Today's tentpole VFX pipelines are labor-intensive, time-consuming and expensive, while AI promises to produce the same but much cheaper and quicker with a smaller team.
Barbara Ford Grant, Media Advisor, Consultant, and pioneering VFX and creative technology executive set out to prove the merits and weakness in this argument.
Studios working on $100 million or above productions have been in a really sweet spot, but now they're taxed with having to make something that is a substantially better experience than their competitors because they want to get audience into theatres, but they have to do it a lot cheaper. They must get the cost down and the premium up.
Ford Grant told attendees at the recent HPA NET Roundtable in March, Cinematic storytelling is still a human creative process of writing, visualizing, planning, shooting, and executing, and then doing post, but you can weave AI tools throughout that entire process to create huge efficiencies.
With the 2023 strikes, Ford Grant found herself with extra time. Taking advantage of that unusual circumstance, she decided to make a short film to explore the possibilities and limitations of AI filmmaking.
I'd been working on machine learning R&D for about 15 years, but once generative video tools like Midjourney came out, I wanted to play around with them unencumbered by the studio system.
Under the banner of BFG Productions, she developed, wrote and produced a 22-minute film, Unhoused, on a shoestring $40,000 budget. The majority of the budget was used to shoot the production traditionally with real actors on location with a union crew.
Then we used AI tools to see how far above our weight we could punch in post and VFX.
Turns out, pretty far indeed.
With Daniel Kramer, VFX Supervisor, FX Artist, Head of CG, her partner on the project, they shot for two days, then used Gaussian Splatting and AI to create a third day's shoot on an LED stage at Lux Machina.
Of the 60 VFX shots, only four were entirely AI-generated. The rest used a real-time pipeline and conventional software like Houdini, Nuke, Maya and Adobe Creative Suite augmented with AI techniques for animation, FX, fluids and so-on from Adobe Firefly, Midjourney and Runway ML among others. Kramer used PostShot and LumaAI to create 3D Gaussian splats from multiple still photos captured with a DSLR and iPhone. Those splats were loaded into Unreal and displayed in realtime on an LED wall for a virtual production shoot.
Some of these tools saved them time; others did not, due to the lack of maturity and early iteration of the new technology. We set out to ask a number of key questions, says Ford Grant. What level of production value could we achieve? What size team did we need (how low can you go ) and how fast could we go?
Ford Grant and Kramer each have 30 years of production experience but haven't been at the coalface of creating shots for some time. Aside from some complex composites involving HDR and 3D tracking, they found that they were able to complete 80% of the work on Unhoused themselves.
AI Challenges
Overall, it is mind-blowing what can be done, she says, but there are many gaps where human expertise will be required. A key one is that productions need control over every aspect in isolation.
Most tools are limited in resolution and quality, Grant says. For example, often they aren't 24fps and only 8-bit color. Many tools rely on prompts which are imprecise for control. Multiple takes with the same prompt produced very different results. Reference images, depth maps, roto mattes and 3D models are better inputs to guide AI more directly.
Many of these shortcomings are actively being worked on and new models are released daily to give better control and consistency to the outputs.
In fact, there are a couple shots I'm going to go back and redo because the tools have advanced in this short space of time and now I do have more control over the outcome.
The power and accessibility of AI tools promises to democratize the entire creative process meaning, that anyone can potentially create content with A-list production values. On the other hand, studios could also use these tools and simply cut the artists out of the loop.
Ford doesn't think either extreme is true. It still takes a lot of understanding, taste and expertise by humans to get the best outcomes. Fully AI-generated material may look okay' superficially, but it wouldn't make it past a review at a studio. You have to know what good' looks like. You have to know what you're looking for and, when you get painted into a corner, how to solve it another way.
She believes anyone with experience of production, particularly those with an animation or VFX background, should excel with AI tools.
They're going to go a long way into production with a lot less people.
Studios, however, will need to employ more creative talent, not less, if they want to succeed with AI.
Studios are likely to hire emerging AI studios (such as Secret Level, Asteria and the Russo Brothers' AGBO) which are embracing these tools in order to negotiate productions at a lower cost.
AI should be a golden time for authoring, directing and imagining content. That said, the further away you are from being the person who decides if a shot or a piece of content is good enough the more likely it is that your job is at risk.
I encourage people to learn these tools as quickly as possible. AI can be a really great collaboration tool. Use them to create novel and inventive things.
Rights management will become even more integral to the creative and business process. Ford advises artists to digitally fingerprint their work to control access and verify a breach of their IP.
Artists need control over their data, she says. Depending on how extensive your librar
More from Hollywood Post Alliance
30/04/2025
By Joyce JC Cataldo
The media and entertainment industry is evolving faster than ever. Technology is shifting the way we create, distribute, and experience c...
29/04/2025
Today's tentpole VFX pipelines are labor-intensive, time-consuming and expensive, while AI promises to produce the same but much cheaper and quicker with a ...
27/03/2025
The California Production Coalition (CPC) is bringing together businesses and organizations from across the entertainment industry to protect and strengthen fil...
27/03/2025
Creating not just a whole new fantasy adventure world but one fantasy adventure world per episode was the herculean task set by Taika Waititi, Iain Morris and J...
28/02/2025
The 30th anniversary of the HPA Tech Retreat may have just concluded, but the co...
28/02/2025
Since its inception by the Women in Post committee in 2016, the YEP program has spotlighted rising talent in media and entertainment. Each year, a select group ...
