Synthetic media, a term I came across and that sparked this post, is a catch-all term for AI generated or modified media that includes image and video. Filmmaking is not immune to the prevalence of AI, entire movies can be classified as “synthetic media”, and we are seeing the industry change and adopt new AI tools and the opportunities they present for writers, directors and the film studios. What follows are some of the ways AI is impacting the film industry and is by no means a complete list:
Synthetic media: Movies are already full of AI generated synthetic media including images, videos, audio and text and have become core to CGI and synthetic speech. Flawless can map an actor’s face and seamlessly create their lines in their voice in other languages with uncannily matched mouth movements. It is also being used to remove profanity from scenes to enable a movie to be rated PG-13 versus R.
Scriptwriting: Similar to content generation in other industries, AI platforms like ChatGPT, Writer and Frase can generate new story ideas and even write entire scripts from provided text. Beyond writing the script, ScriptBook uses AI to analyze a script and predict its box office success.
Shot selection: AI is also being used to assist shot selection with tools like Cinelytic analyzes a script and suggests the best camera angles/shots for each scene. This is an efficiency that potentially saves filmmakers a lot of time and effort. And money.
Special effects: CGI has been used in movies for decades, but AI is making it possible to create even more realistic and convincing special effects. DeepMotion is an AI tool that can quickly auto-animate characters to a user’s prompts that are more “believable”.
As in many, many other industries all of this does raise questions about the role of AI technologies in the creative process, but all of these tools still require a human in the loop and are more focused on efficiencies. However, AI generated creative assets are another matter. “Creative” is potentially one of the biggest categories to be/or that has already been disrupted by AI. Is AI generated content creative? Is it art? Does it matter?
John Schneider
I have always been an early adopter. Ideas, concepts, technologies and methodologies, learning and testing these is a personal passion. This puts me in the unique position of usually having perspective, POV and experience with this newness before everyone else. I use this to both my and my consulting clients advantage. Let me show you.