While much of the public discourse continues to focus on the capabilities of individual AI tools, the more significant conversation for educators and industry practitioners concerns how these technologies integrate with established production methodologies and what this means for future workforce development.
A recent demonstration by ViZARTS Collaboratorium at Aalborg University, Real or UnreAI?, provides an insightful case study in this regard. Developed during the AI & Virtual Production for Filmmakers Workshop at Aalborg University’s Virtual Production Training Facility, the project challenged two multidisciplinary production teams to explore how generative AI could support set extensions, inserts and cutaway sequences within a broader virtual production workflow.
Rather than positioning AI as a replacement for filmmaking practice, the workshop explored how emerging AI technologies can coexist alongside established virtual production techniques, including in-camera visual effects (ICVFX), Unreal Engine, camera tracking, rear projection and practical production methods. The result is less a demonstration of AI’s creative capabilities than an exploration of how filmmakers, artists and technical specialists can collaborate within an evolving production ecosystem.
This distinction is significant.
AI Is Becoming Part of the Production Pipeline
The participating teams combined AI image generation with production design, cinematography, virtual production technologies, Unreal Engine, camera tracking, editing and practical filmmaking techniques to deliver completed scenes within an intensive three-day workshop.
The production credits themselves reflect this interdisciplinary approach. Alongside directors, cinematographers, editors and production designers, the project introduces roles centred on AI-assisted cinematography, illustrating how emerging technologies are beginning to integrate into existing creative departments rather than replacing them entirely.
For educators, this is an important observation. As AI becomes increasingly embedded within production environments, graduates will need to understand not only individual tools but also how those tools operate alongside established filmmaking disciplines.
Communication Remains the Defining Professional Skill
Perhaps the strongest reflection emerging from the workshop is one that extends well beyond artificial intelligence.
Successful AI-assisted production depends upon communication.
Prompt engineering is often described as communicating with an AI system, yet this represents only one layer of a much broader collaborative process. Directors must communicate creative intent. Cinematographers translate that intent into visual language. Production designers establish the physical and virtual environments in which stories unfold. Technical specialists bridge software, hardware and production requirements. Throughout the process, ideas are continually refined through discussion, iteration and shared decision-making.
Artificial intelligence does not reduce the importance of communication within production teams. If anything, it increases it.
As AI-assisted workflows become more sophisticated, the ability to articulate creative intent across multidisciplinary teams remains fundamental to successful production outcomes.
Exploration Requires Different Tools Than Delivery
An equally valuable insight concerns where AI contributes most effectively within the production process.
Generative AI excels during phases of exploration. It enables rapid visual experimentation, supports location ideation, assists concept development and allows creative teams to evaluate multiple possibilities within relatively short timeframes.
However, as productions move towards final delivery, requirements shift towards precision, repeatability and creative control. These remain defining characteristics of established virtual production workflows, where technologies such as Unreal Engine, camera tracking and in-camera visual effects provide filmmakers with deterministic, repeatable results that can be refined throughout production.
Rather than viewing AI and traditional virtual production as competing methodologies, Real or UnreAI? demonstrates how they can occupy complementary positions within a broader production pipeline.
Reflections for Virtual Production Education
These observations strongly resonate with discussions taking place across the Virtual Production Studio Network’s professional development activities, including the recent Train the Trainer Onsite Workshop at Breda University of Applied Sciences.
Although developed independently, both initiatives arrive at remarkably similar conclusions.
Future virtual production education cannot be centred solely on software proficiency. Graduates require strong foundations in cinematography, storytelling, production design and collaborative practice alongside an understanding of how emerging AI technologies may support those existing workflows.
Equally important is the ability to evaluate when AI offers genuine production value and when conventional production methodologies remain the more appropriate solution.
This reflects a broader shift within virtual production education: technological literacy is becoming inseparable from professional judgement.
Looking Beyond the Tools
As AI continues to evolve, it is tempting to evaluate progress through the capabilities of individual platforms. Yet projects such as Real or UnreAI? suggest that a more productive conversation lies elsewhere.
The future of virtual production is unlikely to be defined by AI alone, just as it has never been defined solely by LED volumes, real-time rendering or camera tracking. Instead, it will continue to be shaped by the thoughtful integration of technologies within collaborative production environments.
For educators, researchers and industry practitioners, this reinforces an important principle. The technologies will continue to evolve, but the capabilities that underpin successful production —communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creative decision-making — remain central to professional practice.
As the virtual production ecosystem continues to mature, these human capabilities may prove to be the most enduring technologies of all.
Further Viewing
This commentary was inspired by Real or UnreAI?, produced by ViZARTS Collaboratorium at Aalborg University as part of its AI & Virtual Production for Filmmakers Workshop. The project showcases collaborative experimentation with AI-assisted virtual production workflows and is well worth watching in full.
We also encourage readers to explore the work of ViZARTS Collaboratorium, whose research and educational initiatives continue to examine the intersection of AI, virtual production and contemporary filmmaking.
For readers interested in educator-focused perspectives on these themes, the Virtual Production Studio Network has also published reflections from its recent Train the Trainer workshop, exploring many of the same questions surrounding interdisciplinary collaboration, emerging technologies and the future of virtual production education.
