THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • iQIYI has opened a roughly 110-square-meter AI film studio at its Creative Center in Shanghai, which it describes as China's first.
  • Footage shot on set syncs automatically to NadouPro, iQIYI's production platform, which offers nearly 30 AI models, including Seedance 2.5 and Kling 4.0.
  • The first title, the online feature film "Cop in Trouble", started filming on October 28; no director, cast or release date has been announced.

Chinese streaming platform iQIYI has opened a dedicated AI film studio at its Creative Center in Shanghai, a facility the company presents as China's first of its kind. The announcement, distributed on November 2 Beijing time, says the studio's first project is already underway: shooting of the online feature film "Cop in Trouble" began on October 28.

How the studio works

The space is modest, at about 110 square meters. According to iQIYI, it combines conventional live-action shooting with AI post-production. Equipment includes multi-camera capture, synchronized high-resolution video and audio recording, digital continuity logs and on-set review of footage in real time.

Everything recorded on set is sent automatically to NadouPro, the company's AI-based film and TV production platform. iQIYI says NadouPro gives crews access to nearly 30 AI models, among them Seedance 2.5 and Kling 4.0, as well as hundreds of AI agents and skills built for production work. The recorded performances serve as references for generation, guiding how characters look and move, as well as framing, lighting and spatial layout.

The practical promise is that sets, lighting, costumes, makeup and props can be changed after filming while the actors' original performance is kept. Liang Zhu, iQIYI's vice president and head of intelligent production, argued that "an actor's performance is the core of any film or series," and said the studio leaves directors room to rework the visual elements around it. The company presents the studio as a step beyond its virtual production stage in Hengdian, which it says improved production efficiency by more than 30%.

The first title and open questions

"Cop in Trouble" follows Jian Zhang, a low-ranking constable whose fame and fortune start to crumble as the lies he told to bring down a notorious outlaw unravel. iQIYI says the film will mix live-action acting with AI-generated settings and details, including dialogue scenes and action sequences. The release does not name a director or cast, nor does it give a release window.

The "China's first" label is the company's own claim, and the release does not explain how it was assessed. The launch also comes months after a dispute over iQIYI's AI Artist Library, unveiled in April with more than 100 performers said to be onboarded. TechNode reported that several actors' representatives denied ever authorizing AI use of their likeness, after which iQIYI described the library as matchmaking infrastructure rather than a list of contracted AI performers. The new studio's approach centers on filming real actors, but the terms covering how their recorded performances may be reused have not been made public.