Video Advances: Keeping It Reel in an AI World
Artificial intelligence is popping up everywhere, disrupting and revolutionizing how we work, write, and create content. Seemingly overnight, nearly all creative apps have added new AI features designed to automate everything from emails to photo editing to video creation. And whether you’re for or against AI, its potential is undeniably enormous.
So far, most AI apps and add-ons are helpful tools, but they aren’t yet a replacement for specialized creative skill sets or original ideas. Haystack’s video team, Fearless Company, has been using AI for years. It’s a game changer for cleanup, but we also see significant limitations. Like any tool, it’s how we use it that counts.
Is AI for video a good thing?
That depends. We recently wrote about the future of content being video, and the future of that video could be AI-driven. Everyone, from the average social media user to agency teams, will be making more videos, and it stands to reason that footage will be brought to market faster with the help of AI. Cleanup, audio, and voice-over effects are all features that AI can help push forward.
The best of these applications are poised to significantly level up Hollywood-style special effects. But even those of us without billion-dollar budgets stand to benefit. Many AI apps allow you to pick a voice for narration or add realistic effects, like changing backgrounds or removing unwanted objects. The important thing to understand about AI is that if it’s done right, you don’t even know it’s there.
Sounds exciting. What’s the downside?
Currently, generative AI (entirely invented footage) isn’t realistic enough to fool most viewers. Perhaps it’s the decade-plus of exposure to Marvel movie CGI and multiplayer online games, but despite all its promised bells and whistles, something about artificially generated video looks… artificial. And while generative AI could be useful in creating simple b-roll or stock footage, there are already entire libraries of such content. Hence, the greatest value for AI still lies in cleanup. It’s simply not a replacement for the hard work of shooting real footage or the narrative editing process.
With great (processing) power comes great responsibility, which goes extra for AI with its ever-growing potential, though the worst may be yet to come. AI video cleanup can be a time-saving advantage, but its existence also makes it easier to discredit video as an authentic medium. Face-swapping apps and deep-fake technology are making it harder to believe what we see on our screens. Our polarized world already has a trust problem, and AI video could exacerbate that. Certifications for non-AI videos hope to reassure viewers, but it’s not a perfect solution. People want to know what’s real without digging through the fine print.
Where does Haystack stand on AI?
At Haystack, our approach to all creative projects, including video, is Audience First. We design our strategies and assets around specific audiences, always striving for authenticity. We take measures to keep things unscripted and relatable, as we believe that honesty sells far better than any gimmicky trick.
That said, if you’ve seen any of our videos, you’ve likely seen AI at work! As a tech-forward agency, we value understanding and integrating new tools and technologies. We’re studying AI as it advances and creatively solving how to apply it with integrity. We use it as an efficiency in post-production—not as a stand-in for human talent or actual footage—and blend it to the point of invisibility. AI is helpful for fixing audio mistakes and focus issues or getting rid of unwanted items in shots, but it’s not nearly as useful when it comes to putting the real footage together, and we aren’t using generative AI to fabricate reality.
Ready to learn more? Reach out and say [email protected].