Less hype, more craft
4 ways to get real with AI in creative production
From how ideas are born to how campaigns are delivered, AI is upending creative production. It’s no longer a question of if AI belongs in the industry, but how brands can use it to elevate, not erode, storytelling.
Drew Weigel, vice-president, head of innovation at Shutterstock Studios, has a clear message for brands: “Audiences aren’t focused on how content is created. They care about the stories we tell.” To move beyond the AI hype, marketers need a long-term strategy to integrate it practically into their production process – and in ways that empower human creativity, not overshadow it.
“Audiences aren’t focused on how content is created. They care about the stories we tell.”
Drew Weigel, vice-president, head of innovation at Shutterstock Studios
Generated entirely using AI, the video reflects the precision possible today. Subtle elements like the angle of the hand took several careful iterations to perfect
And Weigel should know. In addition to its full production pipeline and suite of computer graphics (CG), 3D and virtual production specialists, Studios is part of Shutterstock’s existing, strong foundation for AI, including a GenAI platform trained on fully licensed, safe content.
Market-leading brands aren’t shouting about AI; they’re embedding it into their creative and production process. How does this work in practice? What are the four main ways brands can use it to reshape their workflows and make AI their creative advantage?
01 Supercharge early-stage ideation
GenAI can transform the concept stage of the production process – from visual ideation to storytelling structure – by offering greater iteration. Instead of a single direction, creative teams can now visualize multiple ideas in minutes, mapping out full storyboards and styleframes, removing any doubt as an early concept comes to life.
Brands like CeraVe are already using AI in this way. In early concepting, Shutterstock Studios used GenAI to generate visuals aligned with the brand’s aesthetic, which allowed clients to react to real visual directions, iterate quickly and bypass traditional CG bottlenecks using hybrid workflows.
“During production, we see AI as a tool to enhance creativity and efficiency; it is not meant to interfere with the integrity of the product. Our clients trust in our production process and this extends to our usage of technology,” says Michele Gauthier, vice-president, production NA and LATAM at Shutterstock Studios.
In gaming, prototypes often use placeholder art - quick, inconsistent assets that don’t fully capture the vision. AI fills this gap by generating cohesive visuals that better communicate the game’s style, cost-effectively. This makes prototypes more compelling, leading to stronger pitches and smoother moves into production.
Concept art generated for client campaign; AI-driven process allows for fast and agile revisions
“During production, we see AI as a tool to enhance creativity and efficiency; it is not meant to interfere with the integrity of the product.”
Michele Gauthier, vice-president, production NA and LATAM at Shutterstock Studios
The tech doesn’t replace human creativity. It’s another tool in an ever-evolving toolbelt, a powerful copilot that gives teams more creative power, speed and flexibility when it matters most – at the start.
For example, when tasked with designing urban-punk characters for a Shutterstock Studios’ gaming client’s new hit, AI delivered fast visuals but lacked the nuance of the human touch. A concept artist captured the brief far better, then used AI to multiply and expand their ideas to hundreds of style and costume iterations - an output usually impossible within typical time and budget constraints. The result? A fusion of speed and style that was powered by human vision, but scaled by AI.
02 Maximize every asset (aka do more, with less)
Extract more value from every creative moment by turning single-source content into omnichannel storytelling. Typically, video outperforms static imagery across social, and AI-powered video tools let marketers turn a single image into multiple, high-performing, platform-native video formats, fast.
From localization to personalization, AI makes it easy to adapt content across regions, cultures and demographics, changing gestures, environments, or product interactions to resonate more deeply with each audience. It’s a smarter, more efficient path to scale and relevancy.
“AI allows creative intent to be preserved while execution becomes elastic.”
Adam Barnett, vice-president, production EMEA and APAC at Shutterstock Studios
“The creative signal still matters: brands are looking for trust and quality when using these new tools.”
Drew Weigel, vice-president, head of innovation at Shutterstock Studios
Take Lancôme’s ‘Juicy Empire’ video, created by Shutterstock Studios. What started as a static concept image became a scroll-stopping video, thanks to a combination of CG and AI tools. The lip balloon floats past New York City landmarks, all created from static images and transformed into moving content through a combination of CG and AI tools.
It’s a smart way to stretch creative assets further without compromising quality. AI extends shelf life, slashes costs, and reduces waste, helping brands deliver more content and more impact, with less effort and greater efficiency.
“AI allows creative intent to be preserved while execution becomes elastic,” says Adam Barnett, vice-president, production EMEA and APAC at Shutterstock Studios. But the original vision should guide the new execution, he advises: “The creative signal still matters: brands are looking for trust and quality when using these new tools.”
03 Create stories consumers can step inside
Immersive storytelling is the latest battleground for consumer attention. And AI is blending 3D environments, 2D backdrops or plates, and real-world assets to create dynamic, layered visuals which open up new worlds and spatial experiences at scale, while also revitalizing static content into immersive experiences that keep earning attention.
From lighting simulations to rapid prototyping of environments, AI is cutting production times, budgets and technical friction while unlocking more creative possibilities. Virtual walkthroughs of far-flung destinations are now built from a handful of mixed media assets. Static images become dynamic, living pieces of content.
For high-volume industries like travel, this means bringing stories to life faster, with fewer resources, and more resonance. Content can be easily adapted to serve new goals - by changing clothing, settings, or even the weather - revitalizing existing assets and extending the lifespan of campaigns already in market. And new formats like Radiance Fields and Gaussian Splatts are expanding possibilities by using AI to transform static 2D assets into immersive 3D scenes.
Gen AI was used to explore how a single subject, the woman in the yellow coat, could transform across a variety of artistic styles
04 Fast-track virtual production
Created with Gen AI, this concept car image preserves the dynamic motion blur typically captured through panning in real-world photography
And while we’re talking virtual worlds, let’s take a minute for the incoming, next big AI breakthrough in creative production: virtual backgrounds for virtual production (VP). AI is already powering mood boards and storyboarding, but now it’s building fully optimized environments for use in VP itself. That’s a game-changer.
In virtual production, environment design happens in pre-production. With AI, that timeline shrinks to help meet the demands of commercial production. Teams can move from concept to pre-visualization in a fraction of the time, accelerating workflows without compromising creative integrity.
The potential? Faster iteration. Smarter resource use. Bigger creative ambition on tighter timelines.
“Blending tech is the game-changer,” says Weigel. “Hybrid workflows powered by AI and virtual production give brands the flexibility to scale fast. For instance, virtual production stages with AI-powered backgrounds allow for so much variety of content in a single shoot day, letting us work more efficiently and without the limitations of traditional on-location production.”
Studios’ end-to-end virtual production work with Reckitt is a good example. The team has built everything from suburban homes to volcanoes and even a fully immersive virtual cave, using hybrid workflows with AI-supported tools.
“Hybrid workflows powered by AI and virtual production give brands the flexibility to scale fast.”
Drew Weigel, vice-president, head of innovation at Shutterstock Studios
