Film and TV Hurricane Review Seedance 2.0: The AI that will change the film and TV industry is coming. What do filmmakers have left?

ByteDance releases Seedance 2.0 video model; film industry storm review highlights major breakthroughs in camera movement, storyboarding, and audiovisual harmony. As AI technology advances and impacts the film industry, well-known film critic Slice Plan predicts that future movies will follow two paths.

Seedance 2.0 AI Video Model Debuts, Praised by Film Industry Storm

ByteDance’s latest AI video model, Seedance 2.0, quietly makes its debut. Tim, founder of the popular tech channel “Film Storm,” points out in his latest video that Seedance 2.0 has achieved significant breakthroughs in camera movement, storyboarding, and audiovisual harmony.

Unlike previous AI camera work that was stiff, he believes Seedance 2.0 can handle wide-ranging and smooth camera motions. In storyboarding, the AI demonstrates logic similar to a director’s intent, able to switch perspectives for narrative flow while maintaining character consistency.

Additionally, Seedance 2.0 can generate natural voice whispers and environmental sound mixes with a single click, greatly simplifying the time-consuming audio workflow.

Source: Film Storm YouTube

Despite its power, Film Storm worries about copyright and ethical risks with Seedance 2.0

Although Seedance 2.0 appears powerful, Film Storm also reveals potential concerns during testing.

Tim discovered that uploading only his own photos without any audio files, the model could identify his identity and automatically match his voice. After uploading a front photo of the Film Storm building, AI could also accurately compute details of the building’s back side outside the camera’s view.

However, Tim states that he has never received licensing fees from ByteDance nor been contacted by them. This suggests that Seedance 2.0 may be using大量深度學習影視創作者的影像與聲音數據 without their knowledge.

Tim worries that if AI masters complete personal audio-visual data, it could perfectly simulate digital doubles that are indistinguishable from real, making it difficult even for close family members to tell the difference, leading to significant copyright disputes and ethical risks.

Further reading:
Film Storm’s Tim: AI will fully impact editing work in 2 years, but AI cannot do the Theseus’s Ship

Rapid Development of AI Videos: Good or Bad for Humanity?

Tim believes that although Seedance 2.0 is not yet perfect, the next version could fundamentally change the industry. Shots that once took hundreds of hours for special effects teams can now be completed in minutes by AI, rapidly devaluing professional skills.

When human effort and output efficiency can’t compete with AI, Tim warns at the end of the video that AI technology is eroding the traditional moat of film and TV production, but is this good or bad for humanity?

Renowned film director Ang Lee once said: “I’m not worried about AI replacing us; I’m more concerned that our thinking will become AI-like.”

Two Paths for Cinema in the AI Era

In the AI era, what is left for humans? What parts are uniquely ours and irreplaceable?

Film Storm concludes in the video “Can AI replace me? What is my meaning?” that “experience” is key, using a train as a metaphor. Experiences shape each person’s unique soul. When you see your mother’s white hair, walk into your old school, smell the classroom, AI may not fully understand you. Steam trains are too slow and foolish for AI, but for humans, they carry countless memories of farewells and hopes to reunite.

A well-known film critic with nearly 2 million fans on Bilibili, Slice Plan, believes that AI may have unlimited data, but only humans possess fragile, imperfect, yet authentic physical bodies.

Modern people are immersed in images from a young age, often before truly living, experiencing, questioning, and losing. They start learning how to express themselves early, which leads many creations to be built from form to find meaning. As a result, these images resemble dreams rather than the essence of dreams.

She predicts that the future of film will split into two paths: one toward highly gamified and immersive development, and the other returning to the simplest social function—gathering people in front of screens to re-experience the world, like ancestors around a campfire sharing emotions and visions.

Source: Still from the movie “New Paradise”
The classic film “New Paradise” tells the touching story of a projectionist, Efedo, and a young boy, Dodo, whose unlikely friendship intertwines film, life, and time.

Technology Always Serves the Story

While technological advances have caused anxiety in the film industry, a review of film history shows that technology has always been a vessel for content. If you’re feeling anxious about AI, then perhaps a quote from Steve Jobs, Apple’s founder, can offer a different perspective.

In the 1990s, the explosion of personal computers also caused unease in the film industry. After the release of the first fully computer-animated film, “Toy Story,” in 1995, Pixar’s then-CEO Steve Jobs said:

“All technology is meant to serve stories, to be used by creative people. I believe people will still watch ‘Toy Story’ 60 years from now—not because of computer effects, but because of the story about friendship.”