27th February 2024

4min read

If you work in the TV & Film production industry and you haven’t heard the buzz about AI, where have you been! It is virtually impossible for me to scroll through LinkedIn and not see a post about it.

Of course, AI is bigger than just our industry, but I’m going to confine my thoughts here to its application in creative roles within filmmaking, from pre to post. Think concept artists, writers, VFX artists and so on.

First we must consider the motivation behind building AI tools in the first place. To a business whose focus is to turn as much profit as possible, the bottom line is creative artists are slow, expensive and, by nature of being human, not always running at 100% efficiency. By contrast, a computer can achieve results in a fraction of the time, they are cheap to run by modern standards, and they never get sick, tired, creatively burned out, or require breaks. So you can see the appeal.

You might read that and think “Well, bugger. We’re done for”, and I wouldn’t blame you. However… I find the notion that AI is here to take all our jobs to be a product of hysteria, driven by a fear of the unknown and a social media storm whipped up by “tech bros” and self-appointed thought leaders on platforms such as the aforementioned LinkedIn. It will likely lead to companies hiring fewer artists, but it is unlikely to be a total apocalypse. 

Our industry has revolutionised itself in innumerable ways over a century of cinema and yes, whilst many traditional jobs fell by the wayside, many more were created, adapted and progressed as technology changed. A shining example of this was the rise of computers to create visual effects, which threatened the livelihoods of practical special effects artists. Those who pivoted to learning this new technology prospered and pioneered the foundations of the juggernaut VFX industry as we know it today which threw the field wide open creating jobs and opportunities we’d never dreamed of, whilst the others jumped ship and left the industry thinking they’d never work again. We can look back now amongst a renaissance of practical effects and say this was somewhat shortsighted. 

Speaking of the renaissance of practical effects, why did this happen? Because of the ever-growing audience backlash against CGI.

But wait, if audiences have decided they no longer like too much CGI, which is created by real artists, how could they ever accept video or artwork created by AI? Surely that’s more purely CGI than, well, CGI…

This is where I pour my bucket of water on the fires of hysteria. At the end of the day, our job is to create visuals that audiences like, and I don’t see a world where audiences are content watching content mostly created by AI. At least, not in mainstream film and television. This may not ring quite so true in the land of commercials and social media. 

The jobs I feel will be most at risk are those whose end products are not ultimately going to directly end up on screen. Think areas such as previs, concept and roto. These sorts of roles will likely find themselves streamlined by AI tools, and may well evolve to the artists overseeing the AI process, generating, guiding and quality controlling. I do find myself wondering though, how AI could cope with the meticulous, often pixel-fudging, notes of a client or supervisor who might like the broad strokes of a piece of work, but just want to tweak that little thing (or ten) to bring it home. I can see this being a huge hindrance to AI and a win for real artists. This is possibly a debate for further down the line though as we get more of an idea of what, specifically generative, AI tools will be capable of.

Either way, there will still be demand from purists for human craftsmanship throughout the entire production process. Humans have been creating art and telling stories for tens of thousands of years. It is our ability to be truly creative and independent that sets us apart from the abilities of any computer. Humans connecting with other humans through these mediums have stood the test of time through every single technological advancement in history. Those who champion AI will also realise this, in their own time, the same way they realised that just because you can do anything with CGI, it doesn’t mean you should. 

So don’t jump ship. Don’t give up. Carry the torch for human creativity. 

Footnote

I use the term CGI here because that is generally how the wider public refers to the field of visual effects. However I, and those of you who also work in the field, know that is an inaccurate description and I hope you can forgive me for this minor transgression…