AI Filmmaking Is Moving Fast – Here’s What’s New

Brief Summary

This video provides an update on the latest AI developments in filmmaking, including new tools, techniques, and events. It covers the Higsfield AI video generator, Krea AI's video restyling, Runway Gen-4 Turbo, and Google's AI video on the Sphere. The video also touches on AI competitions, film festivals, and the use of AI in creating video games and TV shows.

• Higsfield AI video generator allows camera control over generations.
• Krea AI's video restyling offers style transfer with depth, edges, pose, and color controls.
• Google is bringing AI video to the Sphere in Las Vegas with an upscaled version of The Wizard of Oz.
• AI is being used to generate TV shows from prompts, with a focus on character development and story continuity.

Intro

The video introduces new AI video tools that offer camera control, discusses Google's use of AI video on a large scale, and explores a tool that generates TV shows from prompts. The episode aims to evaluate the quality and potential of these AI advancements in filmmaking.

Second Annual AAI Filmmaking Party was a Blast!

The host expresses gratitude to attendees of the second annual AI filmmaking party at NAB 2025, highlighting the fun activities, including robot battles and AI trailer creation. The event facilitated community engagement and anticipation for the next year's gathering.

Here's a Deep Dive Into Higgsfield AI's New Video Generator

Higsfield AI is a new video tool that allows users to have camera control over the outputted generations. It offers various camera movements like crash zoom, arc, and tentacles. Users can generate images or turn images into video. While the image generation is not as impressive as MidJourney 7, the video generation capabilities are more promising, with realistic camera movements achieved by baking keyframed or motion-tracked real-life movements into the model. The tool's pricing starts at $9 a month for about 15 video generations, but the overall generations may not be as good as Luma, Runway, Google Vio, or Cling.

Krea Style Transfer is Pretty Impressive

Krea AI has introduced a new feature for restyling video footage, similar to Runway Gen 1, allowing users to upload a video clip and completely change its style. This tool is unique because it allows control over the output through four settings: depth, edges, pose, and video. The website offers several presets to experiment with. Character continuity can be tricky with style transfer tools. The tool can be used to animate storyboards and create rough animatics before production.

Runway Gen-4 TURBO

Runway has released Runway Gen 4 Turbo, a faster version of Runway Gen 4, which is considered one of the most powerful AI video generators. This update allows for the generation of a 10-second clip in just 30 seconds, with decent results.

Create a TV Show with One Prompt

A research project has explored the possibility of generating TV show episodes from a single prompt. Researchers used Tom and Jerry training data to create custom episodes. While the episodes are not perfect, the AI understands how to create establishing shots, set up the story, introduce conflict, and provide resolution. This innovation is significant because it demonstrates character development and story continuity, unlike individual prompts prompted one after another. Storytelling skills are crucial for creative AI artists.

Learn Advanced Filmmaking Techniques

Curious Refuge offers AI courses that teach the technical, storytelling, and artistic aspects of AI filmmaking. They have partnered with Emmy-winning screenwriter Bernie Sue to introduce storytelling training in their advanced AI filmmaking course.

Google Takes AI Video to The Big(gest) Screen!

Google is bringing AI video to the Sphere in Las Vegas by partnering to showcase The Wizard of Oz on the spherical screen. The film was upscaled to 16K using a proprietary version of Topaz Video and the aspect ratio was changed from 4x3 to a wider format using Google's AI video tools for outpainting. The premiere is set for August 28th.

New Motion Capture Tool

Bite Dance has announced a new AI video tool that animates images using a source video with movement and character acting. The tool offers more fidelity compared to other AI tools like Runway Act One, with impressive object permanence and continuity.

Check out These AI Competitions!!

Several AI competitions are highlighted, including Runway's Gen 48 competition, a 48-hour film race with teams creating 1-4 minute films. The winner receives $5,000 and a million runway credits. Runway is also hosting its third annual AI film festival in New York City and Los Angeles. The second annual Reply AI Film Festival will happen at the same time as the Venice International Film Festival, with finalists flown to Venice and a prize pool of over €30,000 euros.

Check out the ReplyAIFF

The second annual Reply AI Film Festival is happening at the same time as the Venice International Film Festival. Finalists will be flown to Venice to see their project play. There is a prize pool of over €30,000 euros available.

Create Video Games Using Vibe Coding (Super Easily)

Vibe coding involves using prompts to create code, typically for video games. Examples include Settlers of Katan real-time strategy game, an 80s retro futuristic endless driving game, and a Halo-inspired game. Tools like Grock, Windsurf, Cursor, and Claude 3.7 Sonnet are used.

Major AI Film Events Coming Up

Various AI events and meetups are happening around the world, including Curious Refuge meetups in Barcelona, New York City, and Paris, as well as a Runway meetup in Montreal.

AI Films of the Week

The video highlights three AI films of the week: Katana, Mercs and Lonely Little Flame.

Katana

Katana by Matthew Samson, created using Higsfield and Clling, is praised for its eastern Blade Runner aesthetic and impressive shot curation. The lip-sync problem was addressed by using robotic voices.

Mercs

Mercs by Dave Clark, created using MidJourney 7 and Luma Ray 2, is an interesting example of action movie scenes. The shots seem realistic, with camera shake making them almost indistinguishable from live-action footage.

Lonely Little Flame

Lonely Little Flame, created by the Runway team to highlight their Runway Gen 4 model, effectively uses sound design and color grading to cover up technical limitations. Despite continuity issues, the film has character due to the use of sound and color to tell a larger story.

Univerisal is Using Robots??

Universal Orlando is using Boston Dynamics robots in costumes to create characters for their park. For example, Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon is portrayed by a dog-like Boston Dynamics robot with an animatronic head. This technology enhances guest experiences.

Outro

The host thanks viewers for watching and encourages them to subscribe to the AI Film News email newsletter and the YouTube channel for the latest AI tutorials and news.