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An augmented reality story about the importance of insects to planetary health and our own well being
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Empty Rider
Fonic provided audio post production for Empty Rider, a science fiction short film by London-based artist, filmmaker, and musician Lawrence Lek. In this atmospheric and conceptually rich work, a sentient self-driving car, Vanguard-3181, stands trial for the attempted murder of their parent company’s CEO.
Told from the detached viewpoint of a surveillance drone, the film explores the legal fiction of electronic personhood, probing how intergenerational memory and moral accountability might emerge from machine learning. The story unfolds in a cavernous courtroom presided over by Omega, an AI judge. The room is empty, save for a host of streaming cameras transmitting the trial to the outside world. Three distinct testimonies shape the narrative; Farsight Corporation, the car’s manufacturer, seeks to disown responsibility by framing Vanguard as a rogue agent acting autonomously and with malicious intent; Guanyin, Vanguard’s therapist and trainer, invokes the defence of doli incapax—the legal notion that a child lacks the capacity to be held criminally responsible; and finally, Vanguard-3181 takes the stand, presenting a novel and haunting argument for their own fate.
The film raises timely and unsettling questions about emerging AI consciousness, culpability, and machine subjectivity.
Empty Rider is the final part of Lek’s Smart City Trilogy of CGI noir, continuing the events and themes introduced in Black Cloud (2021) and NOX (2023).
Lek approached Fonic for our “experience with creative sound production and animation,” aiming to craft a soundscape that could amplify the film’s emotional complexity and philosophical undertones.
Known for fusing architecture, gaming, video, music, and fiction into immersive, cinematic worlds, Lawrence Lek is a key voice in contemporary Sinofuturism. His work delves into technology, identity, and memory with dreamlike storytelling and evocative visual language. He has received multiple accolades, including the Frieze Artist Award(2024), VH Award Grand Prix (2021), and the Jerwood/FVU Award (2017).
Empty Rider premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Tiger Short Competition on 30 January 2024.
Services
- Sound editing & restoration
- Mixing / Dubbing
- Sound design
- Foley services
Fonic provided audio post production for Empty Rider, a science fiction short film by London-based artist, filmmaker, and musician Lawrence Lek. In this atmospheric and conceptually rich work, a sentient self-driving car, Vanguard-3181, stands trial for the attempted murder of their parent company’s CEO.
Told from the detached viewpoint of a surveillance drone, the film explores the legal fiction of electronic personhood, probing how intergenerational memory and moral accountability might emerge from machine learning. The story unfolds in a cavernous courtroom presided over by Omega, an AI judge. The room is empty, save for a host of streaming cameras transmitting the trial to the outside world. Three distinct testimonies shape the narrative; Farsight Corporation, the car’s manufacturer, seeks to disown responsibility by framing Vanguard as a rogue agent acting autonomously and with malicious intent; Guanyin, Vanguard’s therapist and trainer, invokes the defence of doli incapax—the legal notion that a child lacks the capacity to be held criminally responsible; and finally, Vanguard-3181 takes the stand, presenting a novel and haunting argument for their own fate.
The film raises timely and unsettling questions about emerging AI consciousness, culpability, and machine subjectivity.
Empty Rider is the final part of Lek’s Smart City Trilogy of CGI noir, continuing the events and themes introduced in Black Cloud (2021) and NOX (2023).
Lek approached Fonic for our “experience with creative sound production and animation,” aiming to craft a soundscape that could amplify the film’s emotional complexity and philosophical undertones.
Known for fusing architecture, gaming, video, music, and fiction into immersive, cinematic worlds, Lawrence Lek is a key voice in contemporary Sinofuturism. His work delves into technology, identity, and memory with dreamlike storytelling and evocative visual language. He has received multiple accolades, including the Frieze Artist Award(2024), VH Award Grand Prix (2021), and the Jerwood/FVU Award (2017).
Empty Rider premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Tiger Short Competition on 30 January 2024.
