Simon Crofts, client services director at Big Button, considers how AI is transforming the video production process.

You can’t ignore artificial intelligence and machine learning. Whether it’s the predictive messaging on phones, or our car driving itself on the motorway, it’s already affecting us all on a daily basis. Making use of it in the creative industries can be controversial, but if done well has the potential to be hugely powerful.

Generative AI could raise global GDP by 7% (almost $7 trillion) and lift productivity growth by 1.5 percentage points over a 10-year period - Goldman Sachs, 2023.

Big Button is a leading global strategic video agency. For a while now, we’ve been using AI to improve the quality and effectiveness of our clients’ video content, as well as to introduce production efficiencies. We’ve had great success with this approach, including being shortlisted at the Lens Awards! The technology is progressing at an incredible pace and harnessing it — while navigating some of the issues that go with it — can be challenging. 

AI is influencing all elements of the video production process. For example, in pre-production, it’s helping with schedules, storyboards and scripts. At the production stage, AI can help gather or improve footage, while in post-production it’s helping to enhance video and audio, even creating content from ‘scratch’ with generative AI.

We can now ‘fix’ pretty much anything. We’ve used AI to remove noise in the background of interviews, removed employees from shots if they’ve left the business, and added dialogue to films when contributors have said the wrong thing. On one project we’ve even created a lifelike avatar to deliver business updates to the market rather than filming the person in question every quarter. Of course, all of this is done with carefully developed processes to maintain an honest approach to corporate communications, ensuring that those involved are fully aware of the implications of these new technologies.

Some of the benefits of using AI include:

• No need to reshoot when we can ‘fix it in the edit’
• Enhanced audio and video quality
• More efficient production
• Reduced budgets
• Generative AI to create new and exciting content

As with any new technology there are important considerations. Who owns the IP of the content you are making? Where is the data stored, and is it secure? Ethical considerations often come into play too, especially now that we can invisibly change an interviewee’s words, and even fabricate entire films using ‘deepfake’ avatars.

But it’s worth remembering that the human element is still so important. If you ask Google the wrong question it won’t find what you’re looking for, and AI is exactly the same. AI tools are only as good as the data they’re given, so if you misuse the tools or input bad data, then the outcome will be at best disappointing, and at worst completely inappropriate.

Using AI to enhance what we do, and adapting our skill set to employ AI tools more effectively than our competitors is becoming an essential part of most industries, not just video production. We recently hosted a seminar on AI, and attendees were excited to hear about how AI is changing things. What was clear was that everyone is keen to embrace AI, but naturally wary of the pitfalls. 

In terms of the future, let’s leave the last word to AI…

AI and ML are still in the early stages of their development, but they are already having a significant impact on the video production industry. As AI and ML technologies continue to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative and transformative applications in the years to come – Bard, 2023.