Part 6: Franchises, FXs and AI.

Franchises go multi-platform

In a world where old media (from daily newspapers to blockbuster movies) never needs to disappear, media franchises rule. Both movies and TV are dominated by endlessly renewed franchises.?

TV Forever Franchises

While one-off movies and shows will always get short term attention, most shows, and almost all profits, are generated by franchises, endlessly extended, staffed with a core of long term employees, like the NFL or NBA. Of course the sports leagues are independent business units looking at how to maximize the value of their franchises across all platforms, where TV franchises are stuck dealing with TV executives who are fearful of any platform except TV. As the old guard is pushed aside more and more shows will have an app or game to broaden the franchise. Sony’s success with Last of Us won’t be the last game and TV franchise. Looking at the titles above, it’s easy to imagine all of them going multi-platform!?

The rise of special effects

Technology also changes how movies and TV are made. Groundbreaking computer controlled effects cameras pioneered in Star Wars (1977) ignited the special effects business. Then new computer graphic workstations let Jurassic Park (1993) show off the first convincing digital characters – awe-inspiring dinosaurs, just as NVIDIA – the graphics chip/AI behemoth – took its first breath. Spectacular special effects became a big-budget storytelling superpower. For instance, Gollum, the character in 2001’s Lord of the Rings, cost $15 million, as much as a Harrison Ford. Digital effects could conjure unimaginable wonders, ushering in an era of visual spectacle that still dominates the box office, with behemoths like Star Wars, Marvel’s Avengers, and the latest Avatar. But dazzling computer generated imagery (CGI) isn’t novel or unaffordable anymore. Thanks to generative AI, creating Gollum-like illusions will soon be possible on a nice phone. When digital production first opened doors to new worlds audiences were thrilled. Decades later it’s just another well worn trick in the film maker’s playbook. Starship and superhero mania may have passed, but using visual effects to extend the youthful appearance of actors has just started.

What about AI??

We can’t talk about the future of entertainment without bringing up AI. AI’s can easily remove the shadows from microphone booms, or the lines from wrinkles or the wires that lift an actor into the sky. AI powered technology will reduce the cost of special effects and streamline entertainment, from pre-production to marketing.?

AI de-aging and morphing could extend the life of winning franchises indefinitely. If a key actor leaves, their character could still stay. AI will help globalize content through super powered localization, cheaper subtitles and ADR, better lip synching, morphing speech into local accents or languages, even morphing characters to local standards of dress or beauty.?

Specially designed AI animation tools may make realistic animation more competitive with live action, giving creatives more powerful storytelling tools and bringing show development closer to game development.

Specially designed audience analysis AI connected to TVs with microphones and cameras could let broadcasters turn a subset of their users into a focus group, where, in return for a small payment (free Netflix anyone?) the broadcaster collects the focus group’s audible or visible reactions to the show or ad, and the audience analysis AI turns that data into actionable insights.?

Can AI’s learn acting? Yes - they could be extras. Can they be trained to reject awful scripts? Maybe - somebody should! Can they become Shakespeare or Greta Gerwig? Nope!

Next: Part 7 - It’s 2024. Mobile is king, not TV