Who needs human beings anyway? The latest development in artificial intelligence technology has been applied to the art of trailer cutting. The trailer of the September 2 release Morgan has been created by using the IBM Watson programme. IBM, in partnership with the studio 20th Century Fox, fed hundreds of clips from Morgan into the experimental Watson application programme interfaces, helping it analyse several elements at once. It worked on figuring out factor that humans make on a regular basis, such as what makes a particular scene creepy for audiences, or whether the change in an actor’s tone of voice affects the overall mood.
The experiment befits the theme of Morgan, directed by Luke Scott and starring Kate Mara, Paul Giamatti, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Yeoh and Brian Cox. The science fiction thriller explores the havoc created by a synthetic humanoid (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) that goes out control and presents its creators with unforeseen problems.
The process could not eliminate human beings. The artificial intelligence system scanned the entire film and selected 10 scenes for the researchers at IBM. A filmmaker at IBM stepped in and put together the dark, dreary and suspenseful trailer based on its suggestions. “Watson was able to model the scene visually to determine, was the scene scary? Was it a tender moment? Was there sadness or happiness,” explained John Smith, IBM Fellow and Machine Vision.
This is not the first time AI has been used in cinema. The technology was utilised to co-write the horror film Impossible Things, which is under production. If the experiment is successful – it certainly cuts down the working hours – professional trailer editors can start looking for alternate ways of paying the bills.