In this new four-part series of Op de vijfde rij... (On the fifth row...) Cesar Majorana investigates. What are the advantages and disadvantages, and what is already happening in the film world? For example, he meets a young Dutch visual effects designer at the Dutch Film Academy who has devoted himself entirely to AI, and he calls a Ukrainian company that clones voices for Hollywood films (and where the employees regularly have to hide in the bomb shelter between cloning). He also interviews the absolute doomsayers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (the director duo behind seven-time Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once) and speaks to the Danish technician who built an AI for IDFA opening film About a Hero, based on the oeuvre of Werner Herzog.
Op de vijfde rij and the AI revolution
How will AI revolutionize the film industry? Many are currently wondering, but you can already sit in the cinema and watch films where AI is used, from cloned voices to actors rejuvenated with artificial intelligence. It is not a fever dream of a distant future.
Op de vijfde rij and the AI revolution
Episode 1: doomsayers and opportunists
In this first episode, Cesar speaks to opportunists at the Cannes Film Festival who believe that artificial intelligence will change their careers forever. And in Rotterdam, at the Playgrounds in Motion festival, he meets two absolute doomsayers: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the director duo behind seven-time Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. They are terrified of AI.
Op de vijfde rij and the AI revolution
Episode 2: voice cloning in Ukraine
If you’re a filmmaker who needs an AI voice, you call Kiev: Ukrainian start-up Respeecher has cloned countless voices for award-winning productions in recent years, from films like Emilia Pérez to series like The Mandalorian. The company’s young techies are doing groundbreaking work, but at the same time they have to deal with Russian bombings and power outages. Dutch actress Thirsa van Til is dealing with the other side of the AI medal: as a voice actress in America, she sees how her job has already changed radically.
Op de vijfde rij and the AI revolution
Episode 3: the filmmakers of tomorrow
What do future filmmakers think about AI? At the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam, we meet Guus Frijns, a visual effects student who wants to specialize in AI. He is convinced that artificial intelligence can take many time-consuming tasks off your hands, although his work has actually become more complex. ‘We make it harder... so that we can make things that have never been made before.’
Op de vijfde rij and the AI revolution
Episode 4: Werner Herzog does (not) exist
‘A computer will not create a film as good as mine in 4,500 years.’ That’s what iconic filmmaker Werner Herzog said in an interview a few years ago. Polish filmmaker Piotr Winiewicz read that statement and thought: well, we’ll see about that. He fed artificial intelligence all of Werner Herzog’s films and books, and the script for the completely unique film/documentary About a Hero rolled out, which opened IDFA in Amsterdam in November. In this final episode, Cesar talks to both the director and the young Danish machine learning expert who built the AI: Esbern Kaspersen. Can AI really be creative? And how do you actually work with artificial intelligence?
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