Top Hollywood Film Schools Now Teach AI: “Teaching is Not Approving”

Film school isn't cheap. A year of graduate courses at the USC School of Cinematic Arts can cost more than $40,000. So why, you might ask, would you spend so much money learning how to use generative AI tools when you can do it at home?

That's the question film schools across the country are facing this summer as the fall semester approaches. Academia has been quietly discussing artificial intelligence for a few years now: what it means, how it will affect the art form and the business of Hollywood, and how best to teach it.

As the discourse intensifies and the technology improves, students are already becoming pros. At this point, AI is a topic that film schools need to address.

“They have to do it,” said Tim Kashani, a producer and professor at the Dodge Film School at Chapman University. “I agree that this has the potential to do more harm than good, but my philosophy is why I want all artists, educators and animators to use it now so that we don't let decisions in the sole hands of technologists. »

At Loyola Marymount University, the upcoming fall semester will introduce a new course to its film and television school: “Producing and Screenwriting with AI.” At Dodge this spring, Kashani taught an “” course around AI; it will return in spring 2025. Meanwhile, USC is investing $10 million in an AI institute that brings together the film school, journalism and other disciplines.

AI remains polarizing, but educators play a key role right now: they are able to set ground rules for the next generation of filmmakers.

“Just because we teach it doesn’t mean we approve of it,” said Holly Willis, a professor in the Media + Practices division of its film school at USC. She also directs its Center for Generative AI and Society.

“We want to create thought leaders who will help shape practices and laws in the future,” she told IndieWire. “What makes a database?” What makes a model? Where do these images come from? Who authorized the capture and sharing of these images? An ethics around all of this is also very important, and as a film school it is our duty to teach the next generation how to navigate this world ethically.

If you're horrified by the idea that database analysis is part of a curriculum traditionally focused on storytelling principles, you're not alone. Justin Trevor Winters, writer and director of Verified Labs, is also the instructor for LMU's upcoming AI course. He said students tell him that some professors are banning AI from the classroom altogether. However, after leading LMU's AI task force for the past 18 months, he has the support of the faculty.

“Is this a technology that will allow students to cheat or plagiarize? Will this keep them away from the creative profession? » Winters said. “At first we didn't have any answers, we had to see how students were going to engage with technology. »

While AI is making its way into film schools, it is not (yet) part of official curricula or a requirement for graduation. At Chapman, Kashani's course “AI: Pioneering the Future of Entertainment” isn't even a formal elective; it was offered to 17 students in the form of an “” course with an evolving program. Some did not know what an LLM was for; others knew the latest technologies before college.

Kashani said all students left with a newfound agency around AI culture, which was “very relevant” to employers.

“The class took away the fear aspect that they weren’t worthy of talking about it,” Kashani said. “They trusted that I was very transparent and said, 'Anyone who tells you they're an expert and can tell you what happens in three to five years, run.' [them] because we're all figuring this out as we go.

In the Chapman course, each week focused on how AI can impact a different part of the filmmaking workflow, from development to post-production. For the next LMU course, each week will be built around experimenting with a different AI tool; students will develop, write, produce and even broadcast a short film using technology in some form.

For example, Winters will tell students to come up with an idea completely independent of technology and then use AI to scale the idea. When teaching ChatGPT, students will use AI to summarize their idea in a single sentence. The following courses on Midjourney will allow them to create a storyboard with their ideas and get an idea of ​​the best way to film them. A crash course in Suno will teach them how to generate a score. Students will have free access to the technology through a partnership with each of the companies.

“The overall goal of the course is to encourage students to use the technology they have to create the best product possible,” Winters said. “That doesn't mean it has to be created entirely from technology or AI. That just has to be a part of it, for them to engage with technology to become better storytellers.

Willis' class focused on the history of AI, how it works, and was designed as a working lab for every tool they could get their hands on. The course attracted everyone from screenwriters to production students to game designers. USC also offered a directing course in which students gained more technical knowledge, such as learning how to move actors in virtual space using a prompt.

This course, “Contemporary Filmmaking Practice,” did not celebrate or promote AI. In fact, it was “kept on the down low,” she said, in part because it was taught during the strikes, when any discussion of AI could easily be met with “outright hostility.” simple “.

“Emotions were very high. It was really hard to even talk about it,” Willis said. “These students were very wary of AI. They didn't come and say, “Oh, I'm so excited.” They were very suspicious, upset and also reluctant to tell their friends and colleagues that they were in the class due to the animosity towards AI.

Screenwriting professors were particularly hesitant. Willis said these teachers want to nurture each student's burgeoning talents and voices, and defaulting to a chatbot could disrupt that.

Willis now says the general attitude has shifted to one of trust and respect. “You still have to understand the visual design, the staging, the editing, the timing, the rhythm. These are not things that AI can give you,” she said. “You have to have that kind of awareness and knowledge that you get from watching and studying films very carefully.”

Ed Collins, the Chapman professor of an advertising course dedicated to AI storytelling, says academia's sweet spot is finding ways to teach AI skills without replacing fundamentals.

“You can shortcut things so much that you rely on technology instead of going through the process yourself,” Collins said. “When you need to write a script, you need to write it, you need to have your teacher comment on it, edit it, change it, modify it and send you back to the drawing board. That's how we learn. »

But Collins tells his students, whatever they do, to “not be naive” about AI.

“It’s the worst option,” he said. “Because you’re going to get run over by the train.”