This article traces a research arc from analogue investigations of the Lebenswelt to the emergence of AI Cinematic Realism. It shows how Kracauerian tropes migrate across media, shifting realism from indexical redemption of physical reality to synthetic emotional plausibility while preserving phenomenology as the core method and evaluative standard.
The Emotional Truth of Synthetic History: AI Cinematic Realism in On This Day… 1776
AI‑generated cinema isn’t a degraded imitation of film—it’s a new mode of truth built from emotional plausibility, not photographic capture. This essay uses On This Day… 1776 to explore how synthetic imagery challenges assumptions about realism, showing how plausibility, authorship, and machine texture reshape what feels convincing on screen.
Realism Without a Trace — an excerpt from AI Cinematic Realism
This essay traces the historical link between cinematic realism and the photographic trace—from the Lumière brothers to Kracauer and Bazin—then examines how AI-generated images rupture that foundation. It argues that AI cinema replaces indexical truth with plausibility, reshaping how realism and trust are understood.