| Edited by Cheng Shushu
| Title picture by Li Xinma
| Official Weibo of the movie "Legend"
When seeing the 27-year-old Jackie Chan on the big screen, the audience's reaction was not surprise but doubt.
On July 10, the movie "Legend" produced by Bona Film Group, written and directed by Tang Jili, starring Jackie Chan, Zhang Yixing, Nazha and others, was released. As a companion piece to the 2005 classic film "Myth" and the tenth collaboration between Tang Jili and Jackie Chan, "Legend" was extremely popular when it was released. However, compared to many of the above titles, "Legend" has a bigger selling point - recreating the 27-year-old Jackie Chan through AI reshaping technology.In order to see the young Jackie Chan on the big screen, a large number of netizens rushed into the cinema in anticipation. Three days before the movie was officially released (July 7), the total box office from screenings and pre-sales exceeded 30 million. However, after the department screened it, the reputation and box office performance of "Legend" took a turn for the worse. On the day of its official release, the box office was only 8.41 million, with a Douban score of 5.5. Afterwards, Maoyan predicted that the total box office would also drop, from 115 million to 85 million and then to 79.8 million.
It is reported that "Legend" cost 50 million US dollars, which is equivalent to about 360 million yuan. If you want to get back your money, the box office must be at least 1 billion. If it is less than 1 billion, it will be a complete loss. However, as of 16:00 on July 28, the movie had been released for 19 days, and the total box office was only 79.6 million. "Legend" suffered a huge loss, but the reason why the audience didn't buy it seems to be precisely his biggest selling point - ai digital person .
1. AI Jackie Chan "tricked"
Similar to "Myth", "Legend" also tells a two-line story of ancient and modern times. The 70-year-old Jackie Chan is responsible for the modern scenes. He is a senior professor of history. Because he unearthed a mysterious ancient shaman jade in archaeology, he repeatedly traveled through the world in his dreams, leading him (ie Zhao Zhan) to the Xiongnu in ancient times. The past life love of Princess Mengyun (played by Guli Nazha).
In the film, the Western Han Dynasty general Zhao Zhan, played by "ai Jackie Chan", accounts for up to 70% of the scenes, making him the absolute protagonist of the film, while Jackie Chan himself plays less than half. Some fans complained that of the 129-minute movie, only 29 minutes were spent watching the real Jackie Chan.
But the performance of this "AI protagonist" is the source of complaints from the audience.
From the first profile appearance, "ai Jackie Chan" made the audience realize that there was a lot wrong. On the big screen, this young man without wrinkles has a lot of highlights on his face, like a 3D dermabrasion filter, and his smoothness is not on the same level as other actors. Some fans lamented: "Jackie Chan's first AI shot is smoother than (the heroine) Gulinaza's face."
Source: the movie "Legend"
In addition to facial skin problems, "AI Jackie Chan" has no facial expressions , demeanor, and eyes are all full of a sense of dissonance.
For example, when someone was pressing down with a sword and struggling, and his life was about to be in danger, he should have gritted his teeth, but his expression was like a toothy smile; when he was injured and fell to the ground, his face should have been ferocious, but his eyes were wandering and his expression was Serenity; for another example, when the brother who had been through life and death sacrificed to save himself, he should have been in grief, but the corners of his mouth were raised crazily, his eyes were unfocused, and his facial features were a bit crooked when he looked closely... Regardless of the sadness or joy of the plot, " "AI Jackie Chan" always wears a smile with a fixed upward angle. Even if he has experienced a major blow in life, or someone is in danger or killed, he will only raise his mouth and make an expression that looks like he is crying.
The facial expression is single and unappealing, and the body cannot turn the head beyond an angle of 90 degrees. "It seems to be laughing when it's time to be sad. This fully demonstrates that AI is completely inapplicable in the movie market." Some Douban netizens commented.
In addition to the many shortcomings caused by the limited level of AI technology, the AI filter sense created by "AI Jackie Chan" also destroys the film's original points in the hearts of the audience.
In order to show sincerity, the war scenes with thousands of troops in "Legend" were actually shot at the Xinjiang Army Horse Farm. However, some movie fans said: "During the actual movie viewing, when I saw the 'protagonist' of AI, my inner thought was, are these scenes all synthesized by AI? It is difficult to immerse yourself in the movie.""
Picture source: the official Weibo of the movie "Legend"
Judging from the reputation and box office of "Legend", the creators envisioned a bright future brought by "AI Jackie Chan", but it was not accepted by the audience. In the eyes of many viewers, Using digital celebrities to interpret movies is a blasphemy to the art of film.
