In the future, a novel may be able to generate a film and television work, and the high barriers and arbitrariness of film production itself will be broken. Traditional professions such as special effects, photography, and lighting will no longer have an advantage under AI, and AI-generated videos will bring new division of labor. Humans are responsible for creativity, while AI is responsible for creation, and future film creation will prioritize concepts, perhaps not in scriptwriting, but in “writing” images.
Videos generated by Sora: A white SUV accelerates on a steep dirt road, kicking up dust.
The recent release of OpenAI’s large-scale model Sora for generating video content has sparked extensive discussion, causing significant anxiety among professionals in the film and television industry.
Zhou Hui, who has been engaged in the film and television industry for nearly 20 years, is currently the Vice President and CTO of Beijing Tiangong Yicai Film and Television Technology Co., Ltd., specializing in visual creative technology. He believes that the quality of the videos generated by Sora is impressive enough to shorten the film production cycle. In the future, a novel may be able to generate a film and television work, and the high barriers and arbitrariness of film production itself will be broken. Traditional professions such as special effects, photography, and lighting will no longer have an advantage under AI, but AI-generated videos will bring new division of labor. However, most practitioners in the film and television industry are not fully prepared for the impact of Sora.
Several film and television industry practitioners interviewed by The Paper expressed their anxiety. However, there are exceptions. Du Hongjun, Vice Secretary-General of the China Film Literature Society and founder of Screenwriter Help, believes that screenwriters and directors do not need to worry about the emergence of Sora. It is a helpful tool for achieving visual effects and can stimulate more people’s creativity. “Humans are responsible for creativity, AI is responsible for creation, and future film creation will prioritize concepts, perhaps not in scriptwriting, but in ‘writing’ images.”
Videos generated by Sora: Several giant mammoths traverse a grassland covered in white snow, their long fur gently swaying in the wind, with snowy trees and mountains visible in the distance.
Changes from development to shooting
OpenAI’s large-scale model Sora for generating video content can create “realistic” and “imaginative” 60-second videos quickly based on text prompts. It can also create multiple shots in a single generated video, accurately retaining characters and visual styles. OpenAI stated that it will provide access to Sora for visual artists, designers, and filmmakers.
周辉, who entered the film special effects industry in 2005, has witnessed the growth of China’s film box office from just over one billion yuan to more than five billion yuan for a single movie today, witnessing the continuous updates of film and television production tools. He told The Paper that the emergence of Sora is like the birth of digital cameras or Hollywood 16mm cameras, allowing everyone to create narrative images, which will have a huge impact on both the supply and demand sides of the film and television industry.
Videos generated by Sora: A woman walks on the streets of Tokyo.
Zhou Hui said that in terms of the quality of AI-generated videos, Sora’s performance is impressive enough. When these AI-generated videos are used to produce micro-dramas or super web series, the pixel quality is sufficient. Even if there are occasional flaws, they can be quickly repaired to meet the standards for real output. The lighting and shadow effects of AI-generated videos are also quite good, and these effects can be further optimized through color correction systems, which are sufficient for more than 90% of films. This has a disruptive impact on the film and television industry, improving efficiency, forms of creation, and content. The film production cycle will become shorter, costs will be reduced, and AI-generated characters will not suffer from “collapse.”
The main features of Sora are generating continuous one-minute videos, continuous videos from multiple angles, building emotional characters, and achieving seamless transitions. Du Hongjun, Vice Secretary-General of the China Film Literature Society and founder of Screenwriter Help, said that Sora may even change the development process of film and television projects. For original screenwriters or directors holding original scripts, whether it is selling scripts or financing, it may be necessary to produce an AI short film for display. The main channels for selling original scripts include submitting scripts to companies, participating in venture capital, and recommendations from acquaintances. “For newcomers, there are not so many channels and opportunities. Now that AI is so convenient, if we can use AI to create a short film that describes the basic creative ideas and styles of the story, it can be used for promotion with the script, and it can also be used to see if the story interests anyone.”
Sora-generated videos: A cartoon kangaroo dancing.
At the same time, when directors and producers participate in venture capital, the traditional approach relies on oral presentations and PPTs. “The cost of actual shooting is relatively high, at least tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of yuan.” Du Hongjun said that if concept short films are made using AI, it can avoid presentation issues. For screenwriters and directors, using AI for creative rehearsals can also save costs. In the future, the material forms of projects planned by film and television companies internally will be more diverse. “I believe that soon the bosses of film and television companies will ask planners to use AI to make concept films when developing a project. This is completely fine for internal proposal materials, and it can also be used for seeking investment and cooperation.”
