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The author of this article is the writer @胖到笑干饭不如看电影

In the past two years, there has been quite a stir in the film and television industry due to AI.

From writers' strikes to face-swapping, AI seems to have boosted movie productivity, but it's also brought controversy. While the debate over AI has yet to be settled, the first original feature-length film produced by AI is ready to hit the big screen.

Recently, the AI-generated original movie "Generative AI Implementation Field" (generAIdoscope) released a trailer.

The film contains three independent stories. The script was written by three Japanese directors, Otsuichi, Tsuyoshi Jugene, and Hiroki Yamada. The pictures, sounds, and music are all generated by AI. It is scheduled to be released in Japanese theaters in 2024.

Could it be that the era of AI movies is really coming?

In fact, if you look back carefully, this is not the first time that generative AI has challenged feature films.

Earlier this year on March 6, an AI movie called "Our T2 Remake" held its premiere in Los Angeles.

The film is based on the popular "Terminator 2" and was completed by 50 creators using a variety of different AI tools.

In the original work, the artificial intelligence villain "Skynet" that is dedicated to destroying humanity and ruling the earth has been adapted into OpenAI, the current leader in artificial intelligence development. The film is a hodgepodge of images of different styles, incorporating/moving many nonsensical plots and characters.

Of course, this spoof-style AI remake of the movie is not primarily oriented towards artistic creation. It is more like a performance art, the purpose of which is to explore the possibilities and limitations of artificial intelligence participating in filmmaking with the most intuitive images.

In terms of production, it is also a "remake" based on the original movie content, and cannot be considered an "original" work of AI.

But from "Our Terminator 2 Remake" to "Generative AI Implementation Field", from the basic composition, light and shadow, color coordination, to the imitation and reproduction of different painting styles, the static images generated by AI have been getting closer and closer to human aesthetics.

Thanks to these technological advances, AI has been widely used in various fields of film and television production.

For example, the TV series "The Cases of Judge Dee in the Tang Dynasty" used AI to restore the Tang Dynasty architectural complexes in ancient documents and books, and nearly 20,000 AI digital buildings were used; the science fiction short film "Star Thread" attempted to introduce AI drawing into virtual shooting, providing new ideas for the interaction between real-life shooting and AI scenes.

The Cases of Judge Dee in the Tang Dynasty

The creation of film and television music is also undergoing a technological upgrade. With the help of AI music generation tools, you only need to enter keywords such as music style, lyrics content, and timbre to quickly generate music clips with lyrics and beats.

Gareth Edwards, the director of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", tried to use AI to imitate the style of music master Hans Zimmer when composing the music for his new film "AI Creator".

AI Creator

Although the crew finally invited Hans Zimmer himself, the AI ​​experiment also achieved good results: even if it is far from being comparable to the master, artificial intelligence has demonstrated outstanding creativity close to the industry average.

"Our Terminator 2 Remake" recreates the popular characters of the original in the form of AI: T-800 played by Schwarzenegger, Sarah Connor played by Linda Hamilton, Little John played by Edward Furlong...

With the help of AI technology, cloning such digital twins becomes simpler and easier.

In order to create a younger version of Will Smith, the special effects team of Ang Lee's "Gemini Man" conducted three full-body scans of the actor, even down to the mouth and teeth, and it took two years just to capture the motion frame by frame.

Nowadays, the involvement of AI has greatly simplified these work steps.

Last year's "Indiana Jones 5" used AI to recreate Harrison Ford's younger appearance, while the recent "Legend" used AI to "generate" a 27-year-old Jackie Chan, but it also attracted controversy.

Compared with "Gemini Man", which was produced with complicated production processes and polished frame by frame, the difference in presentation effect after the AI ​​​​renewal is still quite obvious, but the significant improvement in production efficiency after the addition of AI is unquestionable.

But saving time and effort is not the only pursuit of film and television creation, which is why the use of AI is still full of controversy.

"The Wandering Earth 2" used AI to create Wu Jing in his early 20s, and also used AI to restore the young voice of teacher Li Xuejian. It was basically accepted by everyone and there was no complaints.

However, the AI-produced title sequence for Marvel's "Secret Invasion" was accused of "slandering creation" and was embroiled in controversy as it came amid a Hollywood screenwriters' strike.

Secret Invasion's AI-generated opening credits

So can AI make movies? The answer is that it is still difficult at present.

"Our Terminator 2 Remake" is at most a PPT movie made up of static pictures, with almost no scheduling and camera movement, not to mention satisfying the pursuit of logical depth and narrative art of a feature film.

But technological limitations are only one aspect, and this is even the smallest limitation faced by AI. The iteration of new AI tools is much faster than we imagined. "Our Terminator 2 Remake" has not yet been released, and the AI ​​creation tools it uses are already outdated.

The biggest problem facing the implementation of AI+movies lies outside the virtual space.

First, there is the issue of AI infringement. Whether it is the copyright dispute at the level of large companies, or the infringement of personal privacy and portrait rights caused by deepfakes' random face-changing, it has become an area of ​​widespread controversy.

On the other hand, the competition and ecological deterioration brought about by the use of AI have also made many practitioners "feel a sense of crisis". Hollywood experienced two major strikes last year. In addition to the salary conflict, the anxiety of having their jobs taken away by AI is also a very important driving force.

We may see countless AI "pranks" and spoofs on the Internet today. From the initial creation of videos based on keywords or pictures to the ability to "expand" videos today, the potential of AI is indeed amazing. However, as a technical tool, AI still has a long way to go before it can replace humans in original creation.

Generative AI Implementation Areas

Some research institutions predict that large model training will consume all available data between 2026 and 2032. However, humans have endless imagination and the ability to draw inspiration from the vast world. This inherent creativity that does not rely on data is difficult for AI to match for the time being.

Generative AI Implementation Areas

As for movies, whether it is "Our Terminator 2 Remake" or "Generative AI Implementation Field", it is still more of a way to bring us inspiration and freshness, rather than a purpose.

After all, in the field of film, the most important thing has never been the picture and special effects, but the story, creativity and humanity.

Note: Some of the pictures in this article are from Douban and the Internet. If there is any infringement, please contact us.