Inception, and CGI and AI in Filmmaking
Inception
Inception is a sci-fi/heist film written and directed by Christopher Nolan that was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including for Art Direction, and won four, including for Visual Effects [IMDb]. The film centered around Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his team trying to perform “Inception,” which is the act of placing a unique original thought in someone else's mind. The film follows Cobb and his team stealing secrets from people's minds, being paid by the highest bidder (Wikipedia). The film uses grand sets and art design, from running freight trains through city blocks to flooding Japanese castles and hotel rooms. Under the direction of Christopher Nolan, the film’s carefully planned, practical sets and visual effects offer a unique visual spectacle filled with twists and turns and a compelling story.
Brad Ricker, the Supervising Art Director for Inception, described a scene in Inception which was done on set in an actual hotel that was redesigned to fit the specifications of director Christopher Nolan. The scene serves as a transition and first of many plot twists in the exposition of the movie, showing viewers the dream world and the real world and how what’s happening in the real world can bleed into the dream state.
Mr. Ricker told us a story about how his personal briefcase was used by the film's prop master during the planning phase of Inception.
CGI
Computer-Generated Imagery first emerged as an assistive technology in filmmaking with Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo in 1958, which used a nearly half-tonne WWII aircraft targeting computer and some simple mechanical tricks to create an endlessly swirling spiral (Scippo, 2025).
As innovations in computing power developed into the 80’s, the capabilities of CGI were exemplified in the 1982 movie TRON, which showed viewers a completely virtual world and set the groundwork for sci-fi films to come (Scippo, 2025).
With the advancements in computer technology, many software companies developed a variety of software to address the various needs of filmmakers, with many film studios making proprietary software, such as Disney’s Computer Animation Production System (CAPS). CAPS allowed artists to put hand-drawn sketches into the software to ink and paint digitally. Building off the CAPS software was another proprietary software by Disney called Deep Canvas, which allowed hand-drawn 2D characters to move around a virtual 3D set, notably used in Tarzan (Allison, 2022).
AI in Movies
AI is being implemented in many industries, including the film industry, often causing controversy. While many see AI as a “cop-out” to creativity, others see it as an innovative and effortless way to generate creative ideas. Those who support it see the time and cost-saving efforts that it brings, while others see it as a crime against creativity and fear the loss of the human touch. A recent survey found that 48% of film professionals use AI in some capacity for scriptwriting, casting, and editing (Sultan, 2025). Director Paul Schrader, who was one of the scriptwriters for Taxi Driver, admitted on social media that he uses ChatGPT to help generate movie ideas. (Windsor, 2025). In our interview with Brad Ricker, he told us that directors for commercials have approached him to design art and set design based on images they have generated through AI.
Eric Millikin, an artist and an assistant visual art professor at UMBC, specializes in AI art and has used AI for many of his works, including in short films. He shared his thoughts and some history of the use of AI in filmmaking.
Recent films have used AI, including AI voice enhancements in The Brutalist, which garnered controversy in the film world. According to the film's editor, David Jancso, the use of the AI voice modification tool Respeecher from Ukraine was used to “create Hungarian dialogue so perfect that not even locals will spot any difference” (Windsor, 2025). Jansco says that the scope of the AI use was “replacing letters and vowels here and there” and was backed up by Director Brady Corbet who said that “The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.”
Another controversial movie has come under fire for its use of AI voice enhancement, the musical film Emilia Perez by Jacques Audiard. Lead actor Karla Sofía Gascón’s voice was enhanced by Respeecher to increase her vocal register and was combined with French pop artist Camille, who helped write the film’s score to help achieve this. (Pulver, 2025) On the other hand, in an act of defiance against AI, the horror thriller Heretic concluded its credits with the following message: “No generative AI was used in the making of this film” (Pulver, 2025).
References
Alexa, L. (2023, December 22). Disney loses MOVA VFX technology infringement case. Animation World Network. https://www.awn.com/news/disney-loses-mova-vfx-technology-infringement-case
Allison, A. (2022, January 23). Disney and pixar’s most innovative animation technologies explained. Collider. https://collider.com/disney-pixar-animation-technologies-explained/
Pulver, A. (2025, January 20). The Brutalist and Emilia Perez’s voice-cloning controversies make AI the new awards season battleground. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/20/the-brutalist-and-emilia-perezs-voice-cloning-controversies-make-ai-the-new-awards-season-battleground
Richard Windsor, The Week UK. (2025, January 22). The Brutalist, AI and the future of cinema. The Week. https://theweek.com/culture-life/film/the-brutalist-ai-and-the-future-of-cinema
Scippo, G. (2025, January 23). What is CGI? A Look at Its History. 3D Architectural Visualisation & Rendering Services in UK. https://www.3dlines.co.uk/a-short-history-of-cgi/
Sultan, O. (2025, January 3). A new dawn for storytelling: The intersection of AI and cinema. Hack Read. https://hackread.com/a-new-dawn-storytelling-intersection-of-ai-cinema/
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 25). Inception. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception