We’ve got something new launching next week - but there’s a little soft launch link in the main story in today’s newsletter.

Plus, I’ll be at HPA on Tuesday to demo AI-powered editing tools to help get to first cuts faster (full videos and breakdown to come after). If you’ll be around let me know, just hit reply.

Joey

A Few Things To Talk About From The Super Bowl (No, Not Kendrick Lamar)

Two things to dive into with the Super Bowl. Neither has to do with the halftime show (but check out this great timelapse to see how they transformed the field in 7 minutes).

OpenAI’s Mid Super Bowl Ad

AI took center stage with a handful of ads. But the only newcomer was OpenAI, going big time with their own ad.

The reactions were…lackluster. It’s a beautiful dot-animated montage of the history of human innovation, landing on AI and ChatGPT of course.

Great animation - but didn’t really convey what ChatGPT can do for you if you don’t know anything about it (which, presumably, is who they’re trying to reach by dropping millions on the biggest advertising stage in the country).

My biggest takeaway - they really, really, really want to own the dot. And also ChatGPT is their big, consumer-focused brand. OpenAI didn’t appear once.

BTW, if you were a fan of the animation, someone built an app to dotify videos into he same style, using ChatGPT for the coding.

Best AI Commercial - Google Gemini. Heartwarming, practical, well made.

As for the rest, Addy and I break them down in the Denoised Podcast (soft launch link right there 😉)

The Scorebug - Why was it so big?

The other element that got a lot of buzzy online critique - the scorebug and how it was big, bold, and pretty basic looking. Morning Brew called it the “worst redesign since Jaguar.”

Sports TV has a compilation of every scrobug design in Fox history:

If you had to squint to read all the previous years, you might have just stumbled onto the answer as to why the new design is big, bold, and simple.

It’s for easier viewing/reading on smartphones.

Speculation, sure, but this theory was posted in the VideoEngineering subreddit, which is where most of the professionals behind the broadcasts hang out.

Big game, tiny screen. Welcome to the new world of media.

SPONSOR MESSAGE

Descript is an easy to use text based video editor for podcasts and talking head videos.

But we've been using it as part of our longer video editing process with Resolve: paper edits.

Sorting through hours of interview footage and building out a radio edit is a pain.

With Descript, I edit videos as quickly as editing a document. I import my footage, get instant transcriptions, and search through hours of content in seconds.

When I hear something I like, I highlight the text and add it to my rough-cut composition. Then I build everything out, copy and paste soundbites like I would with a text document - but the video updates too.

I can also add temp VO, scene notes, and comments. The whole team can be on the same project, working on this in real-time.

When we're done, we export an XML from Descript and bring it into our NLE of choice.

Yes, most editing apps have added some transcription support, but IMO, none of them come close to the speed and ease of use in working with text in Descript.

Try Descript today.

Legal Precedent Set in AI Copyright Lawsuit

Thomson Reuters has won a landmark AI copyright case against legal AI startup Ross Intelligence, setting a precedent that could significantly impact the ongoing battle between generative AI companies and copyright holders.

Read the full court filing here.

• U.S. District Court Judge Stephanos Bibas ruled that Ross Intelligence infringed on Thomson Reuters' copyright by reproducing materials from its legal research firm Westlaw.

• The judge rejected all of Ross Intelligence's defenses, including the crucial fair use argument often cited by AI companies.

• The ruling focused on the market impact, with Judge Bibas stating that Ross "meant to compete with Westlaw by developing a market substitute."

• This case, filed in 2020, predates the current wave of AI copyright lawsuits but may influence their outcomes.

• Ross Intelligence shut down in 2021 due to litigation costs, highlighting the financial challenges smaller AI companies face in legal battles.

But, Ross was outputting sections from Thomson Reuters’ verbatim. In this analysis by Dustin L. Taylor, it’s still unclear how this will play out in future cases where the outputs are potentially considered more transformative.

Image Source: Thomson Reuters

Virtual production techniques using LED walls and motion bases are being utilized to create realistic airplane scenes for the film "Flight Risk."

Stories, projects, and links that caught our attention from around the web:

🍦 Time to level up the Nespresso in the edit bay. SharkNinja expands its frozen empire with the Ninja Swirl by CREAMi, featuring 13 one-touch programs—because apparently, there are that many ways to make ice cream.

🎞️ A proposed bill to disclose movie preview lengths could negatively impact theater revenue and disrupt the traditional moviegoing experience.

🎥 A new Python script for Blender simulates realistic camera movement using smartphone gyroscope data, set to be released on GitHub soon.

🥽 Apple has canceled its Mac-connected AR glasses project due to performance issues and design challenges.

🌄 ARwall's ARFX Infinite Studio is officially released. It lets you create photorealistic video backgrounds with just text prompts.

👔 Virtual Production Gigs

Technical Program Manager
Mo-Sys Engineering Ltd
London, UK

Internship Program for Virtual Production
Orbital Studios
Los Angeles, CA

📆 Upcoming Events

February 16 to 20
HPA Tech Retreat 2025
Rancho Mirage, CA

March 7 to 8
Cine Gear NY 2025
New York, NY

March 7 to 15
2025 SXSW Conference & Festivals
Austin, TX

April 6 to 9
NAB Show Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV

April 9 to 10 🆕
Virtual Productions Gathering 2025
Breda, Netherlands

View the full event calendar and submit your own events here.

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