AI reshapes film production techniques

Artificial intelligence is being used in film production to rejuvenate actors, retouch sets, and reduce the cost of visual effects. Studios are beginning to see savings, but the benefits for audiences are less clear.

AI in visual effects for Dune: Part Two

AI has already found applications in cinema, such as in the Netflix series Dune: Part Two, where the eyes of the Fremen required significant work from visual effects teams. In the first part of the series, artists had to manually outline different parts of the characters' faces, following their movements and reflections.

AI learning from processed images

For the sequel, a tool capable of learning from these already processed images was used, according to Foundry, the publisher of the software. According to the company, 40 percent of the 1,000 shots involved did not require any additional retouching. The others required corrections, which could then improve the model.

Rejuvenating actors in Here

The rejuvenation of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the film Here is more visible. The two actors embody their characters at several ages, thanks to faces produced by neural networks and then integrated into the shots.

Challenges in facial rejuvenation

According to an interview with fxguide, the visual effects supervisor Kevin Baillie described the necessary corrections, particularly when the actors turned their heads strongly. On the set, a screen also allowed them to see themselves rejuvenated in real time.

Matching expressions and movements

The team could thus adjust their movements to the age of the characters. Regaining one's youthful face does not automatically restore the gait that came with it. That is the whole difficulty of these transformations.

AI in making scenes more affordable

Netflix defends another promise: making certain scenes accessible to productions that would have otherwise had to skip them. During the presentation of its results on July 17, 2025, Ted Sarandos took the example of a building collapsing in the Argentine series L’Éternaute.

Speed and cost efficiency with AI

According to him, the sequence using AI had been made ten times faster than with traditional methods. Its cost would otherwise have exceeded the possibilities of the series. A scene preserved rather than abandoned, that is a benefit that can be seen on screen.

AI's impact on employment

In France, a study by the CNC published in January 2026 notes a decrease in staff in 2024, particularly among the least experienced. International activity is declining for the second consecutive year, in a context of production contraction, particularly American.

Layoffs and financial struggles

In the United Kingdom, the union Bectu supported employees of Technicolor threatened with layoffs after the company was placed under administration in February 2025. The decrease in orders and financial difficulties of the studios are part of this crisis.

Automation and its consequences

Attributing this crisis to a single cause, AI, would be too convenient and insufficiently supported. Automation is nevertheless arriving on this fragile terrain. A faster task can give artists more time, but also fewer days to command them.

Challenges for new artists

The question is particularly sensitive for beginners: if certain operations disappear, how can one acquire the experience that will then allow supervising the images and correcting the errors? Someone will always need to notice that the perfect face no longer works when the actor turns around.

James Cameron and AI investment

Saving time without sacrificing the artists: a difficult equation. James Cameron is counting on new technologies to lighten the production of his films. The director sits on the board of directors of Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion, which also lists him among its investors.

Cost reduction goals for Avatar sequels

His interest therefore goes beyond a simple passion for new technologies. For Avatar 4 and 5, if they are ever made, he wants to make the films in half the time, for two-thirds of the cost.

Technological methods under development

In the Empire podcast, as reported by GamesRadar, Cameron explains he is looking for technologies that would allow him to achieve this goal. The method remains to be found; these statements do not specify which uses of AI would be used for the two sequels.

AI's role in repetitive tasks

On the most thankless tasks, AI has a real utility to defend. Outlining eyes for hundreds of shots or redoing a retouch image by image has nothing to do with an obligatory passage that should be preserved by principle.

Balancing efficiency and artistic input

If a tool allows it to be done more quickly, as well as that the artists can benefit from it if they wish rather than adopting a principled position. But the time saved should also allow them the means to work on their images.

Artistry remains central to film

The movement that gives weight to a creature, the expression that makes a character endearing, or the detail that holds a set together require choices, trials, and corrections. Animators and other visual effects artists remain the real magicians of cinema.

AI as a tool, not a replacement

Helping them get rid of a chore is an advancement; seeing it mainly as an opportunity to do without them would be a misplaced economy. Cameron can reduce the cost of Pandora: he will always need these teams to make people want to return.