Creative agencies are saving up to three hours a day on post-production as automation and AI accelerates workflows, industry insiders say.
The split from automation would be around 40% today compared to previous years, Jack Nimble lead DP and editor Jonathan Mendoza says. Although it’s still not taking over the manual side of things.
“Which plays into that whole fear of AI taking over jobs. You still need a human on the other end to be actioning these automations,” Mendoza says.
Jack Nimble uses multiple AI programs and processes, all included in Adobe’s Premier Pro, its video editing software.
The agency uses Abode Audio Enhance daily on most dialogue jobs. It’s perfect as the team is always on tight deadlines and receives external content creator mobile videos - basic videos shot on a mobile phone, Mendoza says.
“These videos can have really basic audio quality or the creators aren't very experienced. So Audio Enhance just cuts out the background noise; it saves so much time.”
Mendoza says the agency also works alongside Adobe AI Speech to Text daily. The software, which transcribes voice to text, is helpful when searching through hours of footage and dialogue for keywords.
“For example, if I have a four-six hour shoot, as an editor, it's just grinding through hours of dialogue. With this AI text, in a matter of minutes, it scans your footage and then it converts all that speech to text,” he says.
There’s also captioning, which isn't new, but YouTube and Premiere have recently incorporated. Mendoza says previously, it took him an extensive amount of time to manually pop in the sections.
The benefit of this is faster turnarounds, he says, with it including spellcheck and auto translation.
Jack Nimble is also using DALL-E / Midjourney. It’s used frequently for storyboarding and image generation for storyboards, Mendoza says.
As well as Adobe Firefly for Photoshop. This is used daily among the team, saving hours while generating near-impossible pro digital artist-level images. It’s used for removal of unwanted background elements and background extensions, he says.
In terms of resourcing, Mendoza says that while AI won’t completely take over as (currently), a specialised human on the other end to operate the tool or prompt it is required.
It will however greatly benefit those companies and freelancers that use it in terms of speed, cost and quality — which is basically everything, he says.
“AI has closed the gap between pro-Hollywood level features/budgets and consumer-level content, raising the standard of edits for the industry as a whole.
“AI content has created its own genre of content and like any genre — some people will love it and some people will prefer good old fashioned human-made ideas with imperfections.”
Creative agency Howatson+Co’s entire engineering team is focused on AI.
“So we have closer to 30 people working on how we apply AI to our day to day workflows for efficiency improvement,” Founder and CEO Chris Howatson told AdNews.
More substantially, the agency is building proprietary data sets to inform individual client AI creative and production solutions, Howatson says. Everyone will soon have access to AI.
“We’re very focused on differentiating the inputs that drives AI.”
When Howatson first started his career, 20-25% of roles in an agency would be in production.
“There were entire floors at Clemenger and George Patts allocated to production. Roles such as finished art, photography and retouching, which expanded and grew as digital required flash developers for banners and campaign sites,” he says.
“And of course the producers, traffic and print managers who managed and orchestrated the work.”
The channel mix was very different then, Howatson says. Print was more dominant media channel and there wasn’t format standardisation across publishers so a single campaign might need to be resized a hundred times.
As a junior suit, he fondly remembers spending at least a month managing the despatch of a single national Telstra print campaign which would consume 1-2 finished artists for the same period.
“Since then digital has become a more dominant channel. The formats are highly standardised – five for display and three for social,” Howatson says.
“And a lot of the production work is managed by client inhouse teams. It’s not better or worse. Just different.”
MADE THIS, Clemenger BBDO’s specialist production company, head of creative technology Marie-Celine Merret “MC” says exciting developments in AI are occurring in the post-production realm, exemplified by Adobe's introduction of AI features in Premiere Pro.
“When considering the overarching production process, particularly in post-production-heavy roles such as motion graphics projects, AI plays a significant role in the ideation, design, and art direction phases,” she says.
“Image and video generation tools are invaluable in elevating the creativity and imagination of creative teams, enabling them to articulate concepts more deeply, especially in projects involving surreal or sci-fi art direction.”
