Artificial Intelligence in Filmmaking for Solo Creators
I’m writing this article because I truly believe Artificial Intelligence will be responsible for the next Golden era in filmmaking.
AI is enabling everyday solo creators to produce movies that were historically limited to the million-dollar budgets of the film industry.
The future of filmmaking is going to pioneered by the rise of solo creators, and that’s where I’m going to focus in this article.
Of course, AI films have a decent battle on their hands with adoption, ethics, and unforeseen legal implications. But at the end of the day, when it comes to filmmaking, it’s the story that matters most.
In this article, I’ll take a deep dive into the who, what, when, where, and why of Artificial Intelligence in the filmmaking process for solo creators, and how it’s leading us to one place:
A New Golden Era of Filmmaking.
Say goodbye to film studios and hello to world class solo creators. I’m excited so let’s go. 👇
How Are Solo Creators Using AI in the Filmmaking Process?
AI can be used by solo creators throughout the filmmaking workflow. Solo creators are using AI in the filmmaking process for scripts, images, b-roll, narration, and music and sound effects.
Scripts
A good film starts with a script and AI tools are a great way to not only help write scripts, but brainstorm great ideas.
AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are two of the most popular AI writing tools amongst solo creators in the film industry to generate scripts.
Generative AI technology has come a LONG way in the last 12 months and if you haven’t used these tools yet I strongly advise you give them a go!
For any solo creator in the film industry looking to create their own movies and films, adopting an AI writing tool is usually the first point of call.
Imagery
Still images can add a unique touch to your solo film production efforts and AI tools such as Midjourney and Dall-E 3 are highly capable of creating basically anything you want.
If you want to add to your storyline with polaroid shots or other stills, these AI tools are now making it easy to incorporate AI into your video editing process.
Creators are also using AI image tools to train AI systems.
By uploading these images to the image-to-video AI tools, you can influence the first frame and therefore the visual effects of the generative AI output.
Video Clips and Scenes
AI can do some pretty amazing things, and generative AI is now capable of generating actual video clips, which is honestly going to revolutionize the film industry.
By prompting the AI program such as Runway Gen-2 or Pika Labs, you can generate short video clips about literally anything you can image.
As I touched on briefly above, a popular way to create these short clips is to start with a still image generated in Midjourney, and feed it into the image-to-video machine learning algorithms to create something amazing.
As someone who’s watched a lot of things come and go in the film industry over the years, the capability of solo creators to generate video with AI is going to change the game forever.
Narration and Voice Synthesis
Another neat trick up the generative AI sleeve is the ability to turn text-to-speech and synthesize voices.
Honestly, forget Siri.
Tools like ElevenLabs are making AI text-to-voice indistinguishable from real life human speech.
This means that solo creators in the film industry can now narrate entire movies and films using artificial intelligence.
Morgan Freeman to narrate your next short film? AI technology has made it easy.
Music and Soundtracks
What would a good film be without music!?
You just know already that AI technology is making the job of creating original music and sound effects for films a breeze.
Tools like Soundraw are incredibly easy to use and you can create custom tracks in minutes.
Another win for solo creators using artificial intelligence for movie making.
Case Studies and Examples
I thought it would be fun to take a look at some actual solo filmmakers using artificial intelligence and machine learning tools in their movie making. Let’s check out some examples of just how AI is changing the filmmaking game.
Missing Parts by The Reel Robot
Missing parts is an AI generated short film made using Midjourney and Runway Gen-2.
This film won Best Experimental at the WCIFF, September 2023 for it’s touching take on an engineers love for her dog.
Missing Parts: A dedicated robotics engineer pours her heart into creating a lifelike robotic dog. As her creation evolves, hidden motivations behind her passion are revealed.
Capitol of Conformity by Aze Avora
Capitol of Conformity is another AI generated short story make with Runway Gen-2 and Pika Labs that showcases the potential of human creativity when combined with AI.
The film features dystopian themes, unsettling visuals, and haunting sound effects. To be honest, the AI visual effects make it even more creepy!
AI Generated Short Film by Mathieu Albrand
I especially enjoyed this AI generated short film by Mathieu Albrand for it’s take on AI and how it will impact society and the world.
Rather than the usual doom and gloom end of days scenario, Mathieu shows how AI will be like a savior for humanity.
The visual effects in the short film are some of the best I’ve seen too!
Mathieu used ChatGPT for the film script, Midjourney for the images, ElevenLabs for the narration, AIVA for the music, and Runway for the videos!
Adoption, Ethics, and Copyright
Now, while I’m quite obviously bullish on the rise of AI in filmmaking for solo creators, what AI article of this style would be complete without a discussion of (the boring stuff) adoption, ethics, and copyright?
Adoption
Adoption is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to AI technology in the film industry.
The slow burn of adoption isn’t just about persuading the traditionalists, it’s about making films that are so good, they have no choice but to watch!
Honestly, with the quality of the modern film industry, it shouldn’t be that hard.
When we create films that resonate with what people want to see, the tech suddenly moves from a novel idea, to something people sort after.
As as we just saw in the examples section, this is already well underway.
Ethics
Alright, let’s address the elephant in the room, ethics. ðŸ˜
It’s the human element that makes or breaks the moral ground in using AI for storytelling techniques.
While the focus of this discussion is the art and the creative process, it’s essential to remember that AI is a tool, not a replacement for human intuition and ethical consideration.
The key is to use AI to enhance our storytelling techniques, not to offload our responsibilities as creators.
Ethical use of these tools is a must too.
The more stupid things people do, like create deepfakes for example, the harder time we’ll all have working with AI and finding adoption.
Copyright
Copyright is a tough one right now in the AI game.
The current copyright laws are way out of date as AI is providing filmmakers with new ways to create content.
With that being said, navigating the thorny terrain of copyright is like walking on a tightrope right now.
As you incorporate AI algorithms to generate scripts or music, the question of ownership is constant.
The creative process is getting a radical overhaul with these AI tools, and it’s crucial to keep tabs on how this impacts intellectual property rights.
Stay vigilant creators.
The Future of AI in Filmmaking
The future of artificial intelligence in filmmaking for solo creators is incredibly is bright.
What was once restricted to million dollar film studios, can now be done by any creative person looking to have a go at filmmaking.
By using AI to write relatable stories and generate innovative ideas we’ll no doubt see fresh perspectives on what is quite honestly a staling movie industry.
