Apr 14, 2025

Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Opened in 1971, the Plaza Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada was originally called the Union Plaza after being built on the site of the former train station. At the time of its opening it was promoted as the largest hotel casino in the world, and became an immediate icon with its dominant position at the end of Fremont Street (and now the Fremont Street Experience).

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Over the year's the Plaza Hotel & Casino has featured prominently in pop culture, from Biff's casino in Back to the Future: Part II to a memorable scene in the domed restaurant between Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone in Martin Scorsese's Casino - as well as in music videos from The Killers, The Weeknd, and U2. The Plaza remains an icon of Las Vegas, Fremont Street, and of the old school cool that makes vintage Vegas so much fun to revisit time and time again. 

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage
Carousel Bar Plaza Casino Las Vegas Downtown

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage
Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage

Plaza Hotel Casino Las Vegas Downtown Vintage



Apr 4, 2025

Generative AI & the Movie Theatre Documentary

With generative AI trending heavily this week on the back of some new Chat GPT updates, I set out to do a few experiments to see if I could learn more about the process - and hopefully, produce some hybrid results from original images that were created and restored during production of Your Cinema Needs You. 

Your Cinema Needs You




Instead of simply generating content, what I wanted to see is if I could use an archival image I restored, an illustrated image of the Monarch I commissioned, and an image I photoshopped myself into - and experiment with how those elements could be combined and fine tuned. 

Luke Fandrich Filmmaker



While the image of me in theatre was a simple Chat GPT conversion of an existing image, the wide shot of the theatre is a hybrid combining generative AI, hand drawn elements by my friend Jess, and "tests" where I photoshopped specific details of the theatre to further stylize and manipulate the results. Everything is increasingly falling into a new gray area. 

Monarch Theatre Documentary



I personally still want to work directly with artists, particularly because, even here in a simple test, collaborating with Jess is what made this fun and gave our approach a point of view. 

All that said, did I like the result? Yes. Do I still have concerns about what the future of AI means for original content? Every. Single. Day.

Your Cinema Needs You