In recent years, the rapid progress of artificial intelligence technology has gradually become an important engine for the development of new quality productivity, and has also brought unprecedented opportunities and challenges to the cultural field. From creation to performance, from behind the scenes to in front of the stage, what magical role does artificial intelligence play in the process of artistic creation?
Recently, the Shencheng Literary and Art Stage has given the answer, from music to quyi, to film, various industries actively embrace AI, and show the "beauty of art" with the "power of science and technology", which also invisibly activates the new quality productivity of culture and brings key increments to the high-quality development of the entire cultural industry.
man-machine hand in hand,
Create the country's first AI Chinese music concert
The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra took the lead in taking an exploratory step. A few days ago, "Zero One Chinese Color" was staged at the 1862 Fashion Art Center, which is the first AI-created Chinese music concert in China jointly created by the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra and Tianqin Lab of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, achieving a breakthrough from 0 to 1.
Artistic director Luo Xiaoci told reporters that this concert was actually a proposition essay handed over to AI by the orchestra. Inspired by the "24 traditional Chinese solar terms and their representative colors", more than 20 performers participated in the performance, using dozens of national musical instruments to create 9 pieces showing Chinese colors. "More than two months ago, we handed over some audio materials from past performances to Tianqin Lab for training of large music generation models. ”
The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra performed the AI-created concert "Zero One | Chinese Color". Photo courtesy of the interviewee
But the efficiency of AI did not disappoint. From basic learning and training to the first draft, to continuous experimentation and reorganization according to the individual needs of the artist, in mid-April, a complete Chinese music concert has officially met the audience. With the theme of traditional Chinese colors, accompanied by ancient poems, multiple timbres, costumes and choreography, with the "guide" of a series of text instructions received by AI presented on the screen, 9 pieces of music such as "Jiao Hong", "Han Lian", "Light Purple", "Kneading Blue" and "Xuantian" were played one after another, and a feast of national colors made the audience refreshed.
The performers on the stage were also very excited, "Before we got the score, we were all full of curiosity, what kind of new expressiveness AI will give to traditional folk music?" Yu Bing, the chief of the pipa vocal department, was pleasantly surprised, "I didn't expect AI to skillfully integrate pop elements on the basis of retaining the original charm of the pipa, and the melody written is very suitable for the listening sense of young people today." ”
Suona performer Hu Chenyun also said that AI creation breaks the inherent thinking mode and provides artists with bigger, faster and more possibilities for their second creation. For example, when he first got the first draft of the sheng ensemble "Oriental White", Zhao Zhen, the principal of the sheng section of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, felt that he lacked some vitality. "This requires us to constantly practice and adjust, and give instructions to the AI to make changes, so as to broaden the sound and beauty of the work little by little. Therefore, in order to rejuvenate the personalized characteristics of national instrumental music, the performers have invested in the arrangement of music in the process of creation and rehearsal, constantly bursting with inspiration and imagination, and together with AI, the work has been endowed with more abundant musical emotion and artistic appeal.
Stills from the country's first AI Chinese music concert "Zero One|Chinese Color". Photo courtesy of the interviewee
This kind of co-creation experience also made Luo Xiaoci happy, "In fact, we are already in an era of 'artificial intelligence', AI is not a flood beast, if we can use it well, with the help of this tool, we can use a shorter time and higher efficiency to achieve a prototype of the desired work, and then the musicians to enrich its flesh and blood, interpret its soul, which can not only make more people feel the diverse charm of folk music, but also better promote traditional Chinese culture under the empowerment of science and technology." ”
can arrange music and act,
Pingtan and the robotic arm singer have a dialogue across time and space
Coincidentally, in the process of Shanghai's comprehensive promotion of urban digital transformation, in order to promote the creation and development of digital music works, Shanghai Concert Hall has also actively embraced AI and innovatively created the "Digital Muse - 2024 Music Technology Inclusion Festival", which lasted for more than a month. A few days ago, as one of the performances of the music festival, the "Mange Xing - AI Narrative Concert" attracted a lot of attention as soon as it was unveiled.
In the story of the two generations of Pingtan artists Yu Xiaoquan and Jiang Yuqing's master and apprentice, the female singer "Ellie", who was a smash hit in Shanghai a hundred years ago, retained the memory of Shanghai music, slowly woke up in the mechanical arm on the side of the stage, resurrected in the state of "AI digital soul", and met the singer, thus starting a dialogue across a hundred years of time and space.
Stage manager Liu Jing admitted, "In the past, everyone mentioned AI more to discuss its function behind the scenes, but this time we have carried out creative integration and development through motion choreography, deep image acquisition, intelligent lighting, real-time calculation and other technologies. At the same time, with real data, models and texts, the image design created based on the digital design of the original script enables the AI to not only compose music, but also allow the 'robot singer' to come to the front of the stage and perform smoothly in the concert. ”
Gao Bowen, a famous commentator, and the singer of the robotic arm have a dialogue across time and space. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
This means a lot to both the audience and the artist. Gao Bowen, who partnered with AI for the first time, exclaimed, "This is not only a new form of artistic expression, but also a new form of artistic expression, so that traditional Pingtan performances can jump in and out with the help of AI in just one hour, constantly traveling back and forth through time and space; ”
Indeed, in the era of new quality productivity, artificial intelligence technology represented by generative AI has become more and more prominent in the process of artistic creation, and has even penetrated into the whole process of cultural production, greatly empowering people's cultural production capacity. In just one month, we have seen the cross-border cooperation between artificial intelligence and various art forms such as folk music, jazz, electronic music, and pingdan, and also witnessed the gradual integration of AI into various fields of artistic creation such as arrangement, performance, and stage art.
In the view of Fang Liang, general manager of Shanghai Concert Hall, this is the general trend, but there is no need to worry too much. Because behind technology is creativity, and behind creativity always requires human artists to create based on Chinese culture, "the background color of science and technology is always culture, and people's immediate feelings and on-site expressions are always precious." The ideal state is to let digital empowerment art, art can be better presented, art supports technology, technology research and development to find more artistic value of the application, and finally realize the two-way flow between traditional performance and future presentation. ”
Into the classroom, into the set,
The industry has entered AI film and television in an all-round way
How to achieve two-way travel? Shanghai filmmakers have already taken action. At the beginning of April this year, Shanghai Film Co., Ltd. went abroad and launched the "Global AI Film Marathon Competition" around the world, and took out a huge prize pool of 100,000 US dollars to explore and find high-quality AI film and television venture capital projects, which greatly increased the enthusiasm and motivation of the whole industry.
And this is just one part of it, Wang Jian'er, chairman of Shanghai Film Group, mentioned the "iNEW strategy" with a broader layout, including the "iPAi Planet Plan" for AI-enabled IP content renewal. The reporter learned that Shanghai Film Co., Ltd. has established a digital business center, and will take the lead in integrating the resources of Shanghai Film Production and other group companies in the future, carry out IP digital assets, and promote the application research and development of AI technology and the construction of computing power.
Shanghai launched the "Global AI Film Marathon Competition". Photo courtesy of the interviewee
For example, China's super animation label Shangmei Film will focus on exploring the creative direction of "AI + animation", Shanghai Translation Factory will aim at the creation of "AI + sound", Shanghai Film Technology Factory will start to look for a one-stop solution of "film and television base + AI", and VR, AR + cultural tourism real-life experience has become the top priority of Shanghai Film and Television Park.
Not only that, but last year, the Shanghai Vancouver Film School also quietly introduced AI software into teaching, which is the first AI film class in a Shanghai film school. Ao Dai, a senior lecturer in the Department of Film Production, tried to teach students to use AI to generate storyboards, art concept maps, casting reference drawings for their works, etc., "When shooting works in the virtual studio, students can also use AI technology to design visual images, and the actors participating in the virtual shooting can scan and model through AI software, and after about 5-10 minutes, they can generate digital villains similar to NPCs in the game." When some distant panoramas need to be reshot, if the actors can't be on set, these digital humans can do the work for them, and this technology is already in use in some crews. ”
In Ao Dai's view, in addition to reducing costs and increasing efficiency, the greater value of virtual shooting lies in providing a new possibility for film and television creation, which not only expands the scope of creative space, but also broadens the imagination of creators. Wang Jian'er agrees, "We have always cherished real human performances on the big screen, and the emergence of AI movies is not to replace tradition, but to open up a new way of artistic expression." Especially at the critical stage of scientific and technological change, Shanghai filmmakers must recognize the trend, actively embrace the wave of AI, gather human, material, financial and computing resources, break through new propositions, seize new tracks, and promote the high-quality development of the film industry with new quality productivity. ”
The header picture shows the performance photo of "Mange Xing - AI Narrative Concert". Photo courtesy of the interviewee