BERLIN, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- What impact AI will have on the film industry?
Xinhua News Agency reporter Chu Yi
At the 75th Berlin International Film Festival held recently, German director Tom Tickwell's new work "Light" was unveiled as the opening film. An American foreign language dubbing company called "Flawless" cooperated with Tikwell to adjust the mouth shape of the actors in the movie through artificial intelligence (AI), and produced an English version of "lip shape and line exact matching", which provided a new idea for the international dissemination of the film.
Scott Mann, founder of Flawless, said that at the Berlinale, audiences watched the "original German", while North American buyers could opt for a "flawless English version". Traditional film dubbing requires the translation of lines according to the mouth shape of the actor in the movie, which may lead to "words that do not reach the meaning", but the use of AI technology can directly modify the image to synchronize the mouth shape of the actor in the movie with the dubbing of another language. "This technology is exciting for filmmakers, and it opens new doors for films that would otherwise struggle to enter the U.S. market." Mann said.
With its dual advantages of low cost and high efficiency, AI technology is accelerating its popularity in the global film industry chain. The Spanish film The Great Reset was screened at the Marché du Film Europe, the trading platform of the Berlin Film Festival. The production of this film relies entirely on AI, with all sets and characters digitally generated, with no actors or physical set involvement.
Director Daniel Torrado believes that this approach not only dramatically reduces the time and cost of filming, but also expands the visual narrative that traditional films cannot achieve. "AI is not a replacement for artistic vision or human creativity, but rather a tool to optimize the production process and allow filmmakers to focus more on telling compelling stories," Torrado said. "
However, not all practitioners are optimistic about AI. The Hollywood Reporter pointed out that in Hollywood, opposing AI seems to have become a "celebrity fashion", and many celebrities have publicly stated that they have "zero tolerance" for AI, and some films even clearly mark "absolutely no AI".
Recently, the US, UK, and Canada co-produced feature film "Brutal Pie" has caused a huge controversy due to the use of AI to optimize the starring Hungarian dialogue. Winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Feature Film of the Year earlier this year and recently nominated for 10 more Oscars, the film tells the story of a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who flees Europe for the United States after World War II.
At the symposium "Decoding the Future of Filmmaking" held during the Berlin Film Festival, Futurist Sophie Witweez, a futurist at the Institute for the Future in Copenhagen, Denmark, pointed out that AI is already widely used in all aspects of filmmaking, and its ethical implications are worrying. "AI will not only change the tools for filmmaking, but it will also reshape business models," she said. As filmmakers work more closely with AI, understanding how to use this technology responsibly and creatively will become critical. "
Guy Beyson, executive director of Ampere Analytics, believes that AI technology has penetrated into all aspects of filmmaking, from concept conception to visual effects, and filmmakers must constantly improve their skills and actively apply these tools to cope with change. Newcomers to the film industry will face many challenges in this transformation, and the key to success lies in both using AI to drive creative output and adapting to the transformation of the filmmaking model brought about by AI.
In a roundtable discussion organized by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy, MEP Emma Laforowitz said that generative AI could threaten the rights of filmmakers and cultural diversity, and that a strict regulatory framework was needed.
Tricia Tuttle, artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival, told Xinhua News Agency that although AI technology has a role in improving the efficiency of some aspects of the film industry, the festival pays more attention to conveying the emotional and aesthetic connotations of films. "For film curators, AI is just an auxiliary tool, not a one-size-fits-all solution," she said. "