Google’s AI video tool Flow powers films recreating Middle East strikes and Ukraine war scenes
Two filmmakers just dropped Midnight Drop, a 12-minute AI-generated short showing a US stealth bomber flying towards Iran while a fictional woman feeds stray cats amid Tehran rubble. The catch—none of it was actually filmed. The woman doesn’t exist. The scenes were fully produced using AI tools including Google’s Flow, powered by its Veo3 video model.
The filmmakers, Samir Mallal and Bouha Kazmi, used Flow and other AI models like OpenAI’s Sora and Midjourney to quickly turn news reports into cinematic footage. It’s part of a new wave of AI “cinematic news” that can create complex visuals almost instantly—work that would have taken millions and years before. 
Mallal previously made Spiders in the Sky, a two-minute AI short recreating a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian bombers, in just two weeks. Unlike traditional filmmaking, AI lets him experiment rapidly and dial in shots and lighting with ease.
Richard Osman, TV producer and bestselling author, weighed in last week:
“So I saw this thing and I thought, ‘well, OK that’s the end of one part of entertainment history and the beginning of another’.”
“TikTok, ads, trailers – anything like that – I will say will be majority AI-assisted by 2027.”
Mallal calls it “prompt craft”—mastering how to tell AI what to create. He wants to prove top-quality creative work can be done fast, matching the speed of culture and news cycles.
The launch follows Google’s Flow releasing in May and sparking a spike in AI-made YouTube and social media videos. Some of the output is nonsense, but others already show real quality and promise. Mallal aims to finish Midnight Drop by August, tripling the length of Spiders in the Sky.
This surge highlights growing copyright tensions in the UK. The government wants to let AI train on copyrighted material unless the creator opts out, which has sparked pushback from creatives demanding fair compensation.
Beeban Kidron, crossbench peer campaigning against these proposals, said:
“AI film-making tools are ‘fantastic’ but ‘at what point are they going to realise that these tools are literally built on the work of creators?’”
“Creators need equity in the new system or we lose something precious.”
Meanwhile, major studios like Netflix have quietly started using AI in their shows. Advertising firms predict AI will create 100% of brand content soon.
Mallal’s work exposes the new reality: AI can make complex, news-driven films overnight without a single camera.
Watch Midnight Drop here:
And Spiders in the Sky:
