I just published the newest issue of Tech For Good LinkedIn newsletter last night (100% written by me, human Cory, & I touch on AGI (it’s here), some of my predictions & reflections heading into 2025c check it out here, if you’re so inclined: https://lnkd.in/dzpr6fJM. I’m honored & humbled that in its first 6 months it’s already going to cross the threshold of 200K subscribers before the year end. WOW - thank YOU. All of you, & you personally, from my heart & soul. This short film, “The Heist”, was made with NO VFX, post-production, clean-up or color-correction. This labor of love is a fun watch, & telling for much of what’s to come in the coming year in general, as well as from Secret__Level (they’re awesome). Also, speaking of 90-second videos, everyone reading this should know Ashwin Krishnan & his show here StandOutIn90Sec. I also love, in descending time-stamp order, the documentaries 60 Second Docs makes, & I often record 30 second videos of myself & upload them here using hashtag #valuein30. I wish YOU & all of yours a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, a blessed Kwanza, Festivus & new year ahead! #techforgood #ai #aimovies #happyholidays #agi #veo2 #sora

Happy Holidays!

Thank you, Tim Nudd and Ad Age for the Editor's Pick!

Today, Eric W. Shamlin joins Secret Level as our first CEO. Eric and Jason Zada have known each other for over a decade, and when it came time to find someone to lead Secret Level into the future, we couldn’t think of anyone better for the job. Eric’s entire career has been at the intersection of Hollywood, advertising, and tech—which is exactly where Secret Level has always been heading. As we continue to grow, build a massive slate of original IP, continue developing our next-gen technology platform, and raise our first round of capital, we couldn’t be more excited to go on this journey with him. Big things are ahead!

Jason Zada will be speaking at Ad Age's Emerging Tech Summit on Tuesday morning (11/23) at 7:55 am PST / 10:55 am EST. He will discuss how generative AI video creation is transforming production with Garett Sloane. RSVP (for free). Link in the comments.