In the film Mission Impossible: The Dead Count Part I, released on July 12, Tom Cruise must fight a formidable enemy: an autonomous artificial intelligence called “The Entity.” In Hollywood, since May, screenwriters and actors have been on strike in particular to face the arrival of the same enemy: AI. They fear that this technology will replace them in the coming years.
The concern is great in the medium of American cinema and the examples of the use of artificial intelligence in the field are proof.
An episode of South Park directed by an AI
The latest example is a fake episode of the South Park series generated entirely by an AI that created everything without human intervention: from writing to editing, but also character animation or voice dubbing.
In the episode, edited for a research project, Cartman wants to prove the superiority of artificial intelligence in the film industry. For twenty minutes, he affirms that technology is a means to increase creative abilities instead of replacing workers.
With the specialized medium TechCrunch, Edward Saatchi, the president of Fable Studios at the origin of the project, declared: “We believe that the time is right. By publishing our investigation, we hope that the Hollywood unions will negotiate very, very strongly.” protections so that producers can’t use artificial intelligence tools without the express permission of the artists.”
Last March, the series addressed the topic of AI by airing an episode on ChatGPT. It is also the AI that ended the episode by writing the end of the scenario. Then a voiceover reads the synopsis which seems totally simplistic and meaningless compared to the rest of the episode.
Harrison Ford looks 40 years younger thanks to AI
In the last Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford has been rejuvenated by 40 years using special effects using AI. The teams used images of the young actor found in the archives of the Lucasfilm production company. They were analyzed by machine learning tools to cycle through multiple images of the actor. Various techniques were used, including new software designed by ILM, the special effects company founded by George Lucas.
During filming, the crews used two infrared cameras positioned on either side of the classic movie cameras filming Harrison Ford. These two techniques combined made it possible to create a kind of “synthesis mask” on the actor, once the film was edited: images of a young Harisson Ford were modeled on his face captured in detail during filming.
Despite the complexity of the process, the digital supervisors of the saga affirm with cabling that the potential of ILM technology is limitless: “If we have enough time and resources, we can do anything.”
Voice actors about to lose their job?
On May 25, Jean Dujardin posted a message on his Instagram account to warn of the threats looming over the French dubbing industry since the recent appearance of generative artificial intelligence software. In the United States, many startups want to revolutionize the field using AI and machine learning.
The movie every time i die It has been, for example, fully dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese thanks to artificial intelligence. Advances in artificial intelligence now allow software to recreate voices with amazing precision, such as the Washington Post.
Software like Revoicer gives access, for a small price, to hundreds of different voices and, thanks to a tool based on artificial intelligence, transforms them so that they say what you want. Artificial intelligence has made it possible, in particular, to hijack the voice of actors -for malicious purposes- such as Emma Watson, whose cloned voice reads passages from My struggle.
Problem, at least for voice actors: US copyright law doesn’t protect a person’s voice, much less if it’s related to AI. Regulations that also vary from one state to another, specify the Washington Post.
Still unconvincing trailers
But not all technologies are ready yet. Especially the most ambitious, which involve creating a film from scratch. A fake movie trailer. Heidi has recently been generated by artificial intelligence, with a result that is far from conclusive. In the video uploaded to Twitter, the characters, sometimes completely shapeless, chain nightmare smiles, their faces fade, the animals look like flying oxen or even cow-sheep. Music doesn’t lend itself to the universe at all. As a result, this animated video is more dizzying than anything else.
The user behind this video explains On twitter having used Runway Gen-2, a free generative AI that works somewhat on the same principle as halfway.
For its part, Disney used an AI to create the credits for its new Marvel series, secret invasion. This is the first use of such software in a work produced by a major Hollywood studio.
Artificial intelligence in the cinema oscillates, therefore, between impressive results and some failures. In any case, it is to be expected that technology will alter the ways of making films in the coming years. This is how Sten Saluveer, director of Cannes Next, predicted it in May 2022 to France Culture: “this new technology is becoming very accessible”.
Now, instead of shooting in the desert or by the sea, you can reproduce these places very realistically anywhere. It will change the type of movies we see, the type of creativity, and it will also change the making of movies, the way they are financed or produced.
Source: BFM TV
