Using AI for video production – the RIGHT way

No matter where you look, AI seems to be everywhere at the moment. It’s impossible to avoid. And, like many folks in the creative industries, we’re equal parts fascinated and cautious about where this technology is heading.

Although AI is changing quickly, we wanted to share an honest look at how we’re currently integrating AI into our workflows – and where we’re keeping humans firmly at the helm. In some respects, this video and article is intended to be a time capsule of where we are today in 2026. There’s a good chance our opinions will change as this technology develops – and we know it’s developing rapidly.

So with that in mind, let’s take a look at how we’re currently using the technologies that fall under the umbrella of “AI”.

Streamlining Pre-Production and Planning

The most significant value we’ve found for AI is in project management and documentation.

As a production team that’s often handling up to 40 active projects at once, condensing lengthy email chains and meeting notes into simple, clear project summaries used to be a chore. But now, we use Large Language Models (LLMs) to automatically pull this information into our management systems. This gives us a far clearer, more consistent handover between our team members without losing vital details.

We also use AI as a “second set of eyes” for proofreading scripts. However, we have a firm rule not to use AI to generate scripts from scratch or to fact-check our work. We believe that to deliver our best work, we must understand the subject matter deeply enough to communicate it ourselves.

In storyboarding, generative AI has become a fantastic tool for visualising ambitious concepts. It allows us to create quick approximations of motion graphics or complex scenes so that our clients and crew are on the same page before we even pick up a camera. These sort of mockups used to take hours to create, which meant that they often got overlooked. Now they can be created in minutes.

AI in Production

When it comes to production, AI is already embedded in our cameras through features like face-detection autofocus, and subject tracking in our drones, gimbals and PTZ cameras. In fact, many of these technologies have been around for over a decade – long before the phrase “AI” became so mainstream!

Generative AI is also something we’re starting to see in creative workflows. Recently, we’ve worked on live music productions where generative AI systems create real-time, abstract visual effects that respond to our camera feeds. And our animators use generative AI to quickly create assets that match the specific style of a project. This can serve as an efficient alternative to traditional stock graphics, helping us reach the desired result faster.

That said, photorealistic AI generated video is currently very expensive to create and too inconsistent for much of our work. It’s far quicker and cheaper to pick up a camera and get the shots we need using traditional methods. AI generated video feels more appropriate as an animation or visual effects tool.

Using AI for Editing & Post-Production

Editing remains a manual, bespoke process for our team. And truthfully, it always has been. Our goal is to create bespoke, tailor-made video content that’s been designed from the ground up for its intended purpose.

That’s why we’ve never been the sort to use “off the shelf” stock templates; because our clients are paying for videos tailored to their specific needs. Right now, it doesn’t feel like AI would help us achieve our goal in a meaningful way.

However, AI is a fantastic technical assistant. We often use machine learning tools to remove background noise from audio and speech-to-text systems to create accessible subtitles. We love this type of “AI” – even if most of these technologies have pulled under the AI banner retroactively.

One area where we have a strict ban is AI-generated voiceovers. Even as voice models improve, they can’t yet match the energy, enthusiasm, and emotion that a professional human voiceover artist injects into a script. Human made voiceovers are far less robotic, unsurprisingly!

A long-term look at “AI”

We’ve been thinking deeply about how we want to use AI as a company. It’s no secret that generative AI has caused controversy amongst creatives. But we also acknowledge that we can’t bury our heads in the sand and ignore an entire class of technologies on principle, at the expense of providing the best service to our clients.

The overwhelming consensus amongst our team is that we only want to use tools that help us work faster or provide a better quality output than we can achieve manually. If an AI tool achieves that, we think it’s fair to use it.

As for AI generated video, one of the greatest strengths of traditional video is that it’s real. Video captures real moments, real stories and real products. “Artificial” content doesn’t have that benefit. Generating “AI slop” carries a real risk of damaging our clients’ brands.

If you are a real business selling real services to real customers, authenticity is your greatest asset. While we’re excited by new technologies, we remain committed to being a video production partner that leans on genuine human creativity to ensure your brand stands out.

If that sounds like the ethos of production company you’d like to work with, let’s talk.