British microdrama app TattleTV has used artificial intelligence to adapt Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 film The Kid into vertical video.
The company used its in-house AI technology to adapt the film into a vertical format. Rather than simply cropping the original frame, TattleTV’s process intelligently reimagines and extends the image, reconstructing top and bottom visual detail to preserve the integrity, composition, and emotional intent of Chaplin’s original work. The result is a format that feels native to mobile viewing while remaining faithful to the spirit of the film, said the company.
“The Kid is not only a landmark of cinema history, it’s a deeply moving, captivating experience that still resonates today,” said TattleTV CEO Philip McGoldrick. “By reimagining it in vertical we’re opening the door for a new generation to connect with Chaplin’s extraordinary work.”
Speaking to TVBEurope for our April issue, McGoldrick described the process the company used to turn Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog into a vertical drama.
McGoldrick used Luma AI to cut the 98-minute feature into short vertical video episodes. The technology places the original film onto a 9:16 canvas and then hallucinates the top and bottom edges. “We then used our in-house AI systems to streamline the process,” he explains. “We have an option to deconcatenate the footage into reels, and then reframe it. Deconcatenating is almost like splicing a film.”
The Kid is available to watch on TattleTV in the United States.
