Special effects have existed since films were first produced in the early 20th century. Technology then developed with the use of miniature models, stop-motion techniques, makeup and then completely produced using computers. The next evolution is the use of AI and today Runway Aleph is launched with it being able to produce various special effects into the original video by simply typing in the desired prompt.
This is different from several AI models that generate videos based on prompts entered by the user. In the demo video above, users can change the light source, weather, and time in the original video that is used as the source. Then special effects such as fireballs and hands turning into ice can also be generated by Aleph.
It can also remove elements in the video such as the film crew from reflections in the mirror and produce a clean matte for use in the green screen process. Other capabilities include changing the camera angle of the video being recorded, adding the next scene based on the original clip, changing the color of objects, aging actors, and changing the style of the original video to another style based on sample photos.
Runway Aleph is now available to Enterprise customers and Runway business partners. A few weeks ago, Netflix admitted to using Runway's model to produce special effects for the Eternauts series, with Disney reportedly testing the use of Runway but not yet in actual production.