AI summary
Summary of article:
Xu Zheng talked about the impact of AI on the film and television industry at the Performance Education Forum. He believed that if real actors lacked soul and true and natural performance, then AI could surpass them, and stressed that comfort and confidence were the keys to good performance.
As AI has entered the film and television industry, AI short dramas and virtual actors have aroused high concern in the industry. Xu Zheng, a well-known director and actor, who is also the deputy director of the Performance Expert Advisory Committee of the Shanghai Theater Academy, recently participated in the “Fourth International Forum on Performance Education” held at the Shanghai Theater Academy and made a shocking statement about the relationship between AI and performance. He admitted that he had watched an AI face-swapping video in which his own face and voice were synthesized, and he was surprised that “the performance was very good.” He even surprisingly said, “Some live-action performances may be worse than AI. If your performance has no soul, it can be replaced by AI in minutes.”
Xu Zheng pointed out on the stage that in the face of the AI wave, he does not reject new technologies, and is even willing to try to use them. However, after watching some performance clips generated by AI, their strongest emotion was not nervousness, but helplessness and embarrassment at the performances of some of today’s real actors. He believes that AI has accumulated the subtle expressions of countless acting experts through big data, and can even accurately put “a little moisture” in the corners of the eyes. However, real actors can sometimes convey deep life energy even when their faces are completely expressionless. This is the “soul” that algorithms can never calculate.
Talking about how to resist AI replacement, Xu Zheng suggested that the industry should reset the baseline of “good performance” to “real and natural”. He further analyzed the positive cycle between “true nature” and “comfortable confidence”. The more natural an actor’s performance is, the more confident he feels inside; On the contrary, the more comfortable the actor’s position, the more he can give a good show that touches people’s hearts, and not just demonstrate routine skills.
He said with a smile that if it is used as a standard, everyone has the opportunity to become a good actor, and the new perspective that drama gives to life is “something that carbon-based organisms can do but silicon-based organisms cannot.”
In fact, Xu Zheng’s comments are the best illustration of his own acting career. He graduated from the acting department of Shanghai Theater Academy. He devoted himself to the drama stage in his early years and became famous with TV series such as “Spring and Pig”. Later, he moved to the big screen, showing his brilliant comedy skills in “Crazy Stone” and “Love Transfer”. In 2012, Xu Zheng “Acting and Directing”. He wrote, directed and starred in “The Lost World of Thailand”, which broke the box office record in Chinese film history at the time. In 2018, he also starred and produced the realistic film “I am not the God of Medicine”, which depicts the struggle of small people and the glory of humanity. He won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor, establishing his position as an iconic figure in the film industry.
Summary FAQ
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When he watched an AI face-swapping video in which his own face and voice were synthesized, he found that the effect was really good, so he was surprised that the AI could simulate a performance that was so close to a real person.
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He believes that if live-action performances lack soul and rely only on fixed routines or techniques, their performance may not be as good as AI, and there is a risk of being replaced in the future competition.
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He advocates recalibrating the standards of good performance into authenticity and naturalness, and allowing actors to cultivate confidence in relaxation, so that they can better express life energy and impress the audience.
