NEW DELHI: When Arfi Lamba’s recent film had a scene with a family stranded in a cable car high in the Canadian mountains, a tight budget prevented travel. But the shots were still made, as he turned to a new filmmaking partner: artificial intelligence.
The only part of the film that was shot abroad ended up being the mountains. And even those were filmed in a cheaper location — the Italian Alps.
“The footage was treated like American mountains and Canadian mountains. If we had no AI, the footage would not have worked. We had to fill the mountains with more ice,” Lamba said.
“We shot the entire film in a studio in Mumbai.”
Visual effects cost much less with AI. When Lamba’s friend was engaged in a project to make a street in Budapest look like it did in the 1930s, using AI cost a fraction of employing a visual effects team. It also saved the producer the time of obtaining shooting permits.
“In VFX to do that thing would have cost a minimum 15,000 ($17,000) to 40,000 euros to clean that set ... With AI-powered VFX, they actually did it for 1,500 euros. This is the amount of work that has gone down. The cost that has gone,” he said.
At his Bombay Berlin Film Production studio, Lamba was already observing how this part of the film industry was gradually becoming redundant. As he expands his studio’s portfolio, he is focusing on AI-enabled options.
“We are not looking at cost-heavy artist-driven VFX, because we know that’s not the way we will invest — we’ll never be able to make profit out of that,” he said.
“The VFX industry is struggling ... So many VFX artists who have done that job earlier and taken that money, are out of business.”
AI can also do dubbing in every language, streamline processes for assistant directors, and help in those where machines are used, which will result in further job losses. But Lamba was certain that the key aspects of cinematography could not be replaced because of human unpredictability, emotions and flaws.
“There are a couple of films being made totally by AI characters. Their trailers look excellent, but when you watch the film, you get bored within 10 minutes ... They start looking the same, they start sounding the same,” he said.
“If people get more dependent on AI, they will lose business. People will move away from them. People are trying to detox a lot from Instagram ... All of that is happening because humans crave authenticity.”
The use of AI by the Indian film industry, and especially Bollywood — the world’s largest — is not a surprise, as filmmakers and big production houses have been moving in this direction for years.
Two of the biggest Bollywood studios, Eros International and Jio Studios, have been preparing for AI for at least a decade, according to Ranjit Kumar, who started in Bollywood as an editor some 15 years ago.
“They were well advanced, they were doing their own research, or they were basically prepared for it,” he said.
“Eros International has wrapped up their traditional business from conventional filmmaking and they have shifted to AI wholly. They can see the future where there are possibilities.”
Observing these trends, Kumar has also reskilled himself to avoid being left out in the industry. He now runs HyperCog Technologies, a startup that makes AI tools used in filmmaking to help save money and time.
He told Arab News: “Our AI product suite is designed to reduce production inefficiencies, human error, unconscious bias in creative evaluation, and the risk of greenlighting unsuitable projects.
“By identifying script inconsistencies, continuity issues, editing inefficiencies, and story weaknesses early, our tools help filmmakers avoid mistakes that can lead to expensive production delays, reshoots, and budget overruns.”
Kumar added: “What we’re seeing today is only the tip of the iceberg of AI’s potential in filmmaking. Most current AI solutions focus on automating individual tasks, but filmmaking is an interconnected creative and production ecosystem.”
He estimated that a third of all costs could be cut as AI tools are incorporated into the filmmaking workflow and they continue to be developed. What was currently available was just some 10 percent of AI’s potential, he added.
“So, 90 percent of the possibilities are still there. That will change the industry in the next five to 10 years,” Kumar said. “When those tools will come into our industry, then you can see a drastic change.”
But not everyone is convinced that AI will completely alter the rules of the trade.
For Sudhakar Eklavya, a screenwriter known for his work in Hindi cinema, that will not happen as long as people can still appreciate ingenuity and look for stories that are beyond the average and not generic.
“A script coming out of the wisdom of a creator is unique and creative. AI lacks that uniqueness. AI can produce good scripts, but it cannot be unique,” he said.
“Now you have many options: you can use a good prompt and can have 20 different scripts for the same scene ... If you get a good prompt, AI can give you a good script, but that would not be a great script.”
