Endurance, the new documentary by Free Solo filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, uses AI to bring Ernest Shackleton’s diary entries to life through the explorer’s own voice — a creative decision which the pair staunchly defend despite the controversies surrounding the technology. Artificial Intelligence is becoming an increasingly hot topic for conversation in the film and TV industries, as creatives fight against the exploitative use of the tech, while studios are eager to embrace the tool for its cost-effectiveness. Some recent movies and shows, including Civil War, Late Night With the Devil, and Secret Invasion, have come under fire for using generative AI (which steals from other artists to “create” new images).
However, Endurance‘s use of AI feels more considered and respectful, something which Chin and Vasarhelyi were eager to get right during post-production. During an interview with MovieWeb, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi discussed their reasons behind using AI in Endurance, and its application as a “tool,” rather than something to be feared. “The Respeecher technology used in Endurance is a tool,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi began. To bring the story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew to life, Chin and Vasarhelyi used old audio recordings of the crew and channeled them through Respeecher to have select crew members read their own diary entries from the perilous journey.
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The pair used AI selectively in the documentary, and stand firmly behind those who want the potentially dangerous technology to be legislated and overseen by lawmakers and industry unions. She continued:
“[AI] is a craft tool, and our use of it can’t really be weighed against — Everyone should really try and educate themselves as much as possible and pressure our lawmakers to govern and legislate AI, as well as employ ethical uses [and] standards. We are very clear on that. We support our unions too, because these are really important questions.”
As well as AI recreations of the crew of the Endurance, the documentary also features footage taken from the crew’s onboard camera operator, Frank Hurley (one of the early pioneers of exploration photography and filmmaking). The footage has been re-rendered and colorized to give the best depiction yet of Shackleton’s unbelievable journey of survival.
For Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, AI was selected as a filmmaking tool much in the same way as a blockbuster movie uses CGI, or Christopher Nolan selects an IMAX camera. The pair decided that recreating the crewmembers’ voices was the best and most emotional path into the story. But, because this happened over a century ago, there is no possible way to achieve that without AI. Vasarhelyi continued:
“We looked at the contemporary tool available to us as an opportunity. The way into the Shackleton story is the diaries. And the diaries are copious. They’re full of personality. They give us different perspectives, but are all primary sources of the same event. And this idea came to us about, what if you could actually hear someone’s words about an event in their own voice?”
Endurance tells simultaneous stories, set a century apart. Using footage captured by Hurley and the diary entries of the crew, one half of the doc tells the unbelievable story of Ernest Shackleton’s failed expedition to Antarctica, in which he and his crew had to survive a year and a half on the frozen continent. Meanwhile, the doc also shows the 2022 expedition to find Shackleton’s sunken ship, the Endurance. From national Geographic, Endurance begins streaming Nov. 2 on Disney+. You can watch the trailer below: