Movie Industry:
AI, the new technological evolution
This article is a declaration of love for cinema and for the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite a very rich filmography and important directors, my knowledge of the cinema of India (Bollywood), Honk Kong and China as well as Japan is light. Consequently, there are no films from these countries.
This cinema theme was chosen because of the Muse™ team's relocation close to the City of Angels, Los Angeles, and Hollywood.
Initially, the Muse™ team had long planned to publish this newsletter in February 2025.
As it happens, at the beginning of January 2025, several fires (including 2 major ones) affected the cities of Altadena and part of Pasadena (our host city). Other cities such as Pacific Palisades and Malibu were also affected by the fires.
We dedicate this article to those who died in the fires, to those who lost their homes and to those who fought the fires.
Show must go on
Before we get into the uses of AI in cinematography, let’s focus on the technical aspects of camera operation and sound recording. We will illustrate this using specific use cases.
Let's start with a little history of cinema. Cinema is first and foremost an art. The art of expressing oneself, of communicating, of making claims and of inspiring dreams. In short, human expression.
But cinema is also a product of the collaboration between human beings and technology. Above all, it's about capturing a sequence of moving images, as well as the voices of actors and actresses.
The Time Machine
The early history of cinema began in 1878 with Eadweard Muybridge's groundbreaking work—a cylinder containing a series of photographs depicting a galloping horse. This innovation came 49 years after Nicéphore Nièpce invented the camera, marking a significant milestone in visual technology.
Figure 1 - A brief chronology of technical developments in cinema.
Source: Design by Alexandre MARTIN
In 1915, the film industry was dominated by silent cinema, which was at the peak of its artistic expression. The landscape changed dramatically in 1927 with the release of The Jazz Singer (directed by Alan Crosland), the first talking picture. This technological breakthrough, particularly in Hollywood, caused a seismic shift in the film industry. Producers rapidly embraced talking pictures, completely restructuring production processes. Existing silent film projects were abandoned, and directors who couldn't adapt to the new sound technology were often replaced. Directors and actors who failed to understand or work with sound integration found themselves unemployed.
Futurworld
The evolution of visual effects took another leap forward in the 1970s. In 1972, a brief film showcased an early CGI hand representation. The following year, Michael Crichton's Westworld (1973) featured a momentary CGI visualization from actor Yul Brynner's perspective, further pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling.
Revisiting film history, much like Dorothy's journey through the Land of Oz, we arrive in 1993 - 20 years after the first computer-generated images appeared in Westworld (Michael Crichton, 1973). Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park marked a pivotal moment in cinema, particularly in the realm of special effects. While computer-generated imagery was becoming increasingly common, it was the creation of lifelike dinosaurs that truly revolutionized the industry, surpassing even the groundbreaking CGI effects of the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991).
Initially, the dinosaurs were intended to be crafted using animatronics. However, special effects maestro Stan Winston and his team found themselves unable to reproduce the complex movements specified in the storyboards. Facing what seemed like the potential extinction of his craft, Winston believed Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) CGI capabilities might render traditional special effects obsolete (Le complexe de Frankenstein, 2015). This moment epitomized the dramatic technological transition occurring in film production, where cutting-edge digital techniques were rapidly transforming the art of visual storytelling.
In 2023, the MARVEL studio (Disney) used generative AI to generate the opening credits for the Secret Invasion series (2023). Importantly, the technicians who generated the credits are quoted in the opening credits (Polygon, 2023).
Silence, and… Action!
AI is rapidly transforming the film industry, revolutionizing production processes and creative storytelling. Directors and studios are increasingly leveraging AI technologies to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and explore innovative narrative techniques. Throughout the filmmaking workflow—from pre-production planning to post-production editing—AI has become an indispensable tool reshaping how films are conceptualized, created, and distributed.
Script and storyboard
AI is revolutionizing the creative process, particularly in European filmmaking, where countries like France and Germany are pioneering AI-assisted scriptwriting and narrative generation. Film production companies are leveraging machine learning algorithms to analyze successful scripts, propose innovative plot structures, and even generate initial story drafts.
The Cannes Film Festival has become a pivotal platform for exploring AI's role in creative storytelling, positioning these technologies not merely as technical tools but as potential collaborative partners in the artistic process. This emerging approach demonstrates the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in narrative development.
A compelling example is the Belgian film Welcome Home (2018) by George Ratliff, which employed AI algorithms to structure its non-linear narrative. This case illustrates how machine learning can enable more sophisticated and complex storytelling techniques, pushing the boundaries of traditional narrative construction. CopyRetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.
Post Podruction
Visual Effects
AI has revolutionized visual effects and digital imaging in the film industry, with companies like Framestore leading innovative applications of machine learning technologies. In blockbuster films such as the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise (2012-2023) and Jurassic World (2015), AI has dramatically enhanced digital character rendering and animation processes, enabling more nuanced and realistic visual representations.