03/02/2025
As it heads to its estimable 30th anniversary, the HPA Tech Retreat continues to add one-of-a-kind programming to its schedule. The HPA Tech Retreat committee h...
28/01/2025
The countdown to the 30th anniversary of the HPA Tech Retreat is on. In just a few weeks, from February 16-20, 2025, the media and entertainment industry's ...
28/01/2025
As we go to press on this newsletter, two weeks have passed since Los Angeles experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history-impacting lives an...
07/01/2025
The HPA Tech Retreat Supersession committee has announced that the highly antici...
20/12/2024
HPA Award Committee co-founder Carolyn Giardina was in New Zealand recently and had the opportunity present the Outstanding Visual Effects - Live Action Feature...
20/12/2024
On its 30th anniversary this year, one constant of the HPA Tech Retreat is its unique and consistently engaging programming that goes hand in hand with unparall...
20/12/2024
Seth Hallen had been on the board for seven years before being named president i...
18/12/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has released additional programming details for the highly anticipated 2025 HPA Tech Retreat in Rancho Mirage, Cali...
05/12/2024
The highly-anticipated 2025 Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Tech Retrea...
21/11/2024
The HPA Awards exist to honor and recognize the accomplishments of the talented HPA community and to support their efforts with increased awareness and celebrat...
21/11/2024
Joyce JC Cataldo joined the HPA team as a full-time member in 2020, following a successful collaborative stint at SMPTE - HPA that began in 2017. From the ou...
20/11/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced that Joyce JC Catal...
07/11/2024
The HPA Awards honored trailblazing talent in the post production industry, celebrating standout achievements in color grading, sound, editing, restoration, and...
29/10/2024
In an industry that thrives on creativity, technology, and collaboration, emergi...
29/10/2024
Byline: E.L. Hall
It's that time of year and Rotten Tomatoes has just posted its 10 Scariest Horror Films list. Have any favorites or notice any omissions?...
29/10/2024
Recognizing outstanding editing in film and television,
the 75th Annual ACE Edd...
03/10/2024
The HPA Awards Committee today announced the nominees for the Creative Categorie...
26/09/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced that Kari Grubin will take over as president on January 1, 2025. Grubin will be the first woman to le...
26/09/2024
IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) is one of the world's leading events for the media, entertainment, and technology sectors, bringing together pro...
25/09/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Board of Directors has announced th...
29/08/2024
As previously announced, FotoKem is set to receive the prestigious Charles S. Swartz Award from the Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) this year at the an...
29/08/2024
By Adrian Pennington
During the spectacular Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, before the performances of Celine Dion and after Lady Gaga, ten sup...
29/08/2024
Perifery , a division of DataCore, has today announced the launch of its comprehensive workflow solution that seamlessly integrates storage, asset management, a...
22/08/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards committee has announced this year's recipients of the coveted HPA Award for Engineering Excellence. The ...
01/08/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) Awards Committee has announced that FotoKem will receive HPA's prized Charles S. Swartz Award at the 19th HPA A...
30/07/2024
The traditional approach to filming chimpanzees in the rainforest is to use a relatively large camera and a very long lens, but Oscar-winning director James Ree...
29/07/2024
By Adrian Pennington
The potency of AI has swept our industry into a riptide of uncertainty. Instead of letting inevitable change wash over us, we have the cha...
27/06/2024
By Alyssa Heater
Sarah McGrail is a powerhouse in visual effects, with over twe...
03/06/2024
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) and the HPA Awards Committee are excited to announce that submissions for the 2024 HPA Awards are now open. Entries...
23/05/2024
As the 2023 HPA Awards were taking shape last year, in the aftermath of the pand...
23/05/2024
By HPA Staff
The call for submissions for the HPA Engineering Excellence Awards is already open, and closes soon on June 14; but the submission period for crea...
23/05/2024
By Christine Purse
One of the most compelling discussions at the 2024 HPA Tech Retreat happened off stage with no audience present. After hours, while the room...
01/05/2024
QTAKE, the leading video assist and on-set collaboration software trusted by professional filmmakers worldwide, launched a new cutting-edge feature at NAB 2024....
01/05/2024
In HPA's ongoing focus on providing input and insight from city and county g...
01/05/2024
HPA Newsline had the opportunity to speak with Caleb and Shelby Ward, founders of Curious Refuge. Caleb and Shelby were participants in the 2024 HPA Tech Retrea...
23/04/2024
Submissions for the 2024 HPA Engineering Excellence Awards are now being accepted. This renowned accolade recognizes and celebrates innovation and outstanding t...
29/03/2024
QTAKE, the leading video assist software trusted by professional filmmakers worldwide, is proud to announce the release of its latest software update, introduci...
29/03/2024
By: Alyssa Heater
The 2024 HPA Tech Retreat, now in its 29th year, showcased a program chock full of presentations, panels, and roundtables spanning a wealth o...
29/03/2024
Launched in 2006, the HPA Awards were designed to honor the creative and technical genius that power our industry. At that time, the behind-the-scenes talent th...
05/03/2024
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has joined forces with the Interoperable Master Format (IMF) User Group (UG), a worldwide...
29/02/2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer in high-performance...
29/02/2024
The industry is at breaking point in the midst of seismic change but it can survive if stakeholders act collectively starting now, urged Jeff Rosica, Presiden...
29/02/2024
This year, I believe we are starting a new chapter, actually an entirely new pla...
Today's tentpole VFX pipelines are labor-intensive, time-consuming and expensive, while AI promises to produce the same but much cheaper and quicker with a smaller team.
