Martin Scorsese Adopts AI to Make His Storyboards
The legendary auteur Martin Scorsese has given into the inevitable takeover of AI, but not in the manner you might expect. Most people cave and let it do the work — not him. He found a way to incorporate technology to make his workflow easier, and is catching the wave all the same.
No, Scorsese isn’t taking the leap into fully generating motion pictures with AI from top to bottom. However, he is partnering with a firm to adopt a new model for storyboarding. German company Black Forest Labs will supply a program (called FLUX) that allows him to map out his vision hands-free.
At 83, it is slow and cumbersome to storyboard and do other things the old way he has long been used to. As such, the Casino director defends his decision to adopt AI as a practical one. As he sees it, he is only conveying his “cinematic intelligence” to show his production designers and cinematographers what he wants in real time. Moreover, he is saving time and money on set in the long run.
Yet, he is drawing criticism for embracing what could be the beginning of obsolescence for regular storyboard artists. Guillermo Del Toro, for instance, remains one of the most vocal critics against AI in art. However, he looks like he is behind the curve when top directors, including James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and Steven Soderbergh, have added the tech to their pre-production tool kits.
Younger filmmakers are poised to embrace change and modernity as well. At a recent Amazon panel in Culver City, California, Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards shared his cautious optimism toward the AI evolution/revolution.
“I can’t see a reason why you wouldn’t become interested in this stuff as a filmmaker. It’s so clearly a tool that might be up there with the camera. It’s going to be better than CGI,” he said. “I’m excited, I hope you are.”
However, Edwards acknowledges AI is nowhere near the point where it can generate an entire movie. It functions best as an organizational tool, albeit one with a few bugs. “It has no taste whatsoever. It is a f—–g genius at helping you,” he added.
“I view it like having a second-unit director who is a billionaire on acid. Like, it’ll do anything you ask, not a problem. Sometimes it’ll [go] bats–t crazy. And you’ll give it notes, and it’ll be like, ‘I don’t do notes. I’ll just do something totally different.’ But it’s worth it,” Edwards cheekily continued.
On the low end of the totem pole, Spring Breakers filmmaker Harmony Korine and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky also see the potential of AI and are tapping into it. Paul Schrader, too thinks, the tech will reach a point where it’s useful to creatives at every step — not just regurgitating bizarre images or redundant stories.
However, whatever the future holds, Edwards offers a pitch-perfect final thought. “We don’t know where it’s going to go,” he says. “I think anybody saying they know exactly what’s going to happen over the next five years is just a liar.”
