Georgia can be seen on many movie screens and plays locations such as Hawkins, Indiana, from “Stranger Things” or Wakanda, the home of Marvel’s Black Panther.
And as artificial intelligence technology becomes more prevalent in the entertainment industry, productions in Georgia could utilize new techniques that filmmakers could only dream of in the past.
AI systems could automatically translate an actor’s dialogue into foreign languages, adjusting the actors’ mouth movements to match the spoken language while preserving the original voice and vocal performance. Directors could even use AI to remake classic films without hiring a completely new team, said Frank Patterson, CEO of Atlanta-based Trilith Studios, at a hearing of the Georgia Senate Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
“When my son was younger, he didn’t want to watch a black and white film, and he didn’t like the old language and the old sound,” he said. “We can change that now with these new AI tools. For the studios that have libraries of content – I didn’t want them to remake ‘Willy Wonka,’ the 1960s version. But they remade it. We should have just used the AI technologies to make the story more contemporary, right?”
Creating or modifying a movie in this way can cause a flood of problems related to copyright and privacy laws.
Republican Senator Ed Setzler of Acworth questioned what fully digital actors and sets could mean for mega-franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and “The Lord of the Rings.”
“Think about how much actors’ salaries are compared to what would have happened if they decided, ‘Hey, you know what, we’re going to launch the entire MCU without actors. We’re not going to deal with their schedule and their problems, they like to drink Diet Pepsi on set.’ All of those things for people could just disappear because we’re just manufacturing them.”
“Then you have to go to the set, I’m thinking of the Lord of the Rings films,” he added. “They went to New Zealand, had this incredible setting. If you said no talent, no New Zealand, then today we will do it completely in the studio. How much does that cost?”
Filmmakers are already using a process called “virtual production” to create virtual environments that can compete with real-world locations, Patterson says, but artificial intelligence is still a long way from being able to match the brain of a talented actor.
“The reason Robert Downey Jr. gets the paycheck he gets is because there’s something going on in his brain, God help him, there’s something going on in his brain that makes him react the way he does, that makes us really like him and love him and connect with him, and we’re a long way from achieving that,” he said. “I’d love to tell you I can save X million dollars, but that’s not going to happen.”
While ChatGPT is unlikely to land a starring role anytime soon, directors have long used the technology to create huge crowds for sports movies or massive armies for battle scenes. Studios have libraries of nondescript faces based on real people, raising questions about supporting actors or extras.
“We’re going to create people that don’t exist,” Patterson said. “So I’m also stuck in the situation of I want extras and all these great Georgians that are in movies to be able to get $100 and watch a movie and enjoy it, and we’re actually showing real Georgians. If the cost gets too high, we can just put a lot of people that don’t exist digitally in the background and we’re not violating anyone’s rights, but we’re hurting the actors overall. So this is a battle that we don’t have an answer to right now, but I think there should be clear protections from the state on how to use images and likenesses publicly and license them accordingly.”
Committee Chairman John Albers expressed interest in a Tennessee law as a possible model for legislation in Georgia. The ELVIS Act – short for Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security – is designed to protect a person’s voice from misuse and hold companies liable that provide tools that could reproduce a person’s voice or image.
Members of Congress from both parties have proposed legislation to protect people from non-consensual digital reproductions, but there is plenty of room for state regulation, and Georgia’s film industry could benefit from outdoing other states, said Julie Feagin, CEO of Atlanta-based FilmBook Media.
She cited as an example a proposed law in New York state that would exclude productions from the state film tax credit if they use AI in a way that displaces a flesh-and-blood worker.
Georgia’s film tax credit is one of the most generous in the country.
“I can give you an example. They say they want a fake actor as a stunt double because they’re afraid a real stunt double or a real actor might get damaged or injured during the actual creation of the scene,” she said. “They want a fake actor. But then people argue, no, you’ve done that in the past. You can use a stunt double. Then they lose the tax credit, even though they’re trying to protect their talent.”
“So there’s an opportunity because the studios are saying they want to leave New York,” she added. “They could come to Atlanta. So there’s an opportunity to pass a law that says you can use a synthetic double or perform or use a digital double, but then you’re going to license the use of a real person here in Georgia, so the money stays here in Georgia.”
The Senate AI Committee is scheduled to continue meeting through December before the legislative session begins in January. A House subcommittee on AI is scheduled to meet Thursday at the state Capitol.
