BEIJING, June 1, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, an innovative market-leading online
entertainment service in China,
premiered the AI-restored 4K version
of the 1993 Golden Bear-winner Woman Sesame Oil Maker in
global markets in Budapest,
Hungary last week. The premier marked the latest successful
application of iQIYI's ZoomAI, the company's video enhancement
technology, showcasing the company's strong capability in
leveraging technological innovations to enhance content quality,
viewer experience, and production efficiency.
ZoomAI Bringing New Life to Classic Films
The ZoomAI-enhanced, 4K version of
the award-wining film was premiered at the Hungarian State
Opera on May 22, followed by
another screening at the Urania National Film Theater on
May 25, where hundreds of Hungarian
and Chinese audiences engaged in spirited discussions with XIE Fei,
director of the film, after the showing. Xie will screen the film
and host workshops in universities in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Germany later on.
Produced by Tianjin Film Studio and Changchun Film Studio,
Woman Sesame Oil Maker tells the tragic story of two
generations of Chinese rural women. Producing the updated version
of the film, which now features full color and enhanced clarity,
took eight months and was completed by a team of 20 people,
consisting of experts from iQIYI as well as the Xiamen University
Film Restoration Lab.
Xie saw tremendous value in the process and believes ZoomAI and
other AI technologies can bring new life to classic films.
"Technologies allow traditional, classic films to meet with the
viewers again with enhanced visual and audio qualities, which
enable future generations to enjoy culturally significant films,"
Xie commented at the 13th Beijing
International Film Festival, where the restored version of the film
was first enjoyed by the audience in China.
According to the head of iQIYI's ZoomAI restoration team, the
implementation of AI technology has improved the restoration
efficiency of classic films by 500 times. This not only reduces the
costs and expenses of the process, but also effectively addresses
the issue of understaffing faced by the industry.
Estimates showed that 75% of the movies released before 1914
have zero copies left, and just 10% of all film copies produced
globally since the 19th century have been preserved.
ZoomAl was able to revive 90% of the films in 4K high-definition picture quality, offering
audiences an exceptional audio-visual experience. To date, iQIYI
has restored more than 150 films with ZoomAI, including Mu
Guiying Takes Command, Li Shuangshuang and many other
classic films released from the 1950s to the 1990s.
Leveraging Technology to Enhance Entertainment
Experience
iQIYI has long committed to utilizing technology to enhance
content production and viewing experience, and the success of
ZoomAI marked the company's latest achievement against a long
record of industry-leading innovations.
Meanwhile, iQIYI actively explores how generative AI
applications, built upon Large Language Model (LLM), can improve
content production and promotion efficiency in the long-form video
industry.
iQIYI's internal assessment indicates that generative AI
technology can be implemented in multiple business scenarios,
including streamlining script brainstorming, creation, and review
processes. Text-to-image and text-to-video applications are also
valuable tools for generating pre-visualization during production
preparation and for use in comic and animation production
processes.
CONTACT: iQIYI Press, press@qiyi.com
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SOURCE iQIYI