David Fincher Admits to Using AI for a ‘Thrillingly Stupid’ Fix in Se7en 4K Release: “if you see it, we didn’t do our jobs”
Using AI in filmmaking is controversial because it can replace human creativity and jobs, leading to concerns about actors, writers, and crew losing work. Some worry AI could make creative decisions that lack the emotional depth and unique touch of human filmmakers. There’s also fear that over-reliance on AI could result in formulaic, less original films.
While these fears are completely valid and justified, there is one aspect of AI that a lot of filmmakers are only now starting to consider that won’t necessarily interrupt new releases – fixing mistakes in old releases.
David Fincher recently discussed the changes made to Se7en for its 4K and IMAX release during an interview. Despite previously saying he wouldn’t make big changes, he fixed a small camera mistake in a bar scene using AI. The issue was a camera pan that followed a character late and revealed more of the bar than intended, and Fincher took the chance to correct it in the new version of the film.
Fincher explained that the performance in the scene was so good that he kept the take with the camera mistake, even though part of the actor’s shoulder was cut off. The missing shoulder detail, including the jacket’s wrinkles, was hard to recreate. To fix this, Fincher asked if footage from other takes could be used to restore the jacket, allowing him to remove the flawed camera pan.
We took three or four different shots from earlier, which had a jacket in them that we liked, and then we input that, and then we had it spit back out AI, and then took the background from where the camera landed and just composited them together. So it ends up being the most thrillingly stupid fix in the world because if you see it, we didn’t do our jobs. And you probably won’t see it. You probably won’t be aware that it’s happened. But you look at it, and you just think to yourself, ‘It’s so nice that we can fix that kind of stuff today.’
Source
As you can see, this really minor fix is a great example of AI being useful as a tool without relying on it to take over human creative jobs. Using AI in this case saved time and it’s likely that if AI wasn’t available the scene would never be fixed since additional reshoots would be needed.
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!
