This interview is with Ryan Stone, Founder & Creative Director at Lambda Films London.

Ryan Stone, Founder & Creative Director, Lambda Films London

Welcome, Ryan! Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your journey to becoming an expert in video production and marketing?

I studied Film & TV at university, but at that moment in my life, I was aspiring to work in feature films as a director. However, during my time making films and working in the industry, I found that I enjoyed the more commercial side of it—making short and impactful adverts, commercials, and branded films. At the time of my graduation in 2009, Facebook was making its way into the public consciousness and YouTube was beginning to be seen as a viable marketing platform. I started my video marketing company, and as a young person creating online video, the company quickly became a success. We've now been going for 15 years and have seen a raft of changes in the production industry, trends in audience and consumer behavior, and not to mention a myriad of broadcasting platforms and styles. We've worked across almost every industry and produced films from short adverts to long-form documentaries.

What key experiences or decisions led you to embrace AI in your video work, and how did that change your approach?

From my studies, I know that the film and entertainment industry has faced numerous 'industry-killer' technologies in its time. From sound and color, to TV, the internet, and the power of the 4K camera in a phone. However, when we look back, we see that not only did it not destroy the industry, but it developed it and took it to exciting new places. We reasoned that AI was just the latest technology in this saga. So, we ensured that we embraced it, educated ourselves, and built it into our workflow. With that decision, we found we were able to produce more effective pitch documents and concept art, we could easily script technical pieces and create complex documents, and finally, the wealth of AI tools that support post-production has allowed us to improve the speed and efficiency of this stage, as well as improve the quality of certain aspects of the production in post.

You mentioned using AI for storyboarding and pre-production. Can you walk us through a specific example of how these AI tools improved a video project, and what advice would you give to someone just starting to experiment with them?

The most effective use of AI that we've seen started at the pitching stage. We were offered a long-form 3D animation project—for which we had no experience. However, we could use Midjourney and Generative AI to create accurate concept art to support our ideas. With such a convincing and developed pitch deck, we won the project. Tools like ChatGPT were used to help refine the storyline, as well as provide a platform for research and fact-checking. I would always advise people to just have a play with these tools, watch some tutorials, and see what's possible and let that open your mind to the creative possibilities. Don't think of it as a technology that will replace you; see it as a way to improve what you're doing. Ultimately, AI alone won't be able to do any better than a human-and-AI combo.

Many video creators are hesitant about AI, fearing it might replace human creativity. How do you see the balance between human input and AI assistance in creating compelling video content?

AI is a tool, and certainly, at the moment, it relies on existing data to generate creative work. By its nature, then, AI won't ever really create original work unless it has human thinking behind it.

Your work has attracted attention from major brands like PUMA. What advice would you give to video creators seeking to collaborate with large companies and showcase their AI-powered production skills?

You have to just create and get your work out there. When you've completed a project using AI, don't be afraid to talk about it, explore it, and demonstrate how you used it and what decisions were taken. A lot of brands want to understand AI right now but can't because of top-down bureaucracy, so they look to creators to support them. If you're visible with your work, then you'll get the attention.

Looking at the evolving landscape of AI tools, which specific advancements excite you the most in terms of their potential impact on video production and marketing?

Text-to-video is the major advancement which will have a profound impact on the production industry. This comes from tools such as Sora, Luma, and Runway. These tools will allow people to create whole videos from their computer. While that may sound scary, these videos will likely remain abstract and nonsensical for many years to come; however, this approach does favor content like music videos. For commercial production, text-to-video provides an opportunity to add fantastical visuals to organic video to help elevate the look and feel of a project.

With AI-generated content becoming more prevalent, how can creators ensure their work stands out and maintains authenticity in a potentially crowded landscape?

It is likely that audiences will want to ensure a degree of content remains authentic, and so leaning on behind-the-scenes content to support your projects will become quite valuable. Be honest and open about where the lines between AI and organic production are.

What advice would you give to your younger self just starting out in the world of video production, knowing what you know now about AI and its potential?

I wouldn't change my journey, to be honest. I was lucky enough to ride the online-video boom and build a successful business on the back of it. AI will be inevitable, and I don't feel like there's much to do to prepare for it.