Last week, Meta announced the launch of video tool “Meta Movie Gen,” marking another step toward the possibility of using artificial intelligence to make movies.
“Set[ting] a new standard for immersive AI content,” the tool generates, edits, creates sound, and personalizes videos from simple text prompts, according to Meta. This is said to be the first technology of its kind in the industry.
AI tool innovation has long prompted strong opinions from members of the media industry, particularly around questions of ethics. Similarly, discourse on artificial intelligence is prominent at USC.
Graduates of USC Marshall, the School of Cinematic Arts and Dornsife created FBRC.ai — pronounced “fabric” — a technology, information and media company that aims to help production companies, studios and creators integrate AI tools in an equitable, ethical and informed way.
Rachel Joy Victor, an adjunct professor at the School of Cinematic Arts, co-founded FBRC.ai, and addressed AI’s place in filling the gap in production workflows for low budget films. Though these models are not yet seamless enough to directly feed into the full-scale production process, they are a much cheaper alternative for pre-production visuals that usually cost thousands of dollars.
Victor thinks “there’s a lot of excitement” for these smaller production companies to benefit from the acceleration in production with these resources.
“I’m always in support of giving filmmakers whatever tools they need to open doors to bigger ideas that you might not have been able to do with a low budget,” Francesca Cappello, a senior majoring in business of cinematic arts, said. “As long as you know AI is being used to empower ideas, it’s not something that we need to be too upset about.”
The initial fear of AI’s proliferation in the cinematic space is that it will put creatives out of work. But this is not quite the reality just yet.
“We shouldn’t be prioritizing AI over human jobs, but in places where the films wouldn’t be made otherwise I think it’s a good thing,” Cappello said.
In 2023, prior to the development of Meta Movie Gen, SAG-AFTRA and WGA held strikes against generative AI replacing roles of paid writers and actors. The strike came to an end in December 2023, following the ratification of a contract with Hollywood studios limiting the use of AI.
Maurice Compte, an actor and SAG-AFTRA member, who worked on “Breaking Bad” and “Narcos”, spoke to the MIT Technology Review about the impending effects of Meta Movie Gen technology.
“It’s hurt now or hurt later,” Compte said, in reference to embracing the new technology now or having to do so eventually.
In response to general discourse on the use of AI in the entertainment industry, USC SCA has assured students that their careers will not be jeopardized. But some worry about AI’s impact on their future.
“I think USC is just [for] making the best films possible, and if that means using AI, they are in support of that. They don’t want us to fall behind AI at all,” Cappello said.
Alexandra Jewison, a sophomore majoring in the business of cinematic arts, acknowledged the benefits of Meta Movie Gen in editing and post production elements of film, while still having some concerns. yet shared her worries on the future of creativity in regards to generative AI.
“I do think it’s threatening in terms of the creative aspect of film and entertainment, because film and entertainment [come] from so many original ideas from so many different people who have had so many different experiences,” Jewison said. ”I think AI in the creation of these new ideas is taking away from the whole point of it, of cinema being a shared human experience.”
Victor emphasized SCA’s mission focused “on building the tooling pipelines that support the next generation of content production. So, that means understanding where AI fits into those pipelines.”
Despite this, Jewison and her peers feel apprehension about pursuing a career with such instability depending on evolving technologies.
“Not even just in the film industry, but in general, it’s taking away jobs from people, which is kind of scary,” Jewison said. “The whole point of cinema and watching films and going to theaters and stuff, is really about a shared human experience and having those emotions, and AI really just takes all of that away.”
Nevertheless, USC plans to put students at ease and adequately prepare them to face these developments head-on.
Victor believes that students shouldn’t worry about jobs or a workplace no longer existing with AI, but rather they should learn how to navigate and use these new technologies to their advantage.
“If you’re going in with a knowledge of how everything is changing, and you’re going in having experiments with these tools, it just puts you in a better starting position and makes sure that you have a trajectory in the changing industry,” Victor said.