The Game-Changing AI Tool in Film Industry

 I hope you've come across the incredible AI tool from Adobe Photoshop. If not, you're in for a treat! Allow me to explain why this tool is a complete game-changer in the film industry and why it's crucial for you to learn how to use it right away.

In the video above, I showcase several scenes that I've “improved” using the Photoshop AI generate fill feature. And I spent just 30 minutes making this. Can you believe it? I can't believe it either! 😂

Anyway, within just 30 minutes, I was able to add intricate location details, revamp the background, and even introduce props. It's truly unbelievable! In comparison, traditional compositing workflows would have taken me several days to source or create objects for the shot, match them, and then grade them. Not to mention, certain shots would have required advanced skills in programs like Houdini, After Effects, Blender, or Nuke.

This is the future we're looking at, and I'm excited to share with you how this technology can significantly benefit the field of filmmaking.

Adding and Removing areas in the shot

How to Use the Game-Changing AI Tool in Adobe Photoshop

This article is not sponsored by Adobe, but they might want to thank me after reading it. Haha!

Now, in the year 2023, I'm using Adobe Photoshop Beta (although the name may change in the future). The key tools you'll need are the Lasso or Rectangular selection tools. Simply select the area you want to remove or add new information to, and describe what you want to see there. The AI will generate an additional level of the image and fill in the selected area. Easy, right?!

Sometimes, if you want to fill empty space and make the shot wider or bigger, you can leave the description field empty. The AI will provide several options for suitable fillings for the selected area.

The key tasks that I can resolve with this AI tool are:

• Fast and photorealistic removal of background details or areas in static shots. This is achieved by adding a patch on top of the original image. The patch functions as a new image layer that can be tracked using After Effects tracking tools . If you have skills of working with camera tracking, you can add any quantity of the patches for the scene.
• Adding new elements or locations to the background follows a similar principle. The AI generates a patch that can be tracked or positioned as an additional image layer in the project. I have successfully utilized Adobe Premiere for this process. By overlaying two layers of video and image, I apply masks to remove unnecessary areas in the video and use standard color correction tools to match the color and tone (such as the Lumetri color tool).

The key idea here is that the effectiveness of using this AI tool depends on your skills. If you are new to CGI and compositing, I recommend starting with static shots. You can easily add or remove elements using the generated patches. If you have experience with post-production software like After Effects, Mocha, or Nuke, it shouldn't be too challenging for you to generate patches and track them in dynamic shots.

For the dynamic shots, I primarily relied on native Premiere masks and the color corrector tool. These features allowed me to seamlessly integrate the patches into the scene.

It is advisable to determine whether you will use a static camera or not during the preproduction stage. This decision will influence your approach to filming. Handheld shots can be more challenging to fix using patches, while slow and smooth movements are easier to work with. Static shots are the simplest to handle in terms of patching.

By the way, have you seen my Free Cinematography guides? In these guides, I've shared some of my cool tools for creating cinematic shots.

Enhance your filming quality with featured lighting schemes, filmmaking tricks, and 30 pages of concentrated information with examples.

It's completely free. Enjoy!

Adding Props and Creating Set Design with AI

With the ability to add props and change set design using AI-generated fills, the possibilities are endless.

Using my old project, I want to motivate this warm light and inviting atmosphere by adding a floor lamp. With just a few clicks and the right tags like "practical warm floor lamp" and "foreground," I was able to achieve the desired effect. Previously, it would have taken me hours to find a suitable picture of the lamp and match its gamma and tones to the scene.

In another instance, I wanted to enhance the background by adding a light element. Unfortunately, during the set design, we didn't have additional tube lights available. However, using AI, I was able to seamlessly incorporate an extra tube light into the shot. The addition made the left area of the frame more balanced and visually appealing.

A Few Pieces of Advice

To ensure a seamless integration of AI patches and make the added elements look natural, here are some tips:

• Apply post-effects: Enhance the overall look of the scene by adding subtle distortions, glow, or halations (by Dehancer plugin), vignettes, or grain effects. These effects can help hide some imperfections or inconsistencies that may arise after AI rendering.
• Match patches with color correction: After rendering the patches using Photoshop, make sure to match their colors with the original video. Sometimes, the color gamma of the PNG/JPG image may differ from the original video. Use color correction tools like curves or Lumetri Color effect in Premiere to achieve a consistent look.
• I'm sure that AI will continue to improve and become smarter, but for now, I prefer to work with generated images to the unfocused areas of the shot. This approach helps to avoid drawing excessive attention to the added elements in post-production. It's important to ensure that the changes seamlessly blend with the scene to maintain a realistic look. By minimizing the focus on these elements, viewers are less likely to perceive them as artificial or fake.
• Work with static shots: For optimal results, it's recommended to work with static shots rather than shots with complex camera movements. Handling movement shots can be time-consuming and may require the expertise of professionals to ensure a convincing result. But if you are able to work with tracking, do it.

AI is changing the rules of the game. It represents the future of the industry, and it's crucial not to overlook the opportunities it presents. Embrace this technology and harness its power to become a professional in your field. 🤙