2. AI’s “resurrection” of celebrities has been stopped.
The public’s resistance to digital celebrities is not just about participating in movies. Previously, AI on video platforms. Videos of "resurrected" stars have sparked a round of controversy. Around March this year, AI videos of deceased stars frequently appeared on short video platforms. AI Li Wei said, "I hope you all live well." AI Gao Yixiang said. "I feel every message and concern you have," ai Qiao Renliang also said hello to fans. ai Yao Beina said, "I can still sing to my heart's content wherever I go." ai Kobe Bryant said in English, "I am very happy to do this in such a way. Way to meet you again"...
Source: Douyin screenshot
However, this kind of AI video quickly aroused the resentment of the family members of the deceased. Some family members expressed that they could not accept it and hoped that the other party would take it off the shelves as soon as possible; some The family members said they did not want the portrait to be used arbitrarily by others, and severely condemned and firmly resisted this behavior.
Although the poster claimed that this is a way of emotional comfort, using high technology to provide emotional value to the living; but in the comments of the video. District, many netizens questioned: This kind of behavior is in the name of warmth, but it is actually consuming people who have left.
Some media discovered that many of these accounts that claim to use high technology to heal people have professional teams behind them, and some even have professional teams behind them. Recruiting apprentices and agents in the circle of friends; some producers' homepages show that they undertake business such as digital human production and "resurrecting" relatives, claiming that technology can warm people's hearts, but in fact they use AI to replace dead celebrities with shrewd calculations. Drain traffic and charge.
In fact, as early as July last year, someone had already done this business. At that time, Xinyi Technology launched a celebrity digital blessing platform, which was based on Xinyi Video AI. The large model, through big data training, perfectly simulates the image and voice of the star, and generates the corresponding image of the celebrity digital person. What is finally presented to the customer is a personalized blessing video starring the celebrity digital person. The model and star's "universal" Model" are similar.
However, after the launch of Miaozhu, it did not receive much response. At present, the business on Miaozhu platform seems to have changed. There are no star digital people, but some digital people with unfamiliar faces. Now, with the fermentation of public opinion, e-commerce Celebrity "universal model" products on commercial platforms have disappeared without a trace, and videos of AI "resurrecting" celebrities on short videos have also been completely removed from the shelves.
Picture source: Miaozhu screenshot
The reason why celebrity digital business cannot continue is very simple. In the "Internet Information Services Deep Synthesis Management Regulations", "deep synthesis service providers and technical supporters are required to provide faces, human voices, etc." If there is a biometric information editing function, users of the deep synthesis service should be prompted to inform the individual being edited in accordance with the law and obtain their separate consent."
However, it is difficult for most businesses to obtain the consent of celebrities or even the families of deceased celebrities. Therefore, AI synthesis of celebrities has become an illegal business. Even if authorized, in the eyes of many netizens, is this not another form of deception? Let celebrities not have to work, just use digital people, and they can get a lot of money.
3. Celebrity digital people cause controversy
With the rapid development of technology, digital people have become a new track for artificial intelligence companies to compete, and have gradually penetrated into all walks of life. From film and television entertainment to brand marketing, from e-commerce live broadcasts to financial services, especially in e-commerce live broadcasts, digital people's live broadcast of goods has become a new industry trend. Donews once said in "ai anchors are popular, live broadcast sales still need "real people" "? | Artificial Intelligence + " article discusses the development status of AI anchors.
It can be seen that the public is not completely unacceptable to digital people, so why do celebrity digital people attract controversy from the public?
Some people in the film and television industry attribute the controversy over celebrity digital figures to technical limitations.At this year’s Shanghai Film Festival, Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, proposed that “AI is a tool used by humans when creating works. This tool is still immature at least in the film industry. For example, some current video generation tools are actually It can only meet the needs of low definition and low capacity."
However, when AI technology can really fake the real thing, can the audience accept the performance of celebrity digital people? A film review of "Legend" on Douban may reflect the current public views on this issue.
"The characters in the film are like carefully crafted robots. Although their words and deeds are precise, they lack the warmth and depth from the soul. Every dialogue of the characters is like the output of a preset program. Rather than a real collision of souls. This kind of AI-based performance makes emotional resonance a luxury, and people can't help but question: When the characters lose their brilliance of humanity, can the movie still touch people's hearts? "
When star digital people appear? On the screen, what is it that we in the audience are chasing after stars? What is the core message conveyed by such film and television works? And what is true and what is false?
