[By Xin Chao Guanyu Ruan Jiaqi]
"A few years ago, I once said at the Golden Rooster Film Festival that 'imagination can outrun all algorithms,' but now I have doubts. I don't know if it can still outrun them," said Zhi Feina, professor of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, during the "Huashan Swordsmanship" of the annual Science Fiction Film Week in Shanghai Film Festival. Her remarks quickly became the focus of attention at the entire forum.
Globally, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is sweeping across various industries with unstoppable momentum, and the film industry is no exception. On June 18th, during the "Future Now: International Film Industry Cooperation Forum under the Tide of Technological Change" of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival's Jinju Film Forum, a heated debate erupted over the impact of AI on the film industry, with guests presenting two completely different attitudes:
Zhi Feina, who called herself an "industry bystander," and Hollywood visual effects master John Hughes both expressed deep concerns, with the latter even throwing out the shocking assertion that "the time left for filmmakers to deal with AI is only one year"; while on the other side, Chinese directors Li Xiaofeng and Zhang Mo held optimistic attitudes, believing that technological development would promote the upgrading of the film industry and were not afraid of the impact of AI.
When the tide of technology meets artistic creation on the screen, is AI a "disruptor" that deconstructs tradition or a "catalyst" that activates innovation? The answer may be as diverse as the film itself.
The key lies in whether filmmakers can hold onto the soul of storytelling in the "turbocharged" technology, which is the unspoken consensus among the forum guests - the ultimate charm of film originates from the imaginative edge that breaks through the barriers of reality, and it should never become an "arena" for algorithms.
On the afternoon of June 18th, at the "Future Now: International Film Industry Cooperation Forum under the Tide of Technological Change" held at Shanghai Film HaoPu Smart Industrial Community.
Can a complete movie be made using AI within a year?
Not long after the forum began, Zhi Feina could hardly hide her concern, mentioning that last year she had confidently told her students, "Don't worry, the film industry won't be replaced by AI in at least five years." However, "yesterday, I talked about this issue with John (Hughes), and he gave me an answer that I couldn't accept."
Her extreme anxiety stemmed from another forum guest, John Hughes, founder of Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) and TAU Films, who told her that with the current speed of technological iteration, an AI-generated cinema-level film might be realized as soon as next year.
This change will obviously have multiple impacts. Zhi Feina pointed out worriedly that for directors with weak creative abilities, AI might evolve from a creative tool into a dominant force. When directors are instead commanded by algorithms, future films may become "ready-made dishes mass-produced by chain restaurants," safe but soulless.
The host quickly turned the microphone to John Hughes, curious about why this visual effects master, who participated in the special effects production of the opening film of the Shanghai Film Festival "The Sauce Yard Alley" and also worked on international blockbusters like "The Chronicles of Narnia" and Ang Lee's "Life of Pi," had made such a "shocking statement."
John Hughes explained that currently, AI can generate five-second videos, and the lack of precision can be fully compensated by multiple models working together. Given the rapid development of AI, technical bottlenecks will be broken within a year, leading to a paradigm revolution in film production.
"In film production applications, we can directly input the complete script into the AI system, which can automatically complete the script breakdown work. Using another AI model, we can convert text content into storyboards, and even the generation of dynamic storyboards has already been achieved."
He continued, "In the recent project, we need panoramic shots from many countries. In the past, we needed to form professional teams to shoot on location, such as some being shot in China and others going to Europe. But now, using AI graphics generation technology, we can quickly generate panoramic images from various countries, saving a lot of trouble."
He pointed out that AI will greatly lower the threshold for film production, "In the past, perhaps only hundreds of directors could succeed, but now about 100 million people worldwide can become content producers. Therefore, the competition for creative directors will be huge."
Founder of Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) and TAU Films, John Hughes
In John Hughes' view, in the AI era, people seem to think that making movies is easy, that anyone with a mobile phone can become a media personality. However, this is not due to love for film, but driven by profit.
