Many actors, artists, and writers are understandably concerned about losing their jobs to generative AI, but so far major entertainment companies have released feature films that are all or mostly AI-generated. I've never seen an example of that. That is about to change. Today, TCL, known for its connected TV sets, released the trailer for his first original production, his AI-generated romantic comedy Next Stop Paris. . . It's quite something to see.
The movie is scheduled to be released this summer and will be broadcast on the company's free streaming app TCLtv+, which is available on TCL TVs running Google TV OS (the company's Roku-based TVs have TCL TV+). There is a similar app called . Currently, TCLtv+ offers a number of FAST (Free Add-Supported TV) channels like those found on other apps such as Roku TV, as well as some free on-demand movies. Next Stop Paris will be its first original content.
The 60-second trailer previews the story of two young, attractive Americans who meet on a train to Paris and fall in love. Her name is Claire. Although his name is never mentioned, he is referred to as “a dark and mysterious man who never shows weakness.” In this article, we will name this person as DMKOM.
The two are seen enjoying the sights of the city, including an amusement park, a boat ride, a walk in the park, and a romantic dance inside the clock tower. There is some conflict as DMKOM runs away from Claire on his motorcycle, but he comes back later in the trailer and says he will never give up on her.
There may be flashbacks of Claire wearing a diamond ring and getting married. Is she a runaway bride, a widow, or a divorcee making a fresh start in Paris? There is also some advice from an older woman who tells Claire. “On the journey of life, sometimes your heart beats too fast and sometimes it beats too slow, but if you time it at the right moment, love will come.”
It's a lot like the plot of a Hallmark Channel movie, but there are no human actors and the dial is set to 11. If you're the kind of person who can sit in front of the tube all day and watch The Meg's Ryan movies, you can do that. He can get all the same metaphors and more in just 60 seconds of a trailer.
While many convention film studios have been criticized for their use of AI, TCL has decided to focus on the technology and highlight its uses. The trailer proudly describes it as an “AI-powered love story,” and TCL's chief content officer Chris Regina touted the use of AI as a point of differentiation. Regina has held senior positions at NBCUniversal and Netflix, and she has extensive experience in original television production.
“This is a first for Trailer and a first for the entertainment company,” Regina told Tom's Hardware. “There's a lot of interest around AI. It's going to be a marketing differentiator.”
Watching the trailer, it's hard not to notice the characteristics of early text-to-video generation technology. Each cut is only a few seconds long, there is not a lot of movement, and the main character looks very different from scene to scene, as if dozens of different actors were used to play the same two parts of him. It seems that. Claire is always a young, thin, white woman, but her face shape and even her hair and eye color change from time to time. The gallery below shows some of Claire's different faces.
Regina said Runway ML, a popular text-to-video generator, was one of the main tools his team used for the trailer. A very popular still image generator, she also played a role in Midjourney. He said character consistency was an issue and that TCLtv+ Studios has a team in Poland that leverages various technologies to solve this problem.
“Character consistency is a universal challenge in AI that we’re all working to solve, along with film shot selection and performance,” he told us, adding that OpenAI is introducing its demo “Air Head ” pointed out that the video uses a character with a yellow balloon on his head. I didn't have to worry about seeing inconsistent faces.
Regina likened the team's creative process to animation, saying that all non-visual aspects of the trailer were the result of human effort. The background music was played by a real band, the script was written by humans, and the audio was recorded by real voice actors.
Regina also said that she expects the film to be about the length of a television episode, rather than a feature film. But what we see in the trailer could be very different from the final product.
“As with all film and television production, the work is never complete until it is delivered,” he said. “With the rapid advances in technology, it was easy to keep shaping things before release, but we wanted to announce our entry into AI Studio and original programming. I was able to get a glimpse of what I have been working on.”