Scott Mann, a filmmaker with a history of working on notable productions such as “Heist,” “The Tournament,” and “Final Score,” founded Flawless in 2020. Since then, the firm has developed state-of-the-art technology used to alter and recognize faces. This game-changing innovation comes from a scholarly paper we released in 2018. This method truly transforms the experience of dubbing films. This finds its way into the dubbing too, making it more accessible and appealing to a wider audience.
At the end of May, Flawless used its AI-powered digital tool, DeepEditor, to dub the Swedish film “Watch the Skies” into English. This release was a huge victory. The English-language version of the film recently launched in 110 AMC Theatres across the US, making it, in Mann’s words, the world’s first fully visually-dubbed feature film. And he hopes this technology will enable films to bypass the traditional barriers that have kept foreign cinema from reaching larger audiences.
As for the motivations behind this tech, Mann heavily emphasizes that the point of this technology is not to replace actors. What it doesn’t do, as one might expect, is use voice synthesis in place of voice actors to safeguard authenticity. He explains how much this technology costs really varies project to project. He adds they’re just a fraction—maybe a tenth—of the costs involved in shooting or modifying a film in real life with analog props and humans.
Maxime Cottray, Flawless’ Chief Operating Officer, said he was certain the technology would blend seamlessly into the dubbing process. He stated, “The first time I saw the results of the tech two years ago I thought it was good, but having seen the latest cut, it’s amazing. I’m convinced that if the average person saw it, they wouldn’t notice it – they’d assume they were speaking whatever language that is.”
Even with glorious innovative strides like Flawless, big worries lie in wait, especially when it comes to AI dubbing. Academics like Neta Alexander, an assistant professor of film and media at Yale University, have been alarmed. She fears that in the process we will lose important cultural nuance. She contends that transforming foreign films to fit the mold of English-speaking viewers threatens to build a “monolingual” film culture.
“If all foreign films are adapted to look and sound English, the audience’s relationship with the foreign becomes increasingly mediated, synthetic, and sanitized,” Alexander stated. She also explained that these adaptations would inhibit cross-cultural literacy and discourage support for subtitled versions or native-language screenings.
Yet Scott Mann totally understands this anxiety. One thing he is adamant about is the need to have a bridge for foreign films reaching American audiences. He remarks, “There is an enormous amount of incredible cinema and TV out there that is just never seen by English-speaking folks because many don’t want to watch it with dubbing and subtitles.” First, he argues, America has largely failed to accept subtitles—or dubbing, for that matter—the way many European cultures have. This distinction affects the way audiences react to foreign films, too.
Mann’s experience with dubbing while working on “Heist” opened his eyes to the difficulties that filmmakers encounter when it comes to translating films. “When I worked on Heist in 2014… I saw that movie translated to a different language. That’s when I first realized that no wonder the movies and TV don’t travel well,” he explained. For him, the practice of highly localized dubbing naturally results in a highly compromised viewing experience with poorly synced translated dialogue and changed, less impactful performances.
To Alexander, closed captioning is about more than an accessibility workaround. It is this practice that ensures varied experiences can be reflected in narrative in meaningful and impactful ways. She advocates for building audiences willing to engage with cinema on its own terms rather than adjusting foreign films for ease of understanding.
Maxime Cottray Beyond all that, he says, traditional film distribution has mostly been allowed to focus on catering to niche audiences. “It’s been limited to coastal New York viewers through art house films,” he said. Through the use of their cutting-edge dubbing technology, Flawless hopes to increase accessibility and welcome a larger, more diverse audience.
As AI technology rapidly advances and settles into the film industry, issues of cultural integrity and audience experience will continue to be front and center. Flawless has a bold mission to bridge languages and cultures using its world-class technology. It is always prudently threated by the imperative to be innovative yet faithful to the original artistry.