Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash
AI is adding new tools that are optimizing various filmmaking processes. While it can be scary, and no one knows what the future will bring. One thing is certain about AI: it will revolutionize filmmaking. Being used to help with previsualization, writing scripts, and making editing and visual effects much simpler and more streamlined.
AI can help create more effective communication of ideas and better planning in the previsualization phase of filmmaking. Possibly even reducing production costs. During post-production, machine learning applications are already streamlining editing by automating monotonous tasks and providing insightful, creative suggestions. Overall, AI is reshaping photography and filmmaking through increased efficiency and innovative capabilities.
Likely the first thing that comes to mind when people hear about AI. ChatGPT is a tool that analyzes information and recognizes patterns from text on the internet to output human-sounding text. Filmmakers can use it to try to generate stories, scripts, and much more. I gave ChatGPT a go to try to write a short scene for me. While it sounded more human than I expected, I couldn’t get a story out of it that impressed me.
I realize that learning how to “speak to the AI” so it gives you what you are looking for is a skill. Refining your prompts takes time to master. As the power of ChatGPT and other AI text tools grows exponentially, they will, without question, be easier to use. They will provide better results, and eventually become something we no longer get to use for free. It is in the learning phase, and we, as users, are providing data to refine it.
Midjourney takes text prompts and generates images. I have been on film sets where someone used AI-generated images as storyboards, and they were very helpful, much more helpful than stick figures, but not quite as good as a proper storyboard artist. They had a uniform style and gave me, as the cinematographer, a solid idea of what the director was looking for. It also helped the art department and other departments get on the same page. The video below gives you a good idea of what Midjourney can do to make storyboards.
Whereas Midjourney is an AI-based text-to-image generator, it can have limitations. It cannot create storyboards with notes to help clue the crew into what is needed in the scene or shot. Boords.com answers this by making an AI-driven online platform designed to streamline the storyboarding process for creative projects.
Boords simplifies visual storytelling. Using it makes it easier for teams to plan shoots by creating and sharing storyboards efficiently. Boords.com is particularly valuable for filmmakers, animators, and designers, providing a space to visualize ideas, iterate on concepts, and ensure a smooth transition from script to screen.
What is there not to love about Davinci Resolve? It is a top-of-the-line editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio post-production powerhouse with integrated AI to make all these tools even more powerful.
Where its tracking and rotoscoping tool was powerful before, it has become even more so. There are also many new features that include AI to make your life easier, including removing objects from your video, voice isolation to remove unwanted background noise, which is a godsend if you didn’t get the best sound on set, and many more. Check out the video below to learn more about these AI tools.
A program I use all the time for video editing, Adobe Premiere Pro, is also in the AI game. It has added several features that will make you edit much faster and powerfully with AI tools that take seconds or minutes. Where before, these tasks would have been painful and time-consuming work that you would have to know how to accomplish yourself.
One of these tools is the remix tool, which can shorten longer songs to fit your needed time frame. Let’s say you have a 3-minute song but only need one minute of it. This tool will put in cuts that can be seamless with the right audio and cut it down to your desired length. Another tool that will surely save you time is the Scene Edit Detection tool, which will go through your footage and make cuts in the video so you don’t have to do it yourself manually. This tool will be amazing for many different types of filmmakers.
Sharing your videos on social media is essential to getting your work seen as a filmmaker. The AI site Opus.pro makes clips in different aspect ratios and gives them catchy titles. It can also create shorter clips more suited for sharing from larger clips.
Opus has active speaker detection, which means it knows how to cut a scene based on who the speaker is, saving you lots of time. There are additional features that are also worth checking out. This site can take your social media video sharing to the next level.
Suppose you need your videos to be seen by people who speak different languages. In that case, you can save yourself tons of time using the AI translation platform Blanc. Perfect for people who have courses, documentaries, educational information, and many other scenarios.
AI can be seen as ushering in a scary future where many people will lose work. While I don’t want to downplay these notions completely, filmmaking will always require people to be creative and have technical knowledge. AI can be a helpful tool for those willing to utilize it.
Whether you use it to make your storyboards more visually appealing, create pitch decks with stunning imagery, make your edits faster, track subjects in your editing software, clean up your audio, or any of the other multitude of tasks that AI can handle, knowing how to use these tools will give you a step up in the filmmaking marketplace. You still have to understand how to provide the AI with the proper information to make it work for you.
While It is still rough for certain uses, AI will eventually be something that will be used in many different disciplines and in ways we can’t even imagine. AI can help you be a more efficient, effective, and well-rounded filmmaker. Learning how to use AI is the best way to stay in the filmmaking game.
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