European visual effects studios are leveraging AI to advance motion capture technologies, creating more precise digital character movements that were previously technically unfeasible or economically prohibitive. This technological breakthrough allows directors to achieve unprecedented levels of digital character animation with greater efficiency and detail.
Moreover, AI plays a crucial role in film restoration, helping directors like James Cameron digitally remaster classic films. For instance, Cameron has used AI techniques to restore and convert iconic movies such as Aliens" (1986), The Abyss (1989), and True Lies (1994) from 35mm film to high-resolution 4K digital formats, preserving and enhancing cinematic heritage.
Sound and subtitles
AI systems offer significant advantages in post-production, particularly in language and performance enhancement. One notable benefit is the ability to generate subtitles in different languages without relying on human translators. This technology proves especially valuable for translating less common dialects or languages where professional translators are scarce.
AI-based tools are also revolutionizing actors' linguistic performance. For instance, the film The Brutalist (Brady Corbet, 2024) utilizes AI to refine actors' pronunciation of Hungarian words. Similarly, in Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard, 2024), AI-based tools have been employed to enhance actors' vocal performances, particularly in song sequences.
The technology extends even further, now enabling the recreation of voices belonging to deceased or living individuals. However, this capability raises profound ethical concerns, especially when using the voice of a living person without explicit consent.
Marketing
Distribution and promotion
AI is also revolutionizing film distribution and audience engagement across Europe. Streaming platforms like Netflix and local European services are using sophisticated AI recommendation systems to personalize content suggestions, dramatically changing how audiences discover and consume films.
Moreover, AI-driven marketing tools are helping film producers better understand audience preferences, predict potential box office performance, and create more targeted marketing campaigns.
In countries like Spain and Italy, smaller film production companies are leveraging these AI technologies to compete more effectively with larger studios by making more data-driven decisions about film production and marketing.
Regulation and ethics
The use of AI in the film industry raises a number of questions. First of all, there are copyright issues. Models need data (images, scripts, actors' image rights, etc.) to perfect their training. This means that models have to be trained on the basis of film footage from streaming platforms or from production studios. The problem is, who owns the films? studios? producers? directors? and what about the actors' image rights? or the screenwriters' intellectual property?
Once the models have been trained, it's their use that poses a problem. In some cases, AI is used as a fountain of youth on actors like Mark Hamill in the series The Mandalorian (Chapter 16: The Rescue, S02 E08, Jon Favreau, 2020). More recently, actor Harison Ford in the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, 2023).
But the power of AI has resurrected actors like Peter Cushing (1913-1994) in Star Wars - Rogue One (Gareth Edwards, 2016) and actress Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) in Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker (J. J. Abrams, 2019). These uses raise ethical issues concerning image rights and the resurrection of human beings, even if this remains virtual.
In addition to the power to resurrect the dead, AI also has the power to duplicate the voice of an actress or actor. In 2025, a person's voice is not protected by copyright. This means that anyone can use an actor's voice, with the actress and the OpenAI company as a case in point (Tripp Mickle, The New York Times, 2024).
In 2024, regulations are being rolled out (mainly in the state of California, USA), to regulate the use of AI in the film industry (Electronic Privacy Information Center - Risks and Risk Assessments: A Look at California's Proposed AI & Privacy Regulations, November 2024).
Conclusion
For cinephiles, the films Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952), Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950), and Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022) are good examples of the technological evolutions and transitions in the Hollywood film industry.
The films tell the story of how and at what cost (financial and human) actors and their entourages experienced the transition from silent to talking pictures.
Historically, computer-generated images have complemented scale models and animatronics. With the use of Generative AI, directors and special effects teams can make their dreams come true.
The ethical and creative implications of AI in filmmaking remain a topic of intense debate within the film community. While some directors view AI as a powerful tool for innovation, others express concerns about potential creative limitations and the risk of homogenizing artistic expression.
Despite these concerns, the trajectory suggests that AI will continue to play an increasingly integral role in European cinema.
From computational screenplay analysis to advanced visual effects and personalized audience engagement, artificial intelligence is not just a technological trend but a fundamental transformation of how films are conceived, created, and consumed in the 21st century.
The film (and animation) industry has undergone many changes over the course of its history. From the arrival of soundtracks in films, to the use of computer-generated images in special effects. As well as the creation of animated films. This industry has always been able to bounce back and use negative effects to its advantage.
Even if, at the time, these new technologies upset the people who lived with the old technologies. The generations that have lived through this transition have managed to overcome these painful moments. The special effects sector has succeeded in “materializing” their thoughts or those of the directors. In animation, the transition to the digital era has reinvented the art of drawing and making short and medium-length films.
For this reason, the use of AI in cinema will undergo a transition period of varying length. During this period, actors, directors, scriptwriters and those working alongside them will experience a dark era of fear, struggle and hope as a result of working in cooperation with AI.
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Enjoy reading!
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