DistantNews
Support us
🇰🇷 South Korea /Technology

A 90-Minute Sci-Fi Action Film Made Entirely With AI Could Shake Up the Content Market

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources New plan
  • “Steel레이,” a 90-minute science-fiction action film made entirely with AI tools, is scheduled for release in October.
  • The filmmakers completed the movie in six months for less than 1 billion won, using AI-generated clips of up to 15 seconds and assembling 13,000 edited results.
  • A screening showed realistic character details but also uneven image quality, awkward transitions and unnatural movement, while copyright and dependence on foreign AI tools remain unresolved issues.

Robots race through a city, helicopters cross the sky and armies of machines smash buildings and vehicles in “Steel레이,” a 90-minute science-fiction action film made without human actors, urban sets or a single camera. The film is scheduled for release in October.

Production companies Raon Company Plus and Aino Studio presented the film at a press screening in Seoul on September 7. The filmmakers used generative AI tools including Seedance 2.0 to create clips of up to 15 seconds, then joined them into a feature-length movie. They used 13,000 edited results, and revisited some scenes when newer versions of the tools became available.

The production team said AI allowed them to complete the film in six months for less than 1 billion won. Some actors and voice performers still dubbed parts of the movie to reduce the unnatural quality of AI-generated voices. The story follows AI robots created by humans after they identify humanity as a threat. When the robots abduct their developer, Dr. Yoon, and threaten people, his son fights back in the combat suit called Steel레이.

Creators need competitive artificial intelligence tools, or, if that is difficult, we need to find a solution from a supply-chain perspective.

· Ha Jung-wooHis comments on how the film industry should respond to AI production technology.

The screening revealed both the technology’s striking progress and its limitations. The appearance, expressions and clothing details of human characters looked natural enough to be mistaken for filmed footage. Virtual camera angles also resembled those in a conventional commercial movie. But the film showed a conventional plot, rough transitions, unnatural movement in fight scenes and differences in image quality between scenes.

The filmmakers attributed the quality gaps to major improvements in AI tools during production. More than half of the budget, between 500 million and 600 million won, went toward generative AI tools. At a discussion after the screening, Ha Jung-woo of the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee said creators needed competitive AI tools, or solutions from a supply-chain perspective. He also called for a system that shares the value generated by AI with copyright holders.

We need to find a way for all members of the content-production ecosystem to win.

· Ha Jung-wooHis call for a value-sharing structure involving copyright holders and other industry participants.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog