insideHPC Guide to

Revolutionizing the Media and

Entertainment Industry
through Artificial Intelligence
by Beth Harlen

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

© 2018, insideHPC, LLC

 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI
Introduction
The media and entertainment landscape
is changing. From the creative process
behind the scenes, to content delivery
and audience engagement, artificial
intelligence (AI) is having a profound
effect on the industry. Imagine a future
where computer-generated movie
characters blend in seamlessly with
their human counterparts. Where
gait, emotional expression, and even
musculature are intuitive and so life-like
that audiences don’t have to suspend
their disbelief – it simply won’t be there
to begin with.
Or imagine developing a video game where the
opponent actively learns from and adapts to the
player’s personal style of play. Where storylines
change and character responses become less
predictable. And imagine creating and delivering
personalized content, reducing time, cost and
effort during post-production, and boosting
audience engagement and conversion rates.
This is the age of artificial intelligence.
As a term, ‘artificial intelligence’ has been in the
public consciousness since the 1950s but only now
is its true potential being realized. Over the past
five years or so, technological breakthroughs, the
mainstreaming of high-performance computing,
and the explosion of data generation and capture,
have all converged to empower AI. And this is
revolutionizing the way people generate, curate,
and engage with content — a significant point
given that in media and entertainment, content is
all. AI began with the idea that computers could
Contents
The Media and Entertainment industry.........................3
Trends..........................................................................3
Impact..........................................................................3
Finding a solution........................................................... 4
Overview .....................................................................4
Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI..................................5
The results...................................................................... 6
Ant-Man and The Wasp............................................... 6
Mug Life.......................................................................6
Spider-Man: Homecoming...........................................6
© 2018, insideHPC, LLC
simulate human intelligence, problem-solving,
and adaptability. That idea began to take shape
with machine learning, a subclass of AI whereby
a computer processes vast amounts of data
in order to begin to discern patterns, make
predictions, and for all intents and purposes
‘learn’. Take that one step further by removing the
need to physically input parameters for what the
computer should be trying to recognize, and we
arrive at deep learning. In essence, machine and
deep learning are the technologies that underpin
AI and make it possible.
In this guide, we’ll explore the specific applications
of machine and deep learning in media and
entertainment, the technologies you need to
know about, and the resources and expertise
on-hand to offer guidance. Whether you’re
beginning to explore content generation behind
the camera, or looking for new ways to engage
with, capture, and retain new audiences, this
guide is the best place for you to start.
This guide will help you...
„ See how AI can aid creativity, reduce cost,
and improve productivity
„ Understand what’s needed to leverage AI
„ Know what applications and
technologies to use
„ Learn from previous successes
„ Connect with the community
What next?..................................................................... 7
Community..................................................................7
Dell EMC Customer Solution Centers . ........................7
Dell EMC Machine Learning Knowledge Center..........7
Deep Learning Institute by Dell EMC...........................7
Talk to us .....................................................................7
Further resources........................................................... 8
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 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI

The Media and Entertainment industry

Trends Impact
As volumes of structured and unstructured data Content generation
continue to grow almost exponentially, and the
cost of the technologies needed to wrangle and An AI-driven approach can empower the creative
exploit that data — namely data storage and process, offer the opportunity to explore ‘what
computing power — fall, organizations across if’ scenarios, and bring visuals to life. In the case
the media and entertainment industry (ME&I) of Virtual Reality where players typically wear
are turning their attention to AI. The behavior a display and headphones for an immersive
of non-player characters (NPCs) in video games experience, and Augmented Reality where real-
is one well-known example of AI algorithms at world elements are combined with virtual ones,
work. Often serving as important plot devices the results are compelling.
(i.e. advancing the storyline in a specific direction),
Pokémon Go is a perfect example of Augmented
these NPCs can have a profound impact on player
Reality in action. Players of the game use their
experience. As any gamer can tell you, that impact
mobile devices to track down 2D cartoon Pokémon,
is dictated by the quality of the AI. Moreover,
which appear in real-world surroundings. Their
predictability can strike a death-blow to a game’s
locations, frequency, and manifestations are all
repeatability, or profitability in the case of a
dictated by algorithms. The game has proven to
franchise. AI technologies such as facial, speech
be incredibly popular, and a notable nod to the
and object recognition are also changing the way
fact that the way people consume media and
players participate in the games — from avatars
entertainment content is changing.
that reproduce a player’s movements onscreen,
to fully immersive Artificial Reality environments. Take the popularity of mobile app Snapchat, for
example. Behind the quirky filters lies complex
Within the film industry, the on-screen realization
machine learning algorithms. Facial recognition
of an AI-driven approach to digital effects is
enables the app to detect a face, recognize facial
impressive. Equally impressive is the potential
features, and create a 3D mesh that overlays
for the technology to reduce critical time and cost
the image over specific coordinates on the
during the pre-production process. For example,
face, moving with it. In other words, people can
using language processing to breakdown a script
pose and take a photo of themselves with the
ready for storyboarding, or using data from
features of a cat (ears, whiskers, tail, etc.) blended
previous productions to model an optimized
somewhat seamlessly over their own features.
filming schedule. Automating these types of
processes has the additional benefit of freeing More recently, the app has begun to provide
up the production team for more creative tasks. the option of recognizing features in a photo,
and then using that as the overlay. From personal
And then there’s the evolution of AI within the
experience, the results can be somewhat
music industry. From composition to digital
disconcerting. But there’s no denying that the
processing, algorithms are moving from ‘tool’
technology is compelling. Fellow mobile app
to ‘collaborative partner’. The collation of on-
Mug Life hopes to tap into that trend by using
demand television programs, conversion rates
deep learning to enable users to upload any
on digital newspaper articles, AI-based analytics
photo, and then instantly create a 3D animation.
within sports broadcasting — the list of potential
Read more about this use case on page 6.
(and current) use cases goes on. So what impact
is this having?

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 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI
Content management and delivery
Just as content generation can benefit from AI,
so too can the management and delivery of that
content. Most avid collectors of media — movies,
for example — can tell you that too much choice
can, in fact, be a bad thing. From content-based
searches, to content suggestions based on
selections over time, algorithms are now able
to condense that choice through the delivery of
content in a personalized way. For advertisers,
this offers the chance to precisely target audiences
based on the media they consume, increasing
the chance of conversion. It’s worth noting
the significance of the fact that AI is closing the
Finding a solution
Overview
The thought of choosing the right IT solution
to effectively put AI to use may seem daunting.
The good news is Dell EMC has done the
homework, testing, validation and optimization
in creating Ready Solutions for AI. First, there are
four factors for you to consider: Speed, Accuracy,
Capacity, and Cost.
GPUs, or graphics processing units,
provide significant advantages through
the acceleration of applications.
Speed
Of the array of technological innovations that
have made artificial intelligence possible, GPUs
have perhaps had the most impact. GPUs, or
graphics processing units, provide significant
advantages through the acceleration of
applications. Put simply, the analytics and
process management you’re trying to do, can
be done much, much faster through the use of
GPUs — from workstations to supercomputers.
© 2018, insideHPC, LLC
Algorithms are able to deliver content
in a personalized way. For advertisers,
this offers the chance to precisely
target audiences based on the media
they consume, increasing the chance
of conversion.
loop between audiences; content generation,
management and delivery; and the subsequent
consumption of that content. AI offers a deeper
level of audience insight that can inform the
content production process, from creation to
marketing strategy.
Accuracy and Capacity
Throughput is the rate at which data can be
processed. It’s an important consideration because
it dictates performance, thus linking capacity and
accuracy. NVIDIA® NVLink™ is a high-bandwidth,
energy-efficient interconnect that supports
ultra-fast communication between the CPU and
GPU, and between GPUs. Next generation NVIDIA
NVLink high-speed interconnect technology
delivers 2X the throughput, compared to the
previous generation. A single NVIDIA Tesla®
V100 GPU supports up to six NVLink connections
and total bandwidth of 300 GB/sec — 10X the
bandwidth of PCIe Gen 3. This enables more
advanced model and data parallel approaches
for strong scaling to achieve the absolute highest
application performance.
Cost
There are many costs to be considered, both in
terms of hardware and the investment in training
and support as new technologies are introduced
into existing processes. Expert advice is always
advised, and Dell EMC is on-hand with worldwide
service, support and financing.
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 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI

Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI Dell EMC deep learning with NVIDIA is built
around NVIDIA Tesla® V100 GPUs. With 640 tensor
Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI can provide cores, this powerful accelerator was the first to
the power required for the vast number of break the 100 teraFLOPS barrier for deep learning
calculations that need to be made very quickly — performance. NVIDIA NVLink™ connects multiple
for facial recognition, for example. With the speed V100 GPUs at up to 300GB/s to deliver 30X higher
of automated image and pattern detection, these inference performance than CPU‑based servers.
solutions can help provide better data insights. This level of throughput and efficiency makes
And with historical data sets, you can get deeper scaling‑out machine and deep learning services
insights into, for example, media buying behavior. much more feasible.
Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI empower you
to identify patterns, analyze vast amounts of
data and automate tasks so you can get better Empower your production team
insights faster. with AI
Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI are scalable and „ Get instant Image, Audio, or Video Search
include servers, storage, networking and software capabilities
optimized together for AI workloads. Current
designs include Machine learning with Hadoop „ Empower your experts to curate
and Deep learning with NVIDIA. Terabytes, even Petabytes, of data in an
afternoon; quickly and accurately
Dell EMC machine learning with Hadoop
„ Discover new information contained
Dell EMC machine learning with Hadoop builds within your data and allow ZIFF to
on the power of tested and proven Dell EMC provide that information on new files
Ready Solutions for Hadoop, created in partner- automatically
ship with Cloudera®. The design includes an
optimized stack along with data science and Watch interview > Learn more >
framework optimization, so you can get up and
running quickly.
If you’re running Apache® Spark®, you can take
advantage of the BigDL distributed deep learning
library for Apache Spark, for a faster path to
enabling machine learning and to making deep
learning more accessible for non-expert big data
users and data scientists. BigDL integrates into the
Apache Hadoop® frameworks and tools, enabling
deep learning on the same Hadoop/Spark cluster
where data is stored.

Dell EMC deep learning with NVIDIA

Dell EMC deep learning with NVIDIA provides
a GPU‑optimized stack that can shave valuable
time from deep learning projects. Dell EMC
engineers can help you configure, test and tune
GPU‑enabled hardware and software, with
included services to help data scientists load and
discover insight from data more quickly.

