Algorithmization or the use of artificial intelligence and data to determine what will be produced or cancelled, were topics that stood out in several panels at Rio2C, the largest creativity event in Latin America, which took place from June 4th to 9th in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The question is: Are they determining what we see on TV, especially in streaming?
The question was asked to the Netflix, a pioneer in the use of algorithms as a content recommendation mechanism for viewers. The platform actually uses AI and data science to decide whether to produce or renew a series, but clarifies that human instinct still has the last word.
Netflix bots monitor, for example, at what minute of an episode people stop watching, whether they come back or abandon it permanently. In other words, good is what the public likes and engages with.
During a panel at Rio2C, Elisabetta Zenatti, Vice President of Content at Netflix in Brazil, highlighted that quality is an approach focused on the audience, but that it is not a mathematical formula, but rather a way of helping to better understand the audience, as they are the people who need to take responsibility for producing content. According to Elisabetta, the formula behind audience retention is its variety of content, which ranges from realities to crime series, including phenomenal productions.
“If it were as simple as having more data or better algorithms, we wouldn’t have failures or competition,” commented the executive.
The use of AI in artistic creation was also the protagonist of the panel ‘The Importance of Finding Emotional Truth’, with Ron Leshem, creator of the Israeli miniseries Euphoria (2012-2013). A critic of AI, Leshem has referred to it as “the death of creativity” and “the death of truth.”
According to Leshem, there is a “drama algorithm” in the entertainment industry, a set of rules that have been followed for a long time, long before talking about artificial intelligence, such as the hero’s journey. These “recipes” are now more powerful due to algorithmization.
Leshem recalled, however, that the most successful programs are exactly those that do not follow any rules. Like Euphoria, which paints a pessimistic portrait of generation Z through what Lashem calls “emotional realism”, reinforced by makeup and orange lighting.
Filmmaker Jorge Furtado, screenwriter and director of series and special programs at Globo, pointed to the risk of repetition. According to him, in Brazil, breeders are also encouraged to follow formulas that work or that have already been tested.
We have to believe in the creator. It doesn’t serve the algorithm, it serves something else. The algorithm is behind, creation is always ahead. Someone creates something that is outside the parameter, not in the algorithm. I hope that we have already overcome this first moment.
*With information from TV News/ Cover photo: Disclosure/Netflix.
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