He said that taking the example of YouTube and TikTok in the U.S., at least 30 top bloggers earn as much as 75 million yuan annually, a level of income that is quite striking compared to traditional filmmakers. Sensitive capital markets are also pouring into this new track, investing heavily just like they did in traditional films in the past.
From the perspective of technological development, this has propelled the industry forward, but as a viewer and ordinary audience, John Hughes actually doesn't like watching special-effects blockbusters; he prefers works by directors like Zhang Yimou and Ning Hao who excel in storytelling because these works allow him to enjoy the viewing process.
For this reason, he firmly believes that truly excellent films stand the test of time and attract audiences to cinemas because of their emotionally rich and narrative-focused works, and only those who are good at telling stories can achieve this.
This is also the general consensus among the on-site guests: how to stand out in the uniform content generated by AI and create touching works will be the biggest challenge facing creators in the future.
Technology may reconstruct the production process, but it can never replace the unique storytelling insight of humans.
"If there really are 100 million directors, that would be great!"
In response to John Hughes' judgment, it was mentioned during the morning's Technology Creation Unit opening ceremony and the Shanghai Science Fiction Film City press conference that Wang Hongwei, Secretary-General of the Chinese Film Directors Guild and President of the Science Fiction Committee, noted in his speech that the currently filming "The Wandering Earth III," regardless of front-stage, back-stage, pre-production or post-production, requires thousands of people working day and night to complete a film. "But now, under the current AIGC technology and the more iterations to come in the future, films may become art works that one person can complete."
"When everyone has the possibility to become a creator, image content creation may undergo a completely new revolution," he said.
The two content creators on stage—Chinese director Li Xiaofeng and Zhang Mo—had a more optimistic view. They gladly accepted the competitive challenge posed by John Hughes' "100 million directors."
"I don't think it's about whether 100 million people become directors, if 5 billion people become directors, that would be great!" Li Xiaofeng mentioned, noting that the rise of short video platforms has allowed increasingly more people to use their phones to record life and weave stories. This is not a disruption to traditional films but rather a reflection of industry progress.
He believed that even if AI completely "takes over" the film industry in a year, there is no need to worry. This might mean that the industry will welcome new opportunities, and humans will enter a more creative era. "To be honest, I feel quite happy about this," he said.
Zhang Mo frankly stated that the current film industry is mired in a "shortage" situation: there is a shortage of quality directors and good stories, and the long production cycle often leaves audiences feeling starved for movies. She sees AI technology as the key to breaking this deadlock.
"We've been in a state of supply shortage since last year and the year before. So if one hundred million directors could join this field, that would be great, and we wouldn't be short of supply anymore."
Zhang Mo envisioned that during the pre-production phase of a film, AI could preview the shooting process, accurately calculate shots, and significantly shorten the production timeline; during post-production, AI editing software could quickly generate multiple distinct versions of the edit in a short time, whether suspenseful or lyrical styles could be effortlessly created...
The application of these technologies will reduce the original production cycle of several months to two months, allowing the film market to respond more agilely to audience demands. Additionally, she expects AI to lower production costs, enabling more people to enter the field of film creation and injecting fresh blood continuously into the industry.
Director and screenwriter Zhang Mo, jointly directed the movie "Sniper" with her father Zhang Yimou
Zhang Mo also mentioned that in this highly developed audiovisual experience era, audiences have higher expectations for films than ever before, no longer satisfied with single-dimensional sensory stimulation, but putting strict requirements on plot, performance, visual effects, etc. Therefore, she hopes that technology can break through the bottleneck of creation and production, helping the film industry make a qualitative leap.
"In the past, making a movie just needed to move people, because audiences hadn't seen so many special-effects blockbusters. Even if the plot had flaws, the story wasn't perfect, but as long as the visual presentation was spectacular, it was acceptable. But now it's not enough, everything must be perfect."
