News
News
News on the technology and techniques shaping filmmaking — virtual production, visual effects, AI, and the craft of bringing new ideas to the screen.
Mike Bender / The Most Serious Fart / Utopai Studios / PAI / Utopai X · September 30, 2026
Utopai Moves AI Filmmaking from Isolated Generation into a Production Pipeline
Utopai Studios has disclosed a more complete long-form workflow around PAI and its Utopai X video model. Rather than treating generation as a series of isolated clips, PAI keeps the…
Utopai Studios / TV Technology / Variety · Behind the Scenes
Ben Affleck / Animals / Netflix / InterPositive · September 30, 2026
Ben Affleck Used AI Throughout Animals — but Won’t Say Where
At Bloomberg Screentime, Ben Affleck said he used InterPositive’s AI tools for “lots of things” while making Animals, his Netflix thriller. Animals is a conventional, actor-driven feature…
TheWrap / Bloomberg Screentime · News Article
Rob Minkoff / Particle 6 / Storm Dogs · September 25, 2026
Rob Minkoff Joins Storm Dogs, a Performance-Driven AI Feature Built Around Actors
Rob Minkoff is joining Particle 6 as creative lead on the family feature Storm Dogs, working with Eline van der Velden on the story, characters and screenplay ahead of a planned 2027…
TheWrap · News Article
Brent Bonacorso / MiseCreative · September 18, 2026
Brent Bonacorso Uses AI to Expand a Live-Action Shoot Instead of Replacing It
Brent Bonacorso describes a recent automotive campaign whose concept required locations, extras and logistical scale the budget could not support. Rather than redesign the film around those…
Little Black Book · Interview
Girish Balakrishnan / Netflix; Kathleen Grace / Lionsgate; Mira Lane / Google; Meagan Keane / Adobe Pro Video · September 18, 2026
Netflix and Lionsgate Detail the Production Guardrails Behind Real Studio AI Use
Netflix’s Girish Balakrishnan described the company’s public framework for generative AI across roughly 300 programs, emphasizing that filmmakers are approaching the technology to solve…
Variety via Yahoo News · News Article
Li Dongshen / Mango TV AIGC Innovation Content Center · September 17, 2026
China’s Beyond Wukong Pushes AI Production into 40-Minute Prime-Time Television
Beyond Wukong is a 30-episode fantasy series with roughly 40-minute episodes, produced through Mango TV’s AIGC Innovation Content Center with Bojing Culture and aired in a prime-time Hunan…
China Daily Asia · News Article
Ash Koosha / Fountain 0 / Odysseus: The Fall · September 17, 2026
A 150-Minute AI Feature Ships — and Immediately Exposes the Limits of Fully Synthetic Filmmaking
Ash Koosha wrote, directed and created Odysseus: The Fall largely himself over roughly four months of part-time work. Fountain 0’s release announcement says every scene and image was…
The Verge · News Article
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, National Geographic's Endurance, Respeecher · September 13, 2026
Endurance Reconstructed Shackleton's Voice Without Inventing the Performance
IBC's AI in Practice session highlights the Endurance workflow in which Respeecher reconstructed Ernest Shackleton and several crew members' voices from extremely limited century-old…
IBC 2026 · Technical Presentation
)
Deepdub and Grupo Globo · September 13, 2026
Deepdub Moves AI Localization into Studio-Scale QC and Orchestration
Deepdub presented an expansion of its AI dubbing workflow from a single AI co-worker into an orchestration layer that can manage segment-, character-, track- and title-level decisions…
IBC 2026 · Technical Presentation
Love, Rendered · September 9, 2026
Love, Rendered Uses Performance Capture and AI to Rebuild a 70-Year-Old Memory
The documentary short follows Burt and Ethelle Shatz, an elderly couple confronting memory loss, and recreates the unrecorded day they first met. Directed by Liz Garbus and produced by Dan…
Google DeepMind · Behind the Scenes
BRAHMA AI · September 9, 2026
BRAHMA AI Details Performance-Preserving Workflows on Here and Ramayana
BRAHMA AI's Emmy-recognized Neural Performance technology changes a performer's age, likeness or identity while preserving expression, movement, lighting and scene continuity. On Robert…
BRAHMA AI · Studio Announcement
DaVinci Resolve 21.1 · September 8, 2026
DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Adds AI-Assistant Workflows Through MCP
