To create movies faster and obtain more income, the film industry is integrating artificial intelligence technologies. They allow to design graphics and teaser trailers, predict the success of future projects, select the cast of characters, and write scripts. The article reveals how AI is applied at different stages of movie production.

AI Predicts Box Office Receipts

It is important to choose one of the hundreds of film scripts that will gain the audience’s recognition and generate high revenues. However,filmmakers not always manage tofulfill this task. Therefore, artificial intelligence is applied to predict the success rate of film projects.

ScriptBook has developed the same-name system based on machine learning. The algorithm examines scripts. It defines the age, gender, race of the target audience and predicts how much money the movie release will bring.

The AI solution has already proven its efficiency. It analyzed 62 films by Sony Pictures. As the result, AI determined 22 out of 32 failed works. Besides, the software identified box office receipts of the Passengers movie with a small discrepancy. It forecasted that the film would raise $118 million, but its receipts amounted to less than $110 million.

Actually, ScriptBook does not operate seamlessly and sometimes can make mistakes. For example, the AI platform suggested that La La Land would collect $59 million, but it gathered $446 million.

AI Selects Actors

As known, actors should get into their roles, and the role should settle into actors. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger as a 1.88-meter professional bodybuilder is an excellent choice for The Terminator, a robot with supernatural capability. Just imagine Danny DeVito with height‎ of ‎4 ft 10 in (147 cm) and without appropriate physical condition instead of him. The lead character of the legendary film would hardly look brave, and the movie would not become extremely popular. Thus, the movie industry selects actors as thoroughly as possible. The search can last several months or even years. Artificial intelligence technologies speed up this process.

The EasyCast AI platform allows to perform auditions automatically. The system looks for actors according to the specified criteria for a certain role in the database at user request. The software relies on the textual image description.

AI Creates Characters

High-quality graphics and visual effects is a separate nomination of the Academy Award. Due to such tools, specialists not only draw beautiful nature, spaces, or big explosions, but also create various characters.

Digital Domain applied machine learning technologies to design Thanos for Avengers: Infinity War. Experts loaded the image of Josh Brolin’s face and mimics in the program when the actor played the insane giant. Based on the obtained material, the system produces the equivalent high-resolution image and turned source codes into the virtual character.

AI Promotes Film Projects

Like any commercial product, movies require high-end and efficient advertising. Currently, AI is responsible for such promotion.

US-based 20th Century Fox has developed the Merlin Video neural network that analyzes teasers, compares them, and finds common features. Eventually, it predicts the audience’s response to promotional videos.

Moreover, the studio utilized IBM’s AI-based supercomputer – Watson – to prepare the advertising clip for Morgan science fiction film.

Initially, the machine analyzed trailers of 100 projects and figured out what made scenes dreadful or lyrical. Afterwards, Morgan was loaded in the computer. Analyzing it, AI drew a diagram of actions, picked out scenes for the video, set up their sequence, and chose music. Then, the human being arranged received materials.

AI Produces Films

Not only does artificial intelligence help filmmakers, but the technology also creates movies on its own.

In 2018, Benjamin AI led by Google’s engineer Ross Goodwin invented a black and white short movie called Zone Out. The system was in charge of the whole filmmaking process: it generated the plot, wrote characters’ dialogues, defined actors’ emotions, as well as assembled the film, made the sound track, and selected music.

Benjamin separated segments of old films for its own projects. AI overlaid actors’ faces on necessary scenes and expressed certain emotions.

Earlier, Ross Goodwin and filmmaker Oscar Sharp created Sunspring and It's No Game using Benjamin. Artificial intelligence wrote a script for the first one and prepared dialogues for the second one. By the way, It's No Game was ranked third at the Sci-Fi London festival in 2017.

Conclusion

Nowadays, AI systems write scripts for movies that get rewards and help filmmakers to focus on successful projects. So, the integration of artificial intelligence allows cinematographers to spend less time on movie production and increase their income.