She said that audiences have seen too many works, and their aesthetic evolution far exceeds the pace of creation. "I hope technology can break through this bottleneck, allowing us to push further."
Technological transformation may also change the audience's viewing experience. Kunpeng, CEO of Shanghai Interactive Digital Technology Co., Ltd., stated that compared to the previous innovation from PC to mobile internet era, the current short video era is based on each individual's personal data to precisely push relevant content, and the recommendation in the AI era will be even more personalized.
"For example, when everyone watches a movie, they can even choose what lines a certain character says, and as your choices differ, the lines will be different, and the ending of the plot will also be different."
He revealed that Interactive Technology is collaborating with Shanghai Film Group to develop the first "interactive multi-ending film," "It's hard to say whether this is a game or a film. During the creative outbreak phase, cross-disciplinary creators' exchanges and collisions can produce more possibilities."
"At present, only China and the United States have the ability to explore the field of film AI."
Talking about China's exploration in the field of film AI, Zhi Feina's confidence returned.
"I believe the country attaches great importance to this aspect. The 'Science Fiction Ten Articles' (Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films) in 2020, and the new document about virtual reality films earlier this year, we are constantly exploring," she said.
Zhi Feina said that under this top-level design, China's film industry scale has achieved a leapfrog development: from accounting for only 0.6% of global box office revenue in 2003, to a peak market share of nearly 28% in recent years, while the number of screens and audience size have formed unique advantages.
"Last year our box office results were not ideal, but we still accounted for 19%, while the U.S. accounted for more than 20%, and the rest of the countries were below 4%," she further analyzed, "This means that our scale is sufficient to support us in making more explorations in film creation and the film market."
Zhi Feina believed that currently, only China and the United States have the capability for large-scale exploration of science fiction films, VR, and AI. The national economic foundation, comprehensive national strength, audience maturity, and talent reserves constitute four pillars supporting China's core competitiveness in film.
She particularly mentioned that the proactive embrace of new technologies by mid-career directors, "Directors under 50 and younger are actively exploring AI applications," this generational vitality is a unique advantage of China's film industry.
Professor Zhi Feina of the Chinese National Academy of Arts
Facing the global changes brought by AI, Zhi Feina emphasized the necessity of international cooperation, "Since the birth of cinema 130 years ago, technological iteration has never stopped. It must be a common problem faced by filmmakers, engineers, and artists from two countries. If we act alone or act unilaterally, the speed might slow down."
As an example, she pointed out the CEPA service trade agreement (Arrangement between the Mainland and Hong Kong on Establishing Closer Economic Partnership), noting that this year, the National Film Bureau introduced new management regulations encouraging service providers from Hong Kong and Macau to invest in setting up film production companies in the mainland, which is the latest example of this open attitude.
"I am increasingly confident about China's future international film cooperation. As far as I know, there will be further openings in the future," she said.
Zhi Feina emphasized that in the evolution of film technology, AI is reshaping the boundaries of creation at an unprecedented speed, "The creative process may not be affected much, but the speed of technological iteration in subsequent production processes is already very fast."
She mentioned that American films like "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" and Ang Lee's "Gemini Man" both used 120-frame shooting technology, costing $100 million and taking a full year to complete; whereas China's own AI interpolation technology can complete the same specification frame interpolation for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" in just 5 days for $5 million, and the difference is almost indistinguishable to the audience.
She further pointed out that AI technology has fully permeated every aspect of film shooting. In virtual production studios, actors standing in front of the green screen in the virtual production studio can instantly synthesize scenes in the picture without needing to "go to the sky or dive into the sea." "Nowadays, shooting snow scenes doesn't require actors to really go to 6000 meters high, and problems like high temperatures and mosquitoes can all be solved by AI."
This "equalization of tools" allows small-budget productions to achieve blockbuster-level visual effects. Zhi Feina joked, "(With such support), let the directors get competitive, let them compete. You compete, and our audience will be happy."
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7518233899705598490/
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