Can AI unlock the creative power of humans? Perspectives from filmmakers and 's Vice President of Creative
There's no debating it, AI isn't going anywhere.
While there is a legitimate discussion about whether AI will take over editors, writers, as well as concept creators, a majority accept the fact that AI is inevitable and are now considering its capability to transform how work is being completed.
In Cannes, I heard opinions from artists like will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas fame discuss the ways in which AI will transform the world in the next 10 years. The majority of discussions centered around the way that AI has been rapidly unlocking the potential of the potential of people and their influence on creativity.
Being a creative director for 20or more years, I decided to express my thoughts and use this opportunity to start an open dialogue with the community.
What's the state of affairs, and how do we move forward to get there?
This is what AI is able to do right now.
"I was a magician before I became a film maker. Very quickly, once you're a magician you discover that the most advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. It can even be terrifying if you don't know how it's working or the process. This is the way I feel with AI being an artist or other businessperson who makes money the thoughts that are inside your head onto the paper or monitor, AI is a scary issue because it may replace you." Ben Proudfoot, Oscar-winning short directories, found and CEO of Breakwater Studios
Humans are naturally creative. It's a quality that AI can't easily replicate.
Midjourney went live in July 2022, and ChatGPT followed close behind in November of the same year. In the time since, we've observed self-described "non-creatives" unleash creative ideas that have been left untapped because of skill gaps.
Certain of these inventions are impressive and the tools have evolved so rapidly, you'd be forgiven if you've forgotten the fact that they're only 1 year in age.
AI helps you convey ideas
The concepts of nuanced pictures, stories or even music have been constrained by the methods and skills needed to bring those ideas to fruition.
However, in the last year, such images can be made with the use of a couple of simple keys:
Experienced creators such as Oscar-winning filmmaker Hashem Al-Ghaili the opportunity is higher.
Take a look at his AI-generated short film " Last Stand," which depicts how humanity might react if extraterrestrials were to make contact.
"AI will make us think about issues in ways we never thought to think about," says Crystal Edmonds who is the head of accounts as well as Events Activation of Magnet Media Films. "I believe that it's going to make us think. It will teach us things that we never even knew we really wanted to learn about. It's likely that you'll see people just unlock another level of creativity through AI."
For instance, Staff Pick winner Paul Trillo's short film "Thank You for Not Answering."
Instead of trying to achieve realism the designer deliberately aims for the dream-like look that's inherent to Runway's Gen-2. "As a man [that] leave a voicemail for someone from his history, he's overwhelmed with fragments of his fading memories and imagining a future that could have been."
A true artist He's adjusted to the limitations and strengths of his medium in order to make an original piece.
AI is a great tool to validate your concepts
While the examples above are wonderful of how AI can be employed to convey the artistic perspective, AI for commercial use is, at this stage an unproven gimmick.
Check out this artificially-generated beer commercial. This is a product from its time and could not be considered to be a legitimate advertisement if run as a legitimate advertisement.
However, it does offer more than sufficient information for a concept to managers far better than a moodboard sketch or elevator pitch ever could.
Thanks to generative AI technology it is no longer necessary to depend on your words to create a visual for 10+ individuals: instead, you can utilize a description prompt to create the ideal sizzle movie, animatics or pre-visualizations, to convince viewers to buy into a vision.
What is that a signification for today's creatives?
Begin to learn how to create an effective request for AI.
"I believe that the next generation will upskill into the technology that is in our arsenal and will begin making use of generative AI both in visual and written media," says Orlando Baeza the Chief Marketing Officer as well as Chief Revenue Officer of Flock Freight. "I am actually convinced that there is lots of opportunities for job growth here, but it will need to be a process of upskilling the current workforce, and then this next generation will join and evolve the process."
AI can save valuable production time
Nowadays, videos take approximately two to three weeks from beginning to end However, AI is speeding this process, allowing producers to create more original content and giving production folks more time for work which requires a focused effort.
"I think one of the biggest problems within the industry of film is the cost to create a film. It's an extremely high bar of the entry required to create a film and one of the special things about the process is that it makes film making more accessible to everyone," continues Baeza. "So if AI as well as machine-learning tools could help a person with limited resources, to achieve broad audience, it's certainly a good thing, right?"
AI is already making videos easier to produce by automating processes like editing, transcription, personalization, and planning. In particular, adding or removing items from the background of videos has been an arduous, lengthy process and does not require Adobe's Geneerative Fill tool.
"I think organizations will see AI as productivity and efficiency improvements," says Baeza. "I believe that AI will be incredible partners and could be part of innovative organizations."
This is what AI can't help you with
AI will not help when you become viral.
Machine learning works by crunching previously-used data and analyzing the patterns of what it previously consumed. In the example above, an generative AI tool can come up with a beautiful image of a blue cup, based on the thousands of images it has taken of blue cup.
It's not about copying what's worked before It's the process of framing ideas differently and putting a fresh twist on an old idea or establishing a connection no one else has previously made. The way Steve Jobs famously said:
"Some folks say that you should give your customers what they want, however that's not what I do. Our job is to know what they're going to want before they do. It's my opinion that Henry Ford once said, 'If I'd ask customers what they wanted I would have gotten the fastest horse. They don't understand what they're looking for until you present the item to them. The job of us is to understand things that are not yet on the page." Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple
Creativity is a mix of art and science, and AI excels when it comes to the science aspect of the equation.
Certain formulaic, repeatable best practices which we employ in the field and that AI can reproduce, for instance the rule of threes or making use of large fonts when promoting sales. However, to date, AI isn't able to remain forward-looking. It can't account for virality or identify the new and innovative approach that consumers will appreciate.
Creatives have good news. Create your own unique concepts, and then utilize AI to assist in bringing your ideas to life.
AI isn't able to replicate the creativity process
One of the great benefits of creativity is that -no regardless of how precise your idea is, the idea develops a personality of its own as it's developed. Every person that touches your idea brings their own ideas and perspectives to it, which means your final product will have a quality to it that you couldn't have predicted.
The film editor I collaborated with once said, "You might have shot your storyboard, but the storyboard has no value now -- I'm going to utilize the footage I've got." Although everything was done as per the storyboard, a film editor could highlight certain details or alter items in a manner that differed from your initial strategy.
Presently, I'm not able to see a way for AI to duplicate the creative process in that method.
AI doesn't possess a distinct artistic perspective it can add to the process in the same way that the video editor. So, even if AI is utilized in the process of creation -for example, to help speed the process of ideation and editing humans remain a part of the creative process.
Be curious and keep an open mind
It's a fact that AI will accelerate our ability to share our ideas, and it's a catalyst for the next generation of creatives to come out and do feats we would've never dreamt of. If I had to capture this moment in words that would describe the moment, it would be excited and nervous, because this is the first time that we've seen it in a lengthy time, we're gazing towards the future.
Really though, I'm just one man, with one collection of ideas and thoughts. I believe we must continue exploring the possibilities with playful curiousity, and keep an open-minded mind, and continue the dialogue.
So, I'm curious -Where do you stand? Which are the ways you're using AI currently, and where do you think it's taking us?