Waheed Zamani From Bavaria Film: “Suddenly Things Become Possible”

Mr. Zamani, you have been working in the field of VFX, i.e. visual effects, for years. What of what you used to have to do manually can now be done by AI?

Waheed Zamani: An enormous amount. AI is already an integral part of our workflow – and we can’t imagine life without it. But it won’t simply replace humans. AI still needs to be controlled, monitored and often corrected.

Especially in our field, generative AI has to be creative, which is also its strength. At the same time, it sometimes produces things that have to be “caught” again. In addition, AI does not always work consistently, it forgets things. This is precisely why we still need people and classic VFX processes.

The use of AI is shifting: from post-production to material development

Nevertheless, that sounds like a radical change.

Waheed Zamani: Absolutely. We see that processes are shifting. Things that used to happen in post-production or visual effects are now moving to the front – to development and pre-production. That’s an enormous change.

Before we take a closer look, let’s talk about your role at Bavaria Film. You have taken on the new role of Head of AI Solutions. Why was this position created?

Waheed Zamani: Because we have seen: With AI, the industry is facing something that needs to be understood and shaped early on. Bavaria Film has over a hundred years of experience and a long history of innovation. It is part of our self-image not only to observe new technologies, but to actively translate them into meaningful processes. That’s exactly what my role is all about.

What does that mean in concrete terms?

Waheed Zamani: I’m looking at which AI models and workflows are really suitable for professional film productions. How can AI be used in a real production environment? How do you combine models? How can you fine-tune them? What infrastructure do you need for this? How do you build workflows that are stable enough for large productions?

And what does your everyday life look like?

Waheed Zamani: I’m involved in new film or series projects much earlier. I originally came from production and post-production, but now I’m already involved in script development. Together with the teams, we look at where AI can help – sometimes in the script phase, sometimes in the financing phase.

For example, we use AI to visualize projects: with mood boards, look designs or trailers. This is helpful because you get a feel for what a material can look like earlier on.

AI helps to keep the risk of productions more manageable

So AI is not just at the end, but right at the beginning?

Waheed Zamani: Exactly. That’s one of the biggest changes. Many things that used to be done later can now be tested, built and even partially completed in advance. You can use AI to train looks in advance, create visual worlds and design complex scenes in advance.

As soon as a project starts, the question arises: Which scene really needs to be shot – and which can be done differently? Very elaborate scenes are particularly exciting. I look at whether parts can be generated or supplemented with AI instead of implementing everything classically.

Do you have an example?

Waheed Zamani: Let’s take scenes that involve a lot of risk or great logistical effort – explosions, war scenes, complicated exterior motifs. In the past, this was often either very expensive or simply not feasible. Today you can work in hybrid setups: One part is shot in real life, one part is later supplemented with AI.

Does this mean less green screen, more AI?

Waheed Zamani: In some cases, yes. You no longer necessarily need large green screen setups, but can combine image components directly with each other. There are also new possibilities: I can change poses, adjust emotions, shift angles, in other words work with material differently than before.

That sounds like you are not working with the usual consumer tools.

Waheed Zamani: No, not at all. We work in the professional sector with very complex setups, for example with software such as ComfyUI. These are not simple tools, but systems in which you build your own workflows and combine different AI models with each other. I adapt these workflows for each project or even set them up from scratch in some cases.

The computing power often comes from data centers with special GPUs. The data is sent there and the images or sequences are calculated there.

Ambitious material can now also be realized here, not just in Hollywood

What makes these new opportunities interesting for a location like Bavaria?

Waheed Zamani: A lot. It’s a real opportunity for Bavaria and Germany in particular. We’ve often looked “across the pond” and seen what’s possible there because the financial resources were huge. We weren’t able to tell many stories the way we wanted to because we didn’t have the budgets of the big US studios.

We can narrow this gap with AI. Suddenly, things are possible that would have previously failed due to budget constraints. AI gives us the chance to realize more ambitious material here too – with a combination of traditional production and new AI workflows.

So more Hollywood quality with less money?

Waheed Zamani: Exactly. We are becoming more competitive internationally.

At the same time, there are great fears in the industry: actors and dubbing actors are protesting. Copyright and the human creative signature seem to be in danger. How do you view this?

Waheed Zamani: These concerns are absolutely understandable. Of course, you have to deal with them very sensitively. But the film industry has experienced massive upheavals throughout its history and has adapted to them.

And I don’t believe that everything will suddenly be done with AI. A lot of things will continue to be created in the classic way. Especially for series with existing sets or recurring backdrops, it often makes no sense to do something completely different.

But will there still be a need for human actors in the future if entire scenes, for example for action sequences, are already being generated by AI?

Waheed Zamani: Definitely. AI is strong in perfection. But it’s precisely the imperfection, the subtle nuances, the human touch in the face – that’s what we identify with. These nuances are still missing in AI today. And I believe they are central to why acting touches us. That’s why we will continue to need human actors.

Pure AI productions as a separate format

Does that mean there will be no AI-only productions?

Waheed Zamani: Yes, but not as a substitute, but as a narrative form in its own right. AI can help to create new characters and new forms – for example virtual characters or comic-like worlds. Then you haven’t displaced anyone, but established something new.

What do you think the film industry will look like in ten years’ time?

Waheed Zamani: AI will give us a boost in quality. It will also be possible to produce much more. At the same time, competition will become more globalized.

AI makes it possible to localize content to a greater extent. For example, you could produce different versions of a movie for different countries, even though you only really shot it once. A successful film set in Germany could be shot once with German actors and then played in India in a version with Indian actors that was created using AI.

Nevertheless, the competition will be decided even more by the story. Image quality alone is not enough. We have already seen this with earlier technological leaps. If many productions worldwide can achieve similar visual quality in the future, the question will become even more important: who tells the better stories?