Those of you who are long-time follower and readers of Nerdbot know that we have a strong fondness and love of technology. We frequently report on what NASA is working on, what researchers find in the stars above, in the oceans below, and in the technology we create on this Earth. To put it another way, there’s a reason why we have a Science and Tech section. You may also know that as writers ourselves, we have taken a pretty hardline stance on the use of AI as a generator for written, visual, and audio content. So, when news started building up about an AI generated fake trailer for a “James Bond” film, we naturally had some thoughts.
The genesis for this discussion stems from a recent fake trailer for “Bond 26.” For those who aren’t aware, Daniel Craig exited the Bond franchise following 2021’s “No Time to Die,” and there’s been rampant speculation as to who the next 007 will be. A fan decided to use some editing of various film clips along with AI-generated footage to make a fake trailer of Henry Cavill (“Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” upcoming “Highlander” reboot) in the role.
Fake Trailers vs AI-Generated Ones
Fake trailers are nothing new. In fact, there’s a kind of history all to its own regarding the art form. One of my first experiences with it dates back to my college years and the early days of YouTube.
I was talking with a friend of mine about the Peter Gabriel song, “Solsbury Hill.” They told me they couldn’t think of that song now without also thinking of a fake trailer someone did for “The Shining.” Through some clever editing, voice overs, and inserting of cheery music, someone managed to recut a trailer for the horror classic to make it look like a feel good family film.
For others, the big fake trailer moment goes back to an IGN video that was also from the early days of YouTube on April Fool’s Day of 2008. The gaming website put their weight and resources into creating a professional looking trailer for a live-action “Legend of Zelda” movie. Savvy viewers would’ve realized that the effects, cinematography, and other details gave away that it wasn’t a real film, but there’s no denying the incredible amount of effort that went into making it. There was the famous “Deadpool” fake-but-real test footage that was ‘leaked,’ causing such a stir that the film got greenlit. FunnyorDie had the market cornered for a longtime with their Weird Al fake biopic trailer starring Daniel Radcliffe that was also eventually made into an actual film. So it’s not like fake trailers haven’t been good or done their job to get something made. The differences here are none of these were AI-generated.
On the more professional side of the fake trailer spectrum, we couldn’t stop raving about what “Saturday Night Live” did to create a parody “Super Mario Kart” film starring Pedro Pascal. Again, not AI-generated.
Ultimately, these things take a lot of creative energy to put together, whether it be from trying to bring the concept to life through editing, or actually having to film your own footage to bring something to life. Even if the results are staggeringly awful, at least the attempt was made with one’s own hands. And if all else fails then it reveals how powerful a tool editing really is for filmmaking. A fake trailer comprised of various clips lives or dies by how effectively it’s all strung together.
Why Fake AI-Generated Trailers are Bad
That all being said, let’s go back to the topic that brought us here. There really is nothing special about the fake “Bond 26” video. It’s a jumbled mess of disconnected images and clips with no semblance of story or character. While not fully AI-generated, enough of it is. “Henry Cavill and Margot Robbie star in James Bond 26 with filming planned for 2024,” the description states. It’s not until you get to the “read more” section where the creator admits this is “just a concept trailer,” “solely for artistic and entertainment purposes.”
This sort of all started with Deepfakes, which should have been more of an alarming thing for Hollywood. Inserting actors’ voices and likenesses into projects without permission (or frankly the rights to said projects) became a popular type of video, but it wasn’t until more recently the use of AI became more hot-topic.
This is how things get complicated. There was recently a George Carlin AI-generated stand-up routine, which was made and published without any kind of permission from the late comedian’s family. A lawsuit came from that.
AI-generated content being published had to learn from something, and it’s often pulling from the work of others who did not consent for their work to be used in this way. It’s one thing to use clever editing to create something from discernable, pre-existing pieces. It’s another thing entirely to make something “new” with AI tech without permission.
After all, it’s the humanity and the fallibility of humanity that makes things truly unique.
