Artificial intelligence technology was used this year to film scenes, epics, and wars in inaccessible places in the series “The Assassins.” (social media sites)
Between saving the situation and employing modern technology, artificial intelligence technologies stormed the Ramadan race this year, opening new windows on the possibility of these technologies dominating the world of the visual effects industry and eliminating human capabilities away from the arena, and although the step of using artificial intelligence technologies in the drama industry did not... Although it was new after its makers took the reins of the first experience last year in the Mayor series, it remarkably dominated most of the series in this year’s race.
Techniques that revive the dead and go back in time
Journalist and art critic Samia Ayesh told Al Jazeera Net that a few years ago, the death of an actor before performing all of his acting scenes in a Ramadan series was a catastrophic issue that put the creator of the work in front of a major dilemma. Either he found a director who weakened the scenario, or he canceled all the scenes of the deceased actor and re-created them. Filming the roles with another actor, but today the solution exists and is available, which is what happened in the Egyptian series “We Stayed Two,” as artificial intelligence techniques were used to complete the role of the artist Tariq Abdel Aziz, who passed away last November while filming his scenes in the work, before they were completed. .
This year, artificial intelligence technology was used to film scenes, epics, and wars in hard-to-reach places in the “Assassins” series, and the makers of the “Haqq Arab” series used deepfake technology to show the heroes of the work in the form of young people’s ages, unlike their real ages, which is a technology used for the first time. The first is in Ramadan drama, and artificial intelligence researcher Shehata Al-Sayed defines it as one of the artificial intelligence techniques, which is used to produce a video or completely modify its content to show something that was not originally in it.
In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, Al-Sayed said that the creators’ resort to deepfake was primitive and the viewer was not convinced by it as a result of the apparent errors, despite the existence of better techniques for controlling the image, but the road is still in its infancy and we still need to work more on employing artificial intelligence in a way. Professionally by relying on specialists to come up with scenes that are more convincing to the audience, but we cannot deny that it is a good step for the Arab public to get used to it and begin to be convinced by these techniques, stressing that next year there will be greater employment, professional and convincing industry, and higher adoption rates in the manufacture of visual effects and perhaps virtual characters. Replace the actors.
Ayesh agrees with the idea that the use of artificial intelligence techniques in the field of drama making is still in its infancy and in the testing stage, but she believes that in our Arab world we have not reached the point where its techniques completely replace the actor or artist, but rather its use this year has been limited to adding some improvements or... Overcoming some things that are difficult for humans to do, audio and visual effects makers can benefit in the field of dubbing through smart technologies, she said.
In our Arab world, we have not reached the point where its techniques completely replace the actor or artist (Getty)
Does the viewer lose his enjoyment?
Opinions vary regarding the use of artificial intelligence in the drama industry, as one side believes that this is based on keeping up with technological developments at a time when its use has reached its peak in most areas of life, while the other side believes that employing smart technologies spoils the audience’s enjoyment of watching, so how can technology provide A human dramatic work that includes feelings, sensations, interaction and excitement, far from the human element.
You tend to agree with the first opinion, as you see that the talk about the inability of these technologies to present roles with feeling, energy, and interaction is illogical, because the world has become in front of sophisticated and advanced technologies that are capable of impersonating any character and presenting them professionally, despite their high cost in the short term, but in the short term they are Long will prove to reduce cost versus traditional use.
Ayesh justifies the second point of view, saying that there are millions who do not watch dramas because the story is beautiful or the place is wonderful. An important part of watching the work is that such and such star plays a role in this series, so artificial intelligence may not be able to overcome this idea because when watching the series Ideas form in the viewer’s subconscious that this actor is a human being with a life and achievements, and I can see him somewhere or take a picture with him. Artificial intelligence may not be able to overcome the fact that millions of viewers are waiting for a star, no matter who this actor is, who presents his role through technology. The viewer will still feel the lack of the human spirit.
In addition to all this great hype caused by these technologies, there are scenarios and perceptions that occupy workers in the field of art due to these rapid developments. For example, the recent statements of international star Tom Hanks raised the possibility of presenting several films starring him after his death using artificial intelligence technologies, as Hanks said via Adam Buxton podcast said technology could be used to reproduce his images, ensuring he will continue to appear in films “from now until the end of the day.”
The use of artificial intelligence techniques in the field of drama industry is still in its infancy and in the testing phase (Shutterstock)
Ethical controls
The two experts we met agree that ethics in this field is an easy matter. It is necessary to point first and foremost to transparency. This means that the creator of the work must be frank with his audience and state how he employed the techniques in the work. Permission and acceptance must also be taken from the family of the deceased actor if desired. In using artificial intelligence to play his role or even his voice.
Art critic Samia Ayesh says that we cannot deny that excessive use of technologies will lead us into problems of camouflage and concealment, and into the maze of quantity and many productions. A natural actor can present two or three series a year, while artificial intelligence technologies will present many roles, so this may be at the expense of... Content and quality.
For his part, artificial intelligence researcher Shehata Al-Sayed says that this development makes there an urgent need to define an ethical framework for relying on these techniques in making drama, especially in fictional scenes that need ethical and professional control, especially since some businesses have begun to fully produce pornographic films (especially in... Pornographic film industry) using smart technologies, which poses a great threat to societal values and lacks moral values. He believes that the fears lie in the transformation of dramatic works in the coming years from human work carried out by humans to commercial automated work.
Source: Al Jazeera + websites