Welcome back to our occasional series “Off the Record,” a curated collection of articles we found interesting on a broad range of topics, some which are directly related to records management and others which might share common themes.
No, we didn’t write these articles—hence the name of this series, “Off the Record”— but, fortunately, we didn’t need to in order to share the knowledge with our subscribers.
With the film awards season going on, we decided to take a peek behind the scenes on how the more precious films are preserved and artificial intelligence being used in film editing.
Inside the Nuclear Bunker Where America Preserves Its Movie History – wired.com
Fitted in a small Virginia hill lays the dream for preserving audio and visual media. The Library of Congress’ Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation houses millions of movies, television, and video recordings underground in a repurposed bomb and radiation-proof bunker. The bunker was originally used to store and protect billions of dollars during the Cold War. Inside, a small team works to preserve the media by chemical restoration, digitization of physical tapes, and cautious safekeeping through cold storage protected by multiple fire detection systems. While much of the media is selected for preservation by the Librarian of Congress, a lot of the inventory is through donations. This ensures the lesser-known media from previous times are saved for the future.
– Raul Gonzalez
AI Is Already Changing Filmmaking: How Filmmakers Are Using These New Tools in Production and Post – FilmmakerMagazine.com
Considering how AI may impact the future of moviemaking is a forgone conclusion – it’s already part and parcel of the filmmaking process through the use of tools and utilities. AI has actually been around for a while within editing tools, known by other names or more ubiquitously as the magic wand icon. Beyond editing, tools which involve AI taking on the “mundane tasks” that follow recording – like syncing, transcribing, and translating material – prior to the editing process can increase efficiency in the workflow and collaboration amongst those in the post-production process, not just the editor. Additionally, as AI continues to grow and different models are developed (e.g. trained using specific types of data and stimuli), filmmakers may be able to pick and choose from various models to employ during filming similar to how they select camera sensors or types of film stocks. Further, AI has been incorporated into filmmaking devices and physical tools, such as lens control systems (allowing for focus, tracing, and locking on multiple subjects at once), set design and backdrops (enabling the generation of virtual sets and environments based on prompts), and motion capture capabilities (leave the spandex suit behind– all that’s needed is an iPhone). Application of AI tools has exponentially increased the potential for efficiency and collaboration – and what’s possible.
– Megan Carey
