As Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos noted during the company’s last earnings report, people ultimately care most about the quality of the show/movie rather than the technology being used.
To deliver a constant stream of new content, the leading film/show providers in the Americas will be investing a total of $133B out of the global investment of more than $247B.
Hollywood/LA still represents the major center in the content world; but thanks to studio construction, tax incentives, advances in training and tools, great projects are being produced in Atlanta, Tucson, Albuquerque, Toronto, London, Berlin, Lagos, Mumbai, Seoul and other major film centers.
Allan McLennan, President of PADEM Media Group and recent President of 2G Digital Post in Burbank, noted that localization used to require hours of people painstakingly translating the audio into something folks in the target market could understand.
The fastest and most expensive approach are subtitles, which even producer Bong Joon-ho used for his Oscar-winning film Parasites. He referred to it as the one-inch subtitle barrier because it is the least expensive and most widely used way to localize a film/show.
“Even with advanced AI tools we use today on films/shows it is still time- and process-intensive to dub a project, but it is a lot more economical,” McLennan stated. “Few studios or producers would consider the daunting task of accurately lip-syncing the words with people’s faces. But using AI-enabled tools, producer James Cameron was able to localize Avatar 2 into 47 languages.”
McLennan pointed out that today, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and most of the studios now acquire and produce projects around the world for viewing in the countries where they have subscribers. Increasingly, they’re finding that the films/shows develop significant followings around the globe.
“Video stories have always transcended country borders,” he emphasized, “but AI localization just made it easier and more fun for folks to enjoy.”
That’s true but there’s one AI-enabled tool we really appreciate and that’s Netflix’s recommendations system.
Sure, we know that they use all of the information they gather from us to develop/acquire “gotta watch films/shows” in addition to “suggesting” why we can’t afford to leave them.
It’s not the only one that helps people pinpoint stuff they’d like to watch but it’s our go-to favorite when it comes to finding projects we might (will probably) enjoy.
Apple and Disney+ have good selection engines based on our viewing experience and habits but most of the others have recommendation/selection tool that’s a “work in progress.”