[Column] Antoine Houtsma: Que Sora Sora, whatever will be

When a deadline is knocking hard on my door, I'm at my best. Thoughts that normally shoot in all directions like blanks, at such a moment bundle into a very precise laser beam. That has brought me a lot as a creative in advertising. And now back to this column. Written in the nick of time. And lo and behold, the subject presented itself 1 minute before 12.

Text to video

Because Open AI introduced SORA with convincing videos. Text to video. In other words; You type in that you want to see Labrador puppies romping in the snow and that is exactly what you get. In moving image. You type in that you want to see a woman walking through Paris in the style of Amelie, filmed with a 35mm camera with anamorphic lenses. Et voilà. As the creator and director of hundreds of TV commercials, my thoughts fly in all directions.

Dub-io

What does this mean for our profession? If this is already possible. Then everything will be possible. Soon these actors will be talking in any language you want, thanks to Dub-io (don't quote me on the name). A smart translator who not only provides the voice-over with unique voices, but also immediately dubs into all possible languages. Of course without the goldfish-like gasping mouth movements that we are used to on German television.

Mozart without orchestra

And the next application of AI, let's just call it Mozart, will soon compose perhaps the most amazing film music to accompany the images. Without orchestra. Or expensive buyouts. It makes me dizzy. Far in the distance I hear a panicky voice shouting that this is the end of an important part of the revenue model in our industry. But this little voice is almost completely drowned out by enthusiastic and confused voices shouting together in my head. Because in just a little while, everything you come up with can be implemented without anyone being involved.

Apple c and apple v

That movie script that is in my drawer, which would cost millions in the old world... I can soon paste that into Sora with apples c and apples v. Then have Mozart provide film music. And then have it dubbed in 180 languages ​​by Dub-io. Just send a message to Netflix and Amazon Prime that season 2 is almost in their mailbox. They don't have to wait for striking actors or film crews. Well, once I've written it, I can convert it into images and sound while walking the dog.

The human brain

But back to our industry. The commercial. What will be the consequences here? Of course, there will always be an original strategy devised by the human brain. Seems to me. And of course, nothing beats a creatively conceived idea and script. Something that has never been thought of before. Which doesn't make any sense. So what an AI program cannot create from nothing. However?

Our industry is really going to change drastically

But in the execution? Well. Our presentations already look super slick thanks to the help of Midjourney. And we replace all the necessary parts under the hood with AI. But Sora shows that our industry is really going to change drastically. Shoots with actors in South Africa? Shoots with actors? Shoots? My eyes are opened. How scary it must be to just start in this profession.

But also incredibly exciting. Which way is this going? Who will see it fastest? Who will adapt to this the fastest? I would actually like to ask Sora and future followers Mozart and Dub-io to make the following video and provide it with music: A woman looking like Doris Day sings while she walks through a film set where a TV ad is being shot for a soda fire. The lyrics of the song are: Que sora sora, whatever will be will be. The future's not ours to see. Que sora sora.

Antoine Houtsma  is Managing Director and co-founder of Joe Public Amsterdam

www.joepublic.nl