These features from Adobe and Premiere Pro, Merret says, promise enhanced efficiencies throughout the editing workflow and offer new creative possibilities.
For example, editors can now extend footage, enriching the editing experience and reducing the need for pick up shots or B-roll when additional footage is required.
In terms of editing and VFX, significant advancements are on the horizon, particularly in the 3D space, which MADE THIS is currently exploring, Merret says.
“However, there are currently no robust solutions suitable for commercial use or capable of delivering significant efficiencies.
“While text-to-3D generation tools are improving rapidly, achieving the precise results and level of detail required for 3D work remains challenging. Ultimately, the effectiveness of these tools still relies heavily on the creative minds mastering them.”
On the programs the company uses in post-production, Merret says many AI tools are specialised for specific tasks or outputs; therefore efficiencies tend to vary depending on the project brief and scope.
Consequently, she says, the team is crafting tailored workflows and systems, leveraging automation and AI to scale content production—an especially valuable asset for clients seeking large-scale personalisation, particularly in dynamic creative scenarios.
“In terms of creative development, we typically utilise a variety of established tools, which enhance the ideation process and streamline workflows,” Merret says.
“Additionally, in collaboration with one of our group partners, we are leading the development of a platform to streamline the 3D pipeline in post-production, a venture brimming with potential.”
What percentage of processes are being automated under AI compared to previous years?
It's unclear what the exact percentage of processes being automated under AI is today compared to last year, but MADE THIS estimate having 10-15% of the processes being automated by the end of this year at the very least.
How many hours are being saved per project? What about costs?
Merret says it’s important to note that the company views technology as an enhancer.
“The craft is still mastered by our creative teams; the tools support the teams in elevating their work and enable them to focus on conceptual and strategic thinking, as well as exploring new creative territories,” she says.
While there may be savings in hours and costs, there is also significant value for clients in obtaining a greater volume of content, particularly for dynamic creative, where the goal is to achieve as many variants as possible while still maintaining the craft, ultimately achieving personalisation at scale, Merret says.
“This automation approach also facilitates greater efficiencies within short production timelines, and we anticipate that cost savings may accrue over time.”
Merret sees the future of the AI space inevitably prompting a shift in professions and job roles, particularly given the rapid progress of AI.
While some human skill sets may become obsolete, especially in tasks that AI can efficiently automate, the creative industry holds promise for elevating and celebrating human creativity, she says.
“With AI streamlining many workflow tasks, humans are poised to focus more on enhancing creative standards. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, we may observe a saturation of mediocre content as the initial hype calms down.”
In post-production workflows, the “doers” will transition into specialists excelling in niche areas and elevating their craft, Merret says. Those who master AI will likely find the most success.
“The platforms and software companies that are leading the charge in the AI space, such as NVIDIA will become at the forefront of all post-production.”
For HERO national head of production Roz Scrimshaw, AI has had very little if not zero impact on high end post-production, which is the space HERO works in.
Storyboards, pitches and animatics are the areas it’s currently most utilised, she says.
“I imagine this may change as AI improves over time.”
The creative agency uses programs such as Midjourney, Elevenlabs and Runway in both pre and post production when it’s applicable.
“It can really help us earlier on to visualise concepts in the pre-production phase,” Scrimshaw says.
Scrimshaw says AI will undoubtedly impact the entire production industry over time.
“We are only at the beginning of this technology which is improving rapidly.”
Agencies will become smaller in headcount as they become smarter with AI technology platforms, Forrester VP, principal analyst Jay Pattisall told AdNews.
Pattisal says by 2030 7.5% of agencies' roles will be replaced by automation and generative AI, Pattisall says.
“But far more agency roles will be enhanced by generative AI then will be displaced. With genAI we see a tale of two cities when it comes to agency roles.
“Administrative and process oriented positions like sales, HR, finance, project management and account management are more likely to be automated.”
While creative roles like design, writers, data scientists, strategists, directors and producer roles will be enhanced by generative AI as part of the systems and workflow, Pattisal says.
“In fact, our forecast shows that originality or creativity is the most difficult skill for genAI to replace.”
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