Let’s talk about the good things we can use generative AI for.

Hey there! I know it’s been awhile, but you know how it goes. One project turns into another and you get hyper-focused and forget all about the blogging and the social media. I do miss the blog, though, and I would not be fulfilling my role as a communicator if I didn’t keep this thing going. Plus, ChatGPT told me it would really boost my SEO. Lol.

Anyway, you can’t go anywhere in the digital space without running into some marketing materials pushing the promised brave new world of AI content creation. Heck, I was at the hospital recently and a nurse just had to know my thoughts about AI as it relates to my profession.

I told her what I tell pretty much anyone. AI as it stands now is made for people who don’t work with imagery in any sort of skilled capacity. Like a Tesla robot, it works great in a very limited set of variables, but once you introduce it into the real world the many weaknesses show up real fast. Not the least of which is the motivations for using AI in the first place. It’s a cheap fix and it looks that way.

However, I am if nothing if not future leaning, so I can see where AI might be useful for professional imageers and creatives. At the risk of cutting myself out of a patent or something, here are a few good potential future uses. (There are some good uses out there currently, too. I’ve gotten good results with AI visual noise reduction and AI audio enhancements that simplify some real hair-pulling tasks.)

So, let us consider some near-future uses of AI which will actually help skilled creatives. I have no doubt some of these might be in development or maybe are out there in Beta. I am speculating right now, this is not a research article.

1.) REALLY Fix it in post!

Sometimes it happens you are shooting an interview and the second camera doesn’t work you for all kinds of potential reasons. Sometimes you shoot some b-roll and you realize in post that it’s a near miss, or maybe you need an angle that’s just slightly different from what was captured by the crew.

Let the AI learn from the existing footage and have it render that second angle or that slightly different angle. The generative footage will match the existing content in terms of lighting and resolution, and will be organic with the real world production.

2.) Generative AI Media Library

I’ve been on many shoots where the location wasn’t completely up to snuff due to a lack of preparation, or the weather didn’t give us the light we needed for the budget we had. Or maybe time ran out and we couldn’t get the gravy angles we had in mind.

To solve for this, an organization could spend a year building a library of A+ content that shows their work in the best light, in a variety of moods, and in a variety of styles. Using this front-end investment they would have a substantial body of work for an AI to learn from. Two years down the line, they could request a custom asset that still connects to their brand but is wholly generative. There are all kinds of ways this could mixed and matched for effeciency and creativity.

3.) Previz for Dummies

I have found great success working with clients, who forever reason, mostly chose to produce their content outside of the standard advertising agency pipeline. They see effeciencies in this approach, and I tend to agree. There are often fewer resources, but I enjoy it because it is closer to the sort of indie production I grew up with.

Unfortunately, a common problem with this approach is someone on the client-side who knows just enough to be dangerous, or fancies themself using the production to give themselves a crash course in filmmaking. These folks often have opinions, that are, well, very novice and uninformed by the realities of both production and perception.

SO! I propose an AI solution that can take the concepts these folks propose and create a shot-by-shot generative AI cinematic, like a video game, to demonstrate what these concepts would acutally look like when production is done.

If the idea turns out to be a solid start, it givens the filmmakers something to work from for the final product. If it doesn’t work, it gives the filmmaker something to refer to when discussing creative choices with stakeholders.

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Okay, that’s the end for this happy hour. Good to chat with you! As always, feel free to drop a line to discuss any of the boutique production solutions TWVS can provide.