AI – Filmmaking

Step into the future of storytelling with AI for Filmmaking, an immersive eight-week course designed for filmmakers, editors, content creators, and anyone ready to harness the power of next-generation creative tools. In this hands-on class, you’ll learn how to develop ideas, write scripts, design characters, generate cinematic visuals, create original sound and music, and produce compelling short films using state-of-the-art AI platforms.

Each week builds your project from concept to final edit. You’ll use ChatGPT to craft story structure and dialogue, Midjourney to create character and world imagery, Photoshop + Nano Banana to refine characters and locations, Veo 3.1 to generate dynamic video sequences, Topaz Labs Video to enhance and upscale your footage, Suno to create original music, and ElevenLabs