DaVinci Resolve 21.1 adds AI-assistant integration through MCP with systems including Claude and ChatGPT Codex. Blackmagic describes workflows that let an assistant analyze projects,…
Blackmagic Design · Studio Announcement
Danny Boyle · September 7, 2026
Danny Boyle Details Generative AI Use in Period Drama Ink
Following festival premieres at Venice and Telluride, director Danny Boyle addressed the disclosure of generative AI in the credits of his upcoming Netflix biographical drama Ink. Boyle…
GamesRadar+ · News Article
Paul Schrader · September 4, 2026
Paul Schrader Plans AI-Generated Cast for 'Three Guns At Dawn'
Director and screenwriter Paul Schrader revealed plans to produce his upcoming project, titled Three Guns At Dawn, entirely with AI-generated characters rather than casting traditional name…
The Playlist · News Article
Reply AI Film Festival · September 4, 2026
Filmmakers at Venice AI Festival Detail Quiet Hollywood Tool Adoption
At the Reply AI Film Festival in Venice, filmmakers and jurors discussed the growing, uncredited adoption of generative AI across Hollywood productions. Finalist Mike Bennion, director of…
Semafor · News Article
Terrarium · September 4, 2026
USC’s ETC Backs Live-Action AI Hybrid Short 'Terrarium'
The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts issued a crew call for Terrarium, a live-action AI hybrid fantasy short funded by the Entertainment Technology Center at USC…
USC Cinematic Arts · Website
Lighting & Practical Techniques · August 29, 2026
The Odyssey Creates Portable Firelight with Custom LED Fixtures
Hoyte van Hoytema and the lighting team developed battery-powered, pyramid-shaped LED fixtures for The Odyssey’s nighttime Troy sequence. The units could run programmed fire effects or play…
American Cinematographer · News Article
Autodesk Flow Studio · August 24, 2026
Autodesk Flow Studio Combines 3D Scene Direction with Generative Video
In an interview on fxguide's fxpodcast, Nikola Todorovic, co-founder of Wonder Dynamics and now at Autodesk, detailed Autodesk Flow Studio’s new 3D Editor + Canvas system. Designed to move…
fxguide · Podcast
Motion Picture Association and ByteDance · August 17, 2026
MPA and ByteDance Agree on IP Guardrails for AI Video Models
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and ByteDance announced a memorandum of understanding establishing intellectual property protections across ByteDance’s generative AI tools, including…
Variety · Trade Article
AI & Production Pipeline · August 13, 2026
Foundry Connects AI Models to Existing VFX Workflows with Griptape
Foundry outlines Griptape workflows that connect AI models with existing production tools, including deployment as Nuke Gizmos and texture-generation workflows for Mari. Its Enterprise…
Foundry · Production Workflow
Compositing & Pipeline · August 4, 2026
Nuke Multishot Workflows Put Sequence Changes in One Script
Foundry details how Graph Scope Variables support multiple shots and variations within a Nuke script. Skydance Animation used multishot workflows on Spellbound to share changes and maintain…
Foundry · Production Workflow
Virtual Production & Rendering · July 23, 2026
Chaos Demonstrates Relightable Gaussian Splats for Location-Based Filmmaking
In an interview with Ian Dean, Chaos’ Chris Nichols describes a Western proof of concept that combined location photography with a scanned house brought back to an LED stage. Relightable…
Creative Bloq · News Article
Previs & Virtual Production · July 20, 2026
Spark Story Links Screenplays to Collaborative 3D Previs
In a firsthand demonstration, Ian Dean watched Lightcraft’s Spark Story turn scripted scenes into shared 3D previs. The platform uses imported environments and assets, while an iPhone can…
Creative Bloq · News Article
Neill Blomkamp · July 20, 2026
Neill Blomkamp Releases AI-Generated Sci-Fi Short Nightborne
Director Neill Blomkamp has released "Nightborne," a 13-minute sci-fi horror short film generated entirely using the Seedance 2.0 video generation model. Blomkamp directed the…
The Decoder · News Article
Google DeepMind and A24 · June 22, 2026
Google DeepMind and A24 Partner on AI Research and Workflows
Google DeepMind and independent studio A24 announced a multi-project research and development partnership aimed at exploring emerging AI workflows for film and television production. Under…
