2024 CILECT Congress - Artificial Intelligence and Film Education
The Communication University of China, Beijing October 21st- 25th 2024 - Chair’s Report
The CILECT Congress was well attended by film schools and educational institutions worldwide and several representatives of NAHEMI, including Professor Lucy Brown (University of Westminster), Communications/Membership Officer Barry Dignam (IADT), members, Christopher Petter and Susan Wilkinson (London College of Communication), and Chris Auty (London Film School). The event included a programme of three days of talks and discussion, seminars and workshops, plus an awards ceremony. It also included a day for a cultural trip for delegates to the Forbidden City in the centre of Beijing, and a day of CILECT business. This is where voting took place on various reports, organisational policies and the appointment of new roles.
Day one saw screenings, introductions and a welcome from our host Professor Yu Ran. Day two started with a presentation by Shaozheng Qin, Principal Investigator, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, at Beijing Normal University, who presented an in-depth paper on his research into using AI to read human expressions for building visual representations of individuals for filmmaking. This was followed by a panel of international film tutors who attempted to unpack AI as a phenomenon. It started with Manuel Hendry, Zurich university of the Arts, arguing that AI is a ‘figment of man’s imagination’ and referred to a research proposal in 1955, by John McCarthy from Dartmouth College who was asking for $13,500 for project on Artificial intelligence.
Day three began with an in-depth presentation from Stine Helen Pettersen, Ræder Bing Law Firm, Norway, an expert in media, copyright, and contract law, who discussed the different approaches and efforts made by world government organisations to govern the use of AI.
Other talks of note that I intended throughout the conference were an intriguing paper from a presenter from South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live performance, who discussed AI and storyboarding and its propensity to only offer images of white characters, a similar issue came up in a session with the Munich Film School who have developed screenwriting software that uses AI. The presenter pointed out the tendency for AI to generally write white characters and is limited by the extremities of the types of stories it offers since it scans existing examples of screenwriting across a variety of digital platforms. Other topics included the way in which educators are using AI in their teaching with a focus on writing prompts; using AI in relation to film archives; approaches to supporting students who have used AI in their writing and passing it off as their own work, and the low financial cost of AI in comparison with other more expensive digital technologies such as VR.
The final day of conference was allocated to CILECT business and the business of regional associations, with Barry Dignam, (IADT), NAHEMI’s Communications and Membership Officer being elected as the new GEECT Regional Chair and to the Executive Council of CILECT. It is clear to see that CILECT is an important partner for NAHEMI as it creates a connection with the global conversation in film education and helps in supporting UK institutions. The subscription structure is changing for the European members of GEECT to a system relating to student numbers, and we are yet to see how this will affect NAHEMI.
Overall, the conference was informative, insightful, and an excellent networking opportunity. It was interesting to see how other countries and institutions are facing up to AI and looking for a positive approach to this new technology. It occurred to me throughout the conference that AI is a generic term, covering several areas and activities and perhaps it might help to begin to break down its reach in the use of filmmaking and teaching. Conceivably, we could start to think about AI in relation to the traditional areas of filmmaking, namely pre-production, production, and post, this might help us as educators to begin to focus on our own areas of interest and specialisms and how we can actively explore its use to support students. Finally, the elephant in the room was the issue of the environment and the impact AI contributes to the effects of climate change and global warming, while some raised such concerns in conversations in the bars and cafes around the conference, this subject was not a major theme and one that certainly warrants some attention as discussions and debate grows in this area.
Next year CILECT will be hosted by the University of Guadalajara in Mexico, where I am sure many of these issues will be picked up and the debate and discussion around filmmaking and film production education will continue.
Jeremy Bubb
Chair of NAHEMI