In traditional film making, the cut — the transition between shots — forms the cornerstone of visual storytelling, enabling filmmakers to manipulate time, space, and emotional resonance. This technique is most famously explored through the concept of montage, wherein disparate images or scenes are juxtaposed to create meaning beyond their individual components. From Eisenstein’s intellectual montage to Hollywood’s classical editing rhythms, the cut has long been integral to the ways in which narratives unfold, and audiences engage with both the emotional and thematic layers of a film. In the context of contemporary cinema, the cut is a primary means of controlling pacing, time, and viewer perception, shaping everything from linear narratives to nonlinear, experimental forms.

However, with the rise of AI, particularly in AI-generated or AI-assisted film production, the traditional technique of the cut is increasingly being replaced by the morph — a continual, seamless transformation of images, characters, and environments. In this new cinematic paradigm, the once-discrete transitions between shots are blurred into a fluid, dynamic process where transformation is constant and uninterrupted. The morph, driven by AI’s capacity for real-time generation and modification of imagery, allows for an evolving, non-linear progression where time and space no longer function as fixed points but rather as parameters that continuously reshape and evolve throughout the film.

In this presentation, I will explore how the shift from montage to morph in AI film making challenges traditional theories of editing and narrative construction. Drawing comparisons with the classical techniques of montage and the psychological and emotional impact of the cut, I will argue that the morph offers new possibilities for how filmmakers can engage with the viewer's perception of reality, identity, and time. While montage often relies on the juxtaposition of contrasting shots to create meaning through opposition, the morph privileges an ongoing transformation that is less about opposition and more about continuous evolution. As such, AI film making represents not only a technological advance but a paradigm shift in the very way stories are told and experienced on screen, ushering in an era of fluid, ever-changing cinematic worlds.

This presentation will also investigate the aesthetic, philosophical, and narrative implications of the morph, examining how AI can facilitate more immersive, dynamic modes of storytelling, where the boundaries between past, present, and future collapse into an ever-shifting present. Ultimately, the morph suggests a future of cinema where transformation is not an isolated event but a perpetual process, offering new means of engaging with time, memory, and subjectivity in a world increasingly mediated by digital technologies

Angela Ferraiolo (SUNY Purchase (BLS), CUNY Hunter College (MFA), Brown University (MFA)) is a computational artist interested in AI, narrative design, simulation, and morphogenesis. An early adopter of computational montage, her algorithmic films have screened internationally, including one of the world’s first examples of computer-driven generative montage in “Subway”, which screened at the New York Film Festival in 2011. She has worked professionally at RKO, H20 Studios, Westwood Studios, and Electronic Arts, where she led the narrative design of one of the game industry’s first MMORPGs. Solo and group exhibitions include SIGGRAPH (Los Angeles), ISEA (Vancouver, Hong Kong), EVA (London), ArtMachines2 (Hong Kong), New York Film Festival (New York), Courtisane Film Festival (Ghent), and others. She is a member of Runway ML’s Creators Program, a New Inc mentor alumni, and the co-chair of visual and studio arts at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she founded the arts and technology program in new genres.