Why AI Won’t Replace Editors (But Makes Us Better at Our Jobs)

Sometimes during filming, your talent / cast member can go off script. It happens often in movies where some lines that were unplanned became iconic scenes. I am not making any Hollywood movies, but I still faced situations where the person I was recording decided to go off-script. The challenge then is how do we make adjustments when the footage captured no longer aligns neatly with the original storyboard? I recently faced such a situation and want to share how I leveraged GenAI (ChatGPT Pro) to solve this dilemma. 

When Reality Doesn’t Match

As a media intern at the UAE Singapore Business Council (UAESBC), I was given the opportunity to create a corporate video. I enjoy video filming and editing, so I relished this opportunity. In preparation for the shoot, I did a site recce, prepared a storyboard and script, borrowed equipment and booked the venue and talent for the shoot.

My “talent” was Dr Brian Shegar, Emeritus Chairman of UAESBC. He cleared the script I prepared prior, but being a seasoned veteran with extensive knowledge and experience being filmed on camera, he decided not to follow script and opted for a more freestyle delivery instead.

The result? The footage captured were smooth, and relevant, but no longer matched the planned storyboard. Nonetheless, capturing Dr Brian giving his candid take was highly valuable and I could not waste this footage. So, how do we deal with this happy problem?

AI to the rescue 

Rather than manually reviewing all the footage, I “consulted” ChatGPT Pro. I set parameters, (e.g. setting ChatGPT Pro's persona as that of an experienced video-editor with 20 years experience and giving it context of the situation), then shared the transcripts from the recording, together with my original storyboard.

To my surprise, ChatGPT Pro was able to:

• Analysed all five transcripts (from 5 different takes) and extracted out the most coherent, articulate lines.

• Recommended where Dr Brian’s spoken content could be remapped to the original storyboard. 

• Identified and explained how each scene (e.g., showcasing patrons, discussing member benefits, etc.) was better aligned with Dr Brian’s delivery

• Recommended which footage should be prioritised and why

• Quoted only from what was actually recorded, i.e. it did not hallucinate.

• Adjusted the script to preserve the intended message

I was amazed that ChatGPT did all the above within minutes and executed each task very well. And, these GENAI platforms are only getting exponentially better with each new release!

Applied the CRAFT prompting techniques (from SP’s research module) to restructure the corporate video.

Detailed restructured storyboard done by ChatGPT

With all the heavy lifting done by ChatGPT Pro, I then came in to make the minor adjustments. In the end, the final script was not only tighter, clearer, and most importantly, but still stayed true to the original vision of the corporate video. I dare say (begrudgingly) that the final revised storyboard was superior to my original.  You may check out the video here.

Watch the UAESBC Corporate Video!

Conclusion                                                                                                                                      This experience taught me that GENAI’s potential is limitless. If used effectively, it can help media creators save so much time and effort. However, it's crucial to still have a human-in-the-loop to ensure that the output from an AI be used effectively. Food for thought, some people in media industry feels that AI is “killing” the industry. Others feel that it's a boon, where AI now gives media creators super powers, allowing them to do so much more. Personally, I am more aligned with the latter. What do you think? 

Chia Howie

1 August 2025 TLDR

While shooting the UAESBC Corporate Video, I used ChatGPT Pro to help analyse the transcripts and extract the best parts from the talent. The result was a final video that was even better than my original storyboard.