The greatness of films is not just in being entertaining, but in being human and containing humanity. In a narrow sense, films should be about stories, stories of humans. On a deeper level, films should be the spiritual interrelation between the human souls in the audience and those on the screen.
Technological development has completely transformed the world. Hi-tech creativity and innovation are what people like to flock to like ducks. “FOMO” (fear of missing out) is a common psychological phenomenon . In the movie world, there is nobody not affected by the trend.
In terms of editing and special effects, AI technologies have been used for a long time. AI even starts to take up the task of scriptwriting. AI can also be adopted for “voice cloning” i.e. matching the original’s tone, pitch and lip movements for seamless video localization and imitation. Voice artists will soon lose their jobs.
AI is able to generate 2D and 3D animations without any more manual skills and supports. It is shocking that at the moment, AI manages to create computer-produced digital actors of human likenesses. A pretty AI actress “Tilly Norwood” is very popular and this raises the grave concern from many actors in Hollywood.
Now, it’s the animals’ turn. Sony’s famous AIBO Dog is well liked on the internet. The animals in the 2024 movie The Wild Robot(荒野機械人) were AI-generated. The responses from the audience were extremely enthusiastic.
The trade union of Hollywood artists condemned the prevalent trend of adopting artificial intelligence in movies and said, “Creativity is, and should remain, human-centred.” and “We are opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics. It devalues human artistry.”
Recently, there is a film Good Boy (夜汪汪心慌慌) (2025) about a dog and a ghost. This horror movie tells the story from the perspective of a loyal dog named Indy, that can sense any force of evil. He tries to protect his owner from a malevolent spirit haunting their new home in the forest. The chief character in this film is the dog and the faces of other human supporting roles in fact can hardly be seen. Also, the camera angle taken for cinematography is that of the animal. The quirky film, starring chiefly a dog, has been a significant success. It has become one of the high-grossing films with strong box office and critical acclaim, praised for its creative concept and innovative technical execution. Many believe that the lovely and adroit dog Indy is actually a result of AI engineering!
“Actors never retire but they just get less and less work.” Actors these days are worried that AI-generated actors, or “metahumans”, will steal their roles. The career future of acting is undergoing a huge transformation. The way that an actor is discovered, cast and marketed is changing rapidly. In the light of AI threat, how can today’s actors stay ahead of the innovative AI technology to remain artistically and economically relevant?
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