Google · Studio Announcement
Ron Howard · June 12, 2026
Ron Howard on Audience Appetite and AI's Unproven Efficiencies at Runway Showcase
Speaking in a fireside chat with Runway co-CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela at the Runway AI Festival at New York's Alice Tully Hall, director Ron Howard stated that audience appetite will…
Variety Australia · Trade Article
Cinematography & Color · June 9, 2026
Spider-Noir Builds Color and Black-and-White Looks from One Shoot
Darran Tiernan and Peter Deming photographed Spider-Noir for separate color and black-and-white presentations. Tiernan paired Venice 2 cameras with vintage Canon optics and equipped design,…
American Cinematographer · News Article
Martin Scorsese · June 2, 2026
Martin Scorsese Joins Black Forest Labs as Adviser, Uses FLUX for Storyboards
Director Martin Scorsese has joined generative-AI company Black Forest Labs as an adviser, revealing that he is utilizing the startup's FLUX model to help storyboard scenes for an upcoming…
Variety · Trade Article
Amazon MGM Studios · May 28, 2026
Amazon MGM Studios Launches GenAI Fund and Greenlights Three Animated Series
Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have announced the GenAI Creators’ Fund, an initiative financing proof-of-concept shorts and pilots utilizing generative AI tools. Alongside…
Variety Australia · Trade Article
Lighting & Previs · May 7, 2026
Michael Takes Concert Lighting from Unreal Previs to the Stage
Dion Beebe and the lighting team planned four eras of Michael Jackson concerts in Unreal Engine before building the rig on Sony’s Stage 27. Lighting data went directly to the console.…
American Cinematographer · News Article
Virtual Production & Real-Time Rendering · April 19, 2026
Chaos and Zero Density Preview Ray-Traced Virtual Studios
Chaos and Zero Density announced an R&D partnership to combine Vantage rendering with Reality 5’s virtual-studio tools. Their NAB 2026 announcement described a technology preview for…
Chaos · Company Announcement
Virtual Production & Lighting · April 17, 2026
Heated Rivalry Matches LED-Volume Sunlight to a Moving Background
Cinematographer Jackson Parrell describes creating Heated Rivalry’s closing car scene on an LED-volume stage. The team selected a sunset driving plate and mapped its changing sunlight to an…
American Cinematographer · News Article
Netflix & InterPositive · March 5, 2026
Netflix Acquires Ben Affleck’s Filmmaking AI Company InterPositive
Netflix announced the acquisition of InterPositive, an AI filmmaking technology company founded by Ben Affleck. InterPositive's entire team will integrate into Netflix, with Affleck joining…
About Netflix · Studio Announcement
VFX & Practical Photography
The Last of Us Shapes a Digital Storm Around Practical Boat Photography
DNEG compositing supervisor Francesco Dell’Anna describes combining gimbal and water-tank photography with digital water, rain and environments for The Last of Us season-two finale. Nuke…
Foundry · Production Workflow
Invisible VFX & Environments
When Life Gives You Tangerines Rebuilds Decades with 2.5D VFX
M83 supervisor Song Yong-gu explains how the team reconstructed changing versions of Jeju and Seoul for When Life Gives You Tangerines. Historical research, production-design collaboration,…
Foundry · Production Workflow
Virtual Production & Gaussian Splats
Alden Peters Tests Scanned Locations in a Portable Virtual-Production Setup
Lightcraft documents Alden Peters’ test combining Spark previs, Jetset, a Blackmagic camera and portable greenscreen with scanned environments. The crew matched natural sunlight to the…
Lightcraft · Production Workflow
Innovative Dreams
Innovative Dreams Discusses Real-Time Hybrid Pipelines at IBC
IBC scheduled a conference session featuring Adam Jones, Director of Production Technology and Innovation at Innovative Dreams, in conversation with Sean Wallitsch from Amazon Web Services.…
IBC 2026 · Technical Presentation
Higgsfield
Higgsfield Film Reportedly Features AI Avatars of N3on and UFC Fighters
According to a report published by MSN, technology company Higgsfield has developed a new film project featuring AI avatars of online personality N3on alongside UFC fighters. The report…
MSN · News Article