WHAT GENERATIVE AI REALLY MEANS FOR CREATIVE PRODUCTION

Generative AI has quickly become one of the most talked-about developments in the creative industries. From concept imagery and storyboards to automated editing tools, the technology is increasingly appearing across agency and production workflows. 

But beyond the headlines and hype, the real question isn’t whether AI will be used in creative production. It’s how it’s used and who is guiding it. 

At its best, generative AI accelerates ideation, unlocks new visual possibilities and helps creative teams explore ideas faster than ever before. But technology alone doesn’t create great work. High-quality creative production still relies on human judgement, creative direction and craft. 

For studios, the opportunity lies in understanding where generative AI genuinely adds value within the production process. 

AI adoption is accelerating

Generative AI is moving rapidly from experimentation to everyday use. Creative teams across advertising, film and digital production are increasingly incorporating AI tools into their workflows, particularly during early development. 

Recent research from ISBA shows the proportion of advertisers reporting at least one live generative AI use case has more than quadrupled, rising from 9% in April 2024 to 41% by July 2025. 

For production companies and creative studios, this doesn’t mean replacing traditional production methods. AI is becoming another tool alongside live-action filmmaking, CGI, animation and post-production. 

The key is knowing where it can enhance the creative process without compromising quality or originality. 

Faster ideation and concept development

One of the most immediate benefits of generative AI is the ability to explore visual directions rapidly during the early stages of a project. 

Concept development traditionally requires time to create mood boards, frames and visual references. AI tools can accelerate this stage by generating visual starting points that creatives refine and develop. 

Rather than waiting days to test how a particular aesthetic might look, teams can explore multiple directions within hours as opposed to days. These outputs rarely become the final result. Instead, they act as prototypes that guide creative discussions and help directors and art teams refine their ideas earlier in the process. 

Supporting pre-production and visual testing

Generative AI is also proving valuable during pre-production, helping teams experiment with environments, lighting styles and visual worlds before committing to expensive production stages. 

A good example of this approach can be seen in our Christmas campaign for Biffa. Generative AI was initially used to explore visual concepts during development, and the project ultimately evolved into a fully AI-driven production. 

Instead of a traditional location shoot involving large crews and multiple actors, the film was created using a series of bespoke AI workflows developed by our team. Each workflow solved a different creative challenge and was deliberately chosen to unlock new possibilities rather than simply replace traditional craft. 

The result was a much larger visual world, produced with significantly lower costs and a reduced carbon footprint compared to a large-scale location shoot. 

Projects like this demonstrate where generative AI works best. Used thoughtfully, it allows teams to think bigger, overcome production constraints and explore creative ideas that might otherwise be difficult to realise. 

Expanding creative possibilities

Generative AI is also opening new possibilities for visual storytelling. 

Because AI tools can generate environments and compositions that are difficult to prototype through traditional methods, they can act as a catalyst for creative thinking. Directors and designers can explore unusual aesthetics and imaginative worlds far earlier in the process. 

Our work for luxury jeweller David Morris illustrates this well. For the brand’s gifting campaign, we created a series of fantastical environments that the model moves through as part of the film’s narrative. Rather than building these worlds entirely using traditional CGI pipelines, the project combined live-action elements with AI-generated environments. 

Using generative AI in this way allowed the team to produce multiple visual worlds more efficiently than a conventional virtual production workflow. Creating environments through traditional CGI pipelines or Unreal-based virtual production can be time-intensive and costly. By developing AI-driven background workflows, we achieved the same sense of scale and richness with significantly greater speed and cost efficiency. 

Importantly, the production still relied on traditional filmmaking craft (lighting, composition, styling and direction) with AI acting as a creative extension of the process. 

AI as a creative tool, not a replacement

Despite rapid advances in generative AI, the technology still relies heavily on human direction. 

AI can generate images and concepts, but it doesn’t understand storytelling, emotion or brand identity. Without strong creative leadership, outputs can quickly become generic or disconnected from the narrative a brand is trying to tell. 

Creative directors, filmmakers and designers provide the vision, taste and context that turn ideas into compelling work. In many ways, generative AI amplifies the importance of creative expertise: the stronger the direction, the more powerful the tool becomes. 

Moving beyond the hype

Like many emerging technologies, generative AI has been surrounded by claims that it will replace entire creative processes. 

In practice, the greatest benefits come from targeted use cases. Using AI to accelerate ideation, support pre-production and enable rapid visual experimentation can deliver genuine efficiencies without sacrificing the craft of production. 

Rather than replacing creative teams, AI is becoming another tool that helps them explore ideas faster and push creative boundaries further. 

The future of AI in creative production

Generative AI is likely to become a standard part of the creative production toolkit in the coming years. 

As tools evolve, they will continue to open new possibilities for visual storytelling and experimentation. But the foundations of great creative work will remain the same. 

For studios and agencies, the real opportunity isn’t simply adopting AI - it’s integrating it thoughtfully into the creative process. 

When used well, generative AI doesn’t replace creativity. It expands it.