“Watching a shot that wouldn’t come together for days get solved at once with AI made me realize how important technology is in content production.”
Jung Chang-ik, head of CJ ENM’s AI Studio team, made the remarks April 30 at the “CJ ENM 2026 AI Culture Talk” event at CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall in Seoul. CJ ENM used the event to debut “Apartment (The House),” a hybrid feature film combining AI and live-action footage, and said it signals a shift in how films are made.
The film was completed on a total budget of about 500 million won. CJ ENM estimated that producing it through conventional methods would have cost at least five times more. Filming was completed in just four days. The company said the project was an “efficiency experiment” aimed at cutting both cost and time while maintaining quality.
CJ ENM said the key approach was to use AI to create all backgrounds and visual effects, while keeping the actors’ performances live. Actors were filmed against a green screen, then combined with AI tools for image generation, retouching and video generation. Google’s generative AI solutions, including Imagen, Nano Banana and Veo, were applied across the production pipeline.
Jung said the team maximized efficiency by shooting indoors without moving to locations. He said backgrounds were simulated in detail during preproduction so actors could perform as if they were seeing the real environment on set.
CJ ENM also discussed technical limits. Jung said combining different AI solutions can produce uneven color and detail, making digital color grading in postproduction more important. “Each AI output has different color characteristics, so standardizing them is essential,” he said. “The technology has advanced, but the production process still needs refinement.”
CJ ENM said it does not see AI as a replacement for actors. The company said authentic acting is difficult for AI to substitute, and that a hybrid model — preserving performance while using AI for backgrounds and effects — is the most practical approach for now.
Actor Kim Shin-yong said being able to see AI backgrounds and effects on set helped him stay immersed. He said it was easier to act than in traditional chroma-key shoots. Kim added that AI should be a tool that creates more opportunities to produce content, rather than replacing actors.
Baek Hyun-jung, head of content innovation at CJ ENM, said efficiency gains vary by genre and directing style, but that films could see five- to sevenfold cost efficiency. She said the challenge is to use AI not simply to lower budgets, but to raise quality.
Baek also highlighted a strategic partnership with Google, saying the company has foundation models strong in realistic depiction. She said CJ ENM is expanding cooperation to move beyond basic generative AI toward “narrative AI,” where storytelling and direction are central.
Ahn Sung-min, director of customer engineering at Google Cloud, said AI is a tool to realize creators’ intent, not to replace creativity. He said production quality was improved by precisely analyzing video elements and generating results with consistency.
Looking ahead, CJ ENM said the distinction between AI films and conventional films will gradually fade. As computer graphics once expanded the industry, the company said AI will broaden production scale and expressive range. CJ ENM said it expects AI use in film production to expand in earnest starting in the second half of the year.
A CJ ENM official said the goal is to apply AI across planning, production, distribution and marketing to strengthen global competitiveness, while advancing the technology and building an industry ecosystem in parallel.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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