The industry isn't heading for a crash. It's already in one.
I was with a bunch of animators (or Motion Designers, whatever you want to call us) watching TV in the Animators Room of one of the largest TV channels in Brazil. We all noticed something “off” about the car crash that was playing on repeat…
For a trained eye, after a little bit of analysis, this was clearly CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery). For untrained eyes it was an intense and severe car crash, with parts flying everywhere and an unbelievable finale, worth watching over and over again.
One mate ran down the maze of hallways, past journalism islands, through to the studio from where the video was being broadcast. "This is not a real car crash! This is CGI!" he stated. The producer's response came with no hesitation.
"The audience numbers are really high, don’t tell anyone, we will take it down soon."
15 years have passed since this happened. The tools have changed, but the motives are still the same. What used to require highly skilled artists to create, can now be done by any “creator” in minutes, on a phone. The barrier between fabrication and distribution has disappeared entirely.
Back then, CGI wasn’t cheap, but now, as fake AI content created by amateurs floods every screen, the industry isn’t just heading for a crash, it’s already in one.
