Depending on which experts you consult, they will likely tell you that AI is going to impact almost every area of our life in the future. Certain industries and areas of daily living have already been transformed, and some clever AI applications can save a lot of time as well as make life easier.
In the world of video, we’ve already seen many uses for artificial intelligence, especially in the field of video editing. In this article, we will explain how AI has changed video editing forever and give some examples of AI-powered applications.
What Do We Mean By AI?
Artificial intelligence isn’t just something that’s confined to science fiction films. Machines and software can already mimic some human functions. AI is closely linked to machine learning and involves the process of spotting patterns and “learning”. Intel’s newest chip that’s geared towards AI even enables them to learn in real time.
In certain industries, AI can do things that would take humans far longer. For example, analyzing huge amounts of data is an area where AI software can excel. The same technology has been applied to other areas including video editing.
The Use of AI in Video
Even when you understand the very basics, it can be hard to understand how AI is changing video editing.
While creativity and a human touch will always be required to make the best videos, artificial intelligence software can be used to cut a lot of the time that processing takes up.
We’ll get into some of the specific uses of artificial intelligence below, but as an example, let’s think about something like AI-powered background removal. This software feature enables automatic “learning” of what the background and foreground are.
There may be a few simple inputs for the user, but generally, machine learning provides the data required to cut out the background.
Of course, specific software may be required for certain different types of video editing, and different applications may have their specific functions when it comes to AI editing. Let’s look at some of the specific uses of AI in the video.
Audio Editing and Noise Removal
This is what you can find in any good PC or Mac video editor. The audio functions can make a big difference, especially if you’re filming in scenarios where you don’t have a team of audio professionals helping you.
Noise removal is one of the biggest features of a video editor. If you’ve recorded some dialog or sound effects along with your video but find any unwanted background noise, the advanced editing functions can recognize and remove it.
Video Stabilization
Video stabilization is great for videos that have been shot manually or that have a bit of movement that you don’t want to be included. We don’t always have the time or budget to use a gimbal or other stabilizing hardware, and there are often problems with taking panning shots, and other things.
One of the best options for this level of stabilization is to use a video stabilization tool. The AI software works by logging motion data and applying stabilization algorithms to your footage, making it much more smooth. The software is great whether you’re using different moving subjects, panning the camera, or using footage from different cameras.
Upscaling
AI image upscaling has been relatively popular for some time, but video upscaling has grown a lot recently, too, and some video editing software is starting to include it as standard.
Upscaling is a way to improve the resolution of a video, so if you want to turn something into a 4K video then upscaling can be the perfect way to do so. AI-powered video remastering software is a powerful bank of filters and information from other videos.
It learns the most accurate and faithful ways to upscale your video and makes it look like it was always a higher level of quality when shot.
Upscaling is historically a very difficult thing to do, but it’s growing in popularity and modern algorithms can transform a video in ways you may not have thought possible.
Color Correction and Color Matching
This is a form of AI video editing that is offered by a few different types of software including a color correction editor.
The “Color Match” function allows you to eliminate the differences between two different types of videos you have included in the scene, helping to add a good level of continuity. You can choose one clip as a reference and then open a panel that allows you to match the tones.
Pay close attention to skin tones and the challenges that matching them up can provide. This is the most obvious and noticeable discrepancy if you don’t get it right.
Other Ways AI Can Help With Video
In addition to automated video editing features that improve the look of your videos, there are a few other ways that AI can help, or may be able to help in the future as the technology continues to grow.
- Automating time-consuming and boring tasks. Certain areas of video editing take up a lot of time, but AI can perform a lot of these tasks. A great example would be aligning certain types of video and effects or even providing subtitles.
- Saving time. Having the option to process things automatically can save a huge amount of video editor’s time.
- Analyzing clips. AI has the power to analyze videos and provide some powerful detail and statistics that you may not otherwise be able to access easily, or that may require a lot of time to edit.
- Promoting videos. Marketers can use AI to write descriptions or analyze marketing opportunities for video content. A brief look at the growth of artificial intelligence in the marketing industry shows how many applications there are for AI and that it’s projected to continue growing.
- Improving how the video looks. A lot of the benefits of AI center around how the video looks. AI can help with numerous aspects of post-production and the way you can make a video. As we’ve already mentioned, you can shoot videos in relatively low definitions and then turn them into many higher-definition videos using AI upscaling feature.
Nobody knows exactly what the future will hold when it comes to AI and AI video editing. It seems inevitable that it’s going to continue to grow and become a big part of how video editing works, from small independent videos to larger companies such as big Hollywood studios.
The future of video editing will likely involve many AI features. While there still will be requirements for human input, there also will be plenty of ways AI tools can help make creative video content.
Summary: Should You Be Using AI?
AI tools aren’t just for huge video editing companies, nor are they something to be scared of. We’re not all going to be replaced by robot video editors just yet. It’s a good idea to embrace the changes now and include AI as a part of your video editing workflow, to save you a lot of time as well as improve your video quality.
AI tools may still be in their infancy somewhat, but as with other areas in the video industry like SFX, they will likely grow a huge amount in the coming years.
More video content is being produced than ever and this means that there is a huge demand for tools that can help to improve the end product. AI might be the most exciting development in the whole video industry.