Currently, the platform-centric or producer-centric model has spawned a series of visual works. In the future, a novel may be able to generate a film and television work. Zhou Hui said that the high barriers and arbitrariness of film production itself will be broken, and film and television creation can also be combined with new concepts such as Web3.0 and decentralization. Only those with artistic talent can create unique images. Some platforms may fade from view due to the influence of Sora, and new platforms will emerge. “Technology promotes equality, but the demand for film and television still exists, and there are still people who want to watch movies and create movies.” This will foster new platforms to support film and television creation and sharing, bringing extremely low production costs through collaboration between humans and AI.
The division of labor in the film and television industry will be reshaped
Several film and television industry practitioners interviewed expressed anxiety about Sora’s sudden emergence. Traditional professions may disappear due to Sora’s appearance, and new professions will emerge.
A film and television production practitioner who declined to be named told The Paper that based on the current level of Sora’s text-generated video, its impact on normal film production companies is not significant, but the impact on advertising and short videos may be greater, and it may also optimize some positions of film special effects artists.
Tang Yedi, who graduated from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, majoring in Mobile Imaging, and currently works in scriptwriting at a film and television company, told The Paper that the impact of Sora on film and television practitioners does exist, and the biggest impact may be concentrated in the advertising and television parts. Compared with movies, advertising and television tend to present visual content to achieve advertising effects in a shorter time. Generative AI can quickly solve production costs and technical issues, and Sora will update traditional shooting methods.
Sora-generated videos: In a “cyberpunk” setting, the story of a robot’s life.
Traditionally, “shooting a piece of original material requires a crew of several hundred people, including the photography, lighting, and other crew members. In the future, these will no longer be necessary. The prices and crews proposed by the past costume, photography, lighting, and equipment are not competitive under AI, so costs have to be reduced.” Zhou Hui said that once these costs are reduced and market space shrinks, related functions will migrate, greatly compressing the employment opportunities of some practitioners.
But AI-based practitioners will also emerge. If you want to shoot scenes of the American Westworld or the Republic of China period, you can directly generate them with AI, which will bring new division of labor, such as AI shooting, AI editing, AI producers, AI directors, and AI screenwriters. Zhou Hui said, “Tools will not replace people, but people who use tools well will replace those who do not use tools, and people who use advanced tools will replace those who use traditional tools. From the perspective of overall social change, there is no need for any worries.”
Sora-generated videos: During the gold rush, historical footage of California.
Future film creation is “writing” images
However, Tang Yedi said that based solely on the current level of Sora-generated video content, it cannot yet be widely used for entire commercials, and there is still a certain gap compared to real movie shooting scenes. “Audiences can distinguish which content is generated by AI and which content is the result of creators’ thinking.” She believes that AI-generated text still cannot replace the core of artistic creation.
The aforementioned unnamed film and television production practitioner believes that the main problem with Sora currently lies in the lack of vividness in character details. He also believes that the imagination and creativity of film content production cannot yet be replaced by AI.
”Humans are responsible for creativity, AI is responsible for creation, and future film creation will prioritize concepts, perhaps not in scriptwriting, but in ‘writing’ images.” Du Hongjun said that screenwriters and directors do not need to worry about the emergence of AI tools such as Sora. It is a good tool to help screenwriters achieve effects, “I even think screenwriters and directors should be happy because it can stimulate more people’s creativity.”
Sora-generated videos: A cat wakes up its sleeping owner.
However, Du Hongjun told The Paper that although Sora has surpassed AI video tools that could only generate a few seconds of content, based on the current content of Sora-generated videos, it can only maintain consistency in characters and scenes within a single shot, and the performance of characters does not meet the requirements of professional films. “That is to say, even if it is launched immediately, it cannot be directly used to produce a complete theatrical movie. We can first utilize its advantages, perhaps for making short films under 10 minutes, or for using certain special shots in feature films, which would be more appropriate for project concept trailers or IP previews.”
Regarding whether AI-generated videos can reach commercial level, Du Hongjun said that there are still difficulties at present, and the key lies in whether the consistency of characters and scenes can be guaranteed. “If this challenge can be overcome, the entire industry will indeed undergo earth-shaking changes, and everyone can be a director.”