AI-Native Studios Can Build IP, VFX Veteran Tells Busan Panel — SkimNews
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- Hong Jae Cheol, producer-director at Viscode and former Industrial Light & Magic artist who worked on "Iron Man," "Transformers" and "Pirates of the Caribbean," argued at Busan's InnoAsia AI Creators Camp that AI-native companies can develop their own IP while traditional studios keep their edge in established franchises, production infrastructure, talent and distribution.
- Hong framed the shift as moving "from using AI to generate individual images toward using AI as part of a complete production workflow," positioning AI as a partner with human creativity rather than a wholesale replacement for existing studios.
- Hong outlined an AI-assisted pipeline in which actors perform on a controlled set, AI generates environments and visual elements, and VFX artists handle tracking, integration and finishing — contrasted against a traditional live-action flow involving 3D assets, animation, rendering and compositing.
- Mark Wachholz, chief creative director of Berlin-based Dreamkite Studios, whose AI films "The Cinema That Never Was" and "Céremony" won top prizes at AI film festivals, described AI co-creation as "exploring instead of controlling" and "finding instead of knowing," arguing new tools demand new ways of thinking.
- Director Ahn Jaehong of Climax Studio, who turned to AI filmmaking after arm injuries ended his on-set work, mapped a full AI workflow from prompts and camera information through storyboards, shot lists, character and prop sheets to keyframes.
- Hong summed up the panel's shared view: "AI is just a tool; film is a sequence" — with human direction and VFX expertise still determining how AI-generated images fit together on screen.
Why it matters: Three filmmakers from different AI-adoption stages — a VFX veteran, an AI-festival winner, and a director forced into AI by injury — publicly endorsed the same hybrid thesis, signaling that the AI-vs-studio framing pushed by some industry voices may be giving way to a coexistence model. For traditional studios, the panel's argument preserves their franchise and infrastructure moats but concedes that automated pipelines can challenge them in original IP creation.
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