2023-08-12 08:48:21
The studios now ask them to submit to “body scans” during filming, to model their image in 3D.
“IA” : these two letters are currently concentrating the fears of actors and screenwriters on strike in Hollywood, who fear being replaced by artificial intelligence. What also threatens the profession of stuntman, hitherto inseparable from the Hollywood machine. To save money, studios have long supplemented the background of their fight scenes with computer-generated silhouettes, as in the series Game of Thrones or superhero movies Marvel.
“Technology is improving exponentially. (…) it’s a really scary time (for us)”, explains stunt coordinator Freddy Bouciegues. After working on the sixth installment of the franchise Terminator, the forty-something sees his profession overtaken by a new uprising of machines. Studios now require certain stunt performers and extras to submit to “body scans” during filming, to model their image in 3D, often without explanation on the use they will make of it.
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With advances in AI, these records can be used to create “digital replicas” very realistic of these personnel, capable of executing movements and dialogues according to the instructions transmitted to the machine. Freddy Bouciegues fears that these avatars might quickly replace the basic stuntmen, responsible for small actions like those of pedestrians who deviate at the last moment during a chase.
Safeguards to regulate the use of AI
If it seems disruptive, this scenario is actually only the tip of the iceberg, underlines the director of Grand Touring, Neill Blomkamp. In his film adapted from a motor racing video game, stuntmen drive real cars on the racing circuit. Only one particularly dangerous scene, involving recreating a fatal accident, was produced digitally. But within a year, the AI should be able to recreate collisions at high speed, from the only instructions of a director, assures Neill Blomkamp.
At this stage, “we get rid of the stuntmen, we get rid of the cameras and we don’t go on the circuit”, he summarizes. This is one of the reasons why the strike that is paralyzing Hollywood looks like an existential crisis. In addition to a better sharing of revenue related to streaming, the creation of safeguards to regulate the use of AI is a major point of the negotiations.
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