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 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI
The results
The following case studies are just a few examples
of what can be achieved with the right technologies.
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Artists at the award-winning VFX studio DNEG
had access to more than 300 Dell Precision
workstations to edit and create the visual effects
in the film — bringing the characters and places to
life. From the moments of Ant-Man and The Wasp
shrinking, to an intricate lab scene featuring Ghost
phasing in and out of walls – Dell technologies
helped make these ideas reality.
Dell EMC PowerEdge rack servers with MD3460
RAIDs, and Dell EMC PowerEdge M1000e blades
also played a part in providing the massive
computer power needed to bring this film to life.
The LEGO® Movie alone needed 345 terabytes
of capacity at its peak, even though an
aggressive file management system was
deleting 50TB of data no longer needed for
production every week. Once a file is archived
to tape, it’s typically pushed offline so the
true size of the data being generated to make
one of these films is substantially higher.
Learn more about storage created to simplify
media workflows >
Mug Life
As highlighted by NVIDIA, a new innovative mobile
app called Mug Life leverages deep learning to
let users instantly create 3D animations from any
uploaded photo. The technology is made up of
three stages: Deconstruction, Animation, and
Reconstruction. In the Deconstruction stage,
Mug Life used a TITAN X GPU and cuDNN to
train their deep learning models to analyze and
decompose photos into 3D building blocks:
camera, lighting, geometry, and surface texture.
In the Animation stage, state-of-the-art cinema
animation techniques allow users to manipulate the
extracted 3D data, while preserving photorealism.
Finally, in the Reconstruction stage, Mug Life
leverages cutting edge video game technology to
re-render photos as animated 3D characters with
© 2018, insideHPC, LLC
“Sometimes we don’t have good visibility of
our requirements until we’re a long way into
the process. Dell EMC keeps finding a way to
say ‘yes’ and meet the incredible demands
we throw at its technology.” – Alex Timbs,
Head of IT, Animal Logic
Interview video > Case study >
stunning quality and detail. The entire process
of transforming a photo into a 3D character is
automatic, taking only a few seconds.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Sony Pictures’ Academy Award®-winning visual
effects studio, Sony Pictures Imageworks, leveraged
Dell Precision technology to create world-class
visual effects for Spider-Man: Homecoming, using
approximately 1,000 Dell Precision workstations,
more than 4,000 Dell EMC PowerEdge servers,
and over a petabyte of Dell EMC storage.
Did you know a petabyte —1,000,000 gigabytes
(GB) — of total capacity is required to feed both the
render servers and artists’ workstations at any given
moment? That’s the equivalent of enough songs to
last more than 2,000 years playing continuously!
Produced by Sony Pictures Virtual Reality and
developed by CreateVR, Spider-Man: Homecoming
VR offers players the chance to suit up as Spider-
Man, hone their web-shooting skills and sling high
above New York City in pursuit of the Vulture.
The VR experience will be available for free across
all major VR platforms.
Innovation Studios is a space designed to usher
in a new era of filmmaking and visual effects
by digitising the real world. For example, a
scene that takes place in New Delhi no longer
needs to be shot in India. The entire experience
can be digitally replicated in Innovation
Studios by leveraging the latest in research
and development from Sony Corporation and
others in areas including volumetric video
and customisable set scanning. This will allow
new stories to be told that would never have
had the chance using traditional filmmaking
methods and budgets. Read more >
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 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI
What next?
If you’re keen to learn how an AI-driven approach
can save time and cost, increase productivity, and
free creativity, the following resources offer an
ideal starting point:
Community
The nature of deep learning makes it a fast-paced
and innovative area. As the boundaries of
capabilities are continually being pushed, a large
and vocal community has formed to facilitate
development, and offer support. Online resources
range from white papers to forum blog posts,
all containing opinions, debates, user experiences
and expert advice. However, if you have a question
that needs answering or are simply seeking out
opinions, search engines can only provide so much.
By joining one of the many community resources,
you’ll be in direct contact with thought-leaders,
technical experts and fellow users. There are
even community resources that compile and
summarize community resources. This blog post is
a good example of a round-up of machine learning
communities.
Customer Solution Centers are
where you collaborate with subject
matter experts, industry leaders and
entrepreneurs.
Dell EMC Customer Solution Centers
Customer Solution Centers are trusted
environments where world-class IT experts
collaborate with you to share best practices,
facilitate in-depth discussions of effective business
strategies, and help your company become more
successful and competitive. This is where you
cancollaborate with subject matter experts,
industry leaders and entrepreneurs.
Whether it’s a technical briefing, architectural
design session or proof of concept, you’ll receive
the appropriate expertise and resources at every
level. You’ll receive a glimpse into the solutions
of the future, and be able to test your solution
against your current business objectives, industry
use-cases and future scalability needs — so you
can move forward with confidence.
© 2018, insideHPC, LLC
Through self-paced online labs and
instructor-led workshops, Deep
Learning Institute provides training on
the latest techniques for designing,
training, and deploying neural networks
across a variety of application domains.
Dell EMC Machine Learning
Knowledge Center
Dell EMC has created a haven where thought
leaders and industry experts can gather to share
their expertise and offer guidance to anyone who’s
keen to take advantage of deep learning. This
community resource includes everything from
expert commentary and infographics, to technical
blogs, and news from around the Web. It’s helpful
that everything is laid out in an intuitive way,
meaning that resources and connections to the
community are easy to find.
Deep Learning Institute by Dell EMC
Deep Learning Institute (DLI) courses by Dell EMC
offers hands-on training for developers, data
scientists, and researchers looking to solve
the world’s most challenging problems with
deep learning.
Through self-paced online labs and instructor-led
workshops, DLI provides training on the latest
techniques for designing, training, and deploying
neural networks across a variety of application
domains. Students will explore widely used open-
source frameworks as well as NVIDIA’s latest GPU-
accelerated deep learning platforms.
Talk to us
Still have questions? Get in touch with the experts
at Dell EMC and NVIDIA to discover how to apply
deep learning to your organization.
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 Revolutionizing the Media and Entertainment Industry through AI

Further resources
AI in Video Games: Toward a More Intelligent Game
Animal Logic interview
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Dell EMC Customer Solution Center
Dell EMC Machine Learning Knowledge Center
Dell PowerEdge Servers
Dell – Pushing the boundaries of AI
Filmmakers at Sundance Explore New Narratives Using Artificial Intelligence
Lights, Camera, and Dell Technologies
Mug Life
NVIDIA® CUDA® Deep Neural Network library (cuDNN)
NVIDIA® Deep learning
NVIDIA® NVLink
NVIDIA® TITAN X
Spider-Man: Homecoming – Behind the Scenes and On the Screens
Spider-Man: Homecoming – Press Release
Storage Created to Simplify Media Workflows
ZIFF Inc. interview
ZIFF Inc.

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