Nelonen, Warner Bros Int’l prep true crime series using generative AI scenes

The Dark Side is hosted by Riku Rantala and Kalevi Puonti

Finnish broadcaster Nelonen and Warner Bros International Television Production are gearing up to launch a true crime series with dramatised scenes made entirely with generative AI.

The Dark Side (Pimeä puoli), hosted by journalist Riku Rantala and retired narcotics detective Kalevi Puonti, is a 10-part series that will premiere on Nelonen and its streaming service Ruutu on October 2.

The series is the first in Finland and one of the first in the world to fully use generative AI to dramatise criminal cases as part of a professionally produced TV programme.

The series is written and directed by Helena Hyvärinen and is produced by Warner Bros International Television Production Finland.

Joona Kortesmäki, chief growth officer at the latter, said on LinkedIn: “AI didn’t replace anyone here. It let storytellers show what a camera never could.”

Kortesmäki also thanked Mirko Baas, head of content at Nelonen, “for the vision to commission something nobody had seen before.”

Nelonen said the series “takes the viewer to different eras in a cinematic style that has previously only been seen in high-quality international true crime documentary series.”

The AI dramatisations in the series are directed by Juuso Syrjä, who has previously worked on Finnish-German crime drama Ivalo.

“Artificial intelligence does not replace the filmmaker’s vision, but it gives us one more new tool. In The Dark Side, it has allowed us to create visual dramatisation in a way that would not have been realistic on this scale before,” said Syrjä earlier this year.

“It has been great to be involved in learning what artificial intelligence is capable of in professional production, and to see how strong and cinematic visual material can be created with it when it is used to serve the story.”