AI is infiltrating your post-production workflow.
Let’s be real: we’re all-consumed and saturated with AI, almost to a point where it’s often unclear what online content is created by humans and AI. As my teammate Kiko Toledo explored the basics and myths behind AI in a recent blog post AI 101: Predictably Unpredictable, AI is not a single all-and-powerful solution, it’s a tool that is as good as its source – and it’s often wrong.
Is AI writing this blog? No. Is it copy editing this blog? Sometimes. But even with copy edit pass that takes ChatGPT a cool two seconds to render, it often suggests a better word, but often it’s a word that’s just not what I would use or say, so it didn’t go in this post.
When you press pause on the ethics of AI – including ideals of intellectual property and human creativity – AI is a tool for digital creators, like a saw is for a carpenter. There are post-production apps like Runway.ml and Eleven Labs that we evaluate and use in post-production that are flat-out amazing. These apps can transform a layman video editor into a wizard of color correction, upscaling video quality and mixing perfect audio. Yet AI is often wrong, and the human makes the final decision on accuracy of story, clips, scenes, color, audio, captions.
Is AI taking creative jobs? You might not like the answer.
There are corners of the creative world that are quaking because of AI.
Apps are unlocking new ways to build animation and visual effects. Wonderkid @ErikdoesVFX of Norway hilariously recreated a $10M VFX scene from Star Wars in just a week using apps anyone can access. Could it be done without AI? No. Could AI have created this scene without a source? No. At the core, AI completes a task. It didn’t originate the love saga of Rey and Kylo Ren or how they came to battle light saber to TIE whisper in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Even with humans behind the concepts, ideas that make a blockbuster movie tick, there are elements that are being stripped from the creative community. One clear example is voice acting. We use AI app Eleven Labs which generates a WAV audio file from a script (called text to speech). We choose the voice based on the needs of the video – and the result is decent. The upside to tools like Eleven Labs is you can create the VO and adjust last-minute script changes without needing to hire and re-record a voice actor.
Text to speech doesn’t start with AI. Voice actors submit their voices in return for a small royalty (about 3 cents per 1K words) with the promise that AI as a force multiplier, the voice actor will realize more usage and theoretically create more payout. I think it’s way too early to understand financial impact within the creative community, but you’ll find a lot of lively exchanges on Reddit.
AI the creative equalizer
Just as high tech gave me the ability to edit short films in my kitchen twenty-some years ago, AI is powering creators to do a lot with cost-effective apps. But behind the app, you need the idea, a cogent story and compelling narrative. In feature films, AI is enabling creators to build realistic crowd shots and monsters, but AI doesn’t make a movie a good movie, that’s all up to the talent of the creator.
Next up in our AI in production series, executive producer John McDonald shares what AI apps we’re using every day and how the app ups our game and workflow.
