When Roman Met Sam — A Soul Machines Original Series

Soul Machines would like to introduce an original series, When Roman Met Sam, now live on our YouTube channel!

When Roman Met Sam explores the ups and downs of the friendships between our very own Digital Heroes™ Roman and Sam and their digital friends at Soul Machines.

We sat down with Soul Machines’ Head of Conversation and Persona Design, Kirrily Denny, to get a producer’s perspective on the creative concept behind the series.

Q: What sparked the idea to create this series?

A: I loved the idea of taking a new perspective on digital characters, by presenting a completely different way of viewing them. The series is a playful way of demonstrating how fun an interaction with our Digital Heroes can be. The aim is to appeal to a wider audience by breaking the standard mold of how people imagine Digital Humans to be just chat bots with faces. Roman and Sam being digital actors shows the flexibility our autonomous animation technology can have.

Q: What do you love most about When Roman Met Sam?

A: I love that it takes a playful, humorous and occasionally provocative dig at some of the negative thinking and challenges around “digital humans”. It was also a lot of fun to explore different personalities, and how these can change the whole experience. I think everyone will be able to relate to a different character — they’re distinctly different just as we are as people.

Q: Who are we going to see featured in the series?

A: Obviously we have both Roman and Sam, meeting each other for the first time. Roman is thoughtful, caring and loyal with a dash of quirky charm! Sam is much more sassy, forward-thinking and adventurous. She loves being the centre of attention and she’s always optimistic and ambitious, which I love about her. Later in the series, we also meet Sally who brings some quick thinking and calm analysis to the situation you’ll see unfolding.

One thing you won’t see featured in the series is real humans! We’ve explored a role reversal where it’s a take on the world from the viewpoint of our Digital Heroes themselves, where humans don’t make any sense. This is why you never see them and they only ever mumble in the background — a little nod to Peanuts here, with the adults only ever mumbling in Charlie Brown’s world.

Q: Why should people watch?

It’s a fun, refreshing take on the world of Digital People. It explores the unpredictability of friendship in a digital world, and overall it’s an entertaining way of challenging current perceptions around the limitations of AI, while demonstrating the potential impact that Soul Machines’ Digital Heroes can have.

____________________

Watch When Roman Met Sam for yourself right now! You can find the series here, or watch the first episode below.