SUBJECT AREA 

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Professional Practice and Creative Control in Virtual Production Workflows: A Case for a New Creative Role. 

RESEARCH QUESTION 

1. How is artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping professional roles and collaborative workflows in virtual production (VP) for film and commercial content creation?

2. To what extent does AI influence creative decision-making and authorship in VP-driven content creation? 

3. What ethical issues arise from AI’s use in digital replication, authorship, and creative autonomy within VP? 

 

AIM 

To investigate how AI reshapes creative authorship in VP, introducing new paradigms of co-authorship between practitioners and intelligent systems. 

 

OBJECTIVES 

• Understand how AI is reshaping roles, responsibilities, and collaborative practices in VP, including the emergence of new creative roles.  

 

• Explore practical challenges and opportunities in integrating AI tools into VP workflows.  

 

• Evaluate how AI influences creative decision-making and artistic control and authorship.  

 

• Analyse the ethical implications of AI in VP, particularly regarding digital replication and creative consent.  

 

• Contribute to a broader understanding of how AI and VP are transforming production structures across creative industries.  

 

RESEARCH CONTEXT 

Historical Context 

VP has evolved rapidly, shaping both production practices and aesthetics. Milestone projects include Jurassic Park (1993), showcasing digital realism, Avatar (2009), which advanced motion capture and virtual environments, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), which blended practical and digital effects More recently, The Mandalorian (2019–) redefined cinematography via LED volume stages and Unreal Engine, displacing traditional location shooting. Films such as Apollo 11 (2019) restored historical footage using machine learning techniques, while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) merged AI and VP to produce culturally grounded, photorealistic sets. 

Ethical debates emerged with Rogue One (2016) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), where the digital recreation of deceased actors prompted concern over consent and posthumous performance. These examples highlight the entanglement of authorship, ethics, and AI-enabled production. 

Contemporary Context 

AI and VP are now embedded in cross-sector workflows, spanning the creative industries. In advertising, Adidas’s Virtual Try-On uses AI to tailor consumer experiences, while Burberry’s augmented reality (AR) campaigns blend digital engagement with VP aesthetics. Firms use Epic Games’ MetaHuman to populate immersive walkthroughs, and Google Arts & Culture deploys virtual reality (VR) to reconstruct historical spaces.  

These developments not only enhance technical capacity but also reshape creative hierarchies, challenge traditional authorship models, and introduce hybrid professional roles across creative teams. The increasing use of AI to generate environments, props, and set extensions – often in real time – positions it not merely as a tool, but as an aesthetic decision-making partner, particularly in production design and digital location management. 

Given the rapid pace of innovation, this study recognises that new innovations will continue to emerge during the research period and seeks to reflect on this fluidity as part of its inquiry. 

Theoretical Context 

This research draws on posthumanism, media industry studies, and computational theory. 

Posthumanist frameworks: Hayles (1999), Zylinska (2019), and Baudrillard (1994) interrogate blurred boundaries between human and machine agency, highlighting tensions in authorship and originality. Plato’s theory of mimesis and Benjamin’s “aura” provide classical foundations for debates on reproduction and authenticity. 

Media Industry Studies: Caldwell (2008) introduces the concept of “production culture” as a framework for examining how tech shapes creative identity. Stahl’s (2005) theory of non-proprietary authorship further critiques authorship in team-based creative industries. Wells (1998) provides insight into the layered nature of animated storytelling, while Mihailova (2016) discusses uncredited labour in motion capture.  

Gadassik (2015) and Gambrell (2009) explore how animation has historically been tied to motion analysis and labour efficiency particularly through its connections to Taylorist time-motion studies. Their insights provide a valuable lens for understanding AI’s impact on production pace, role fragmentation, and the performative demands of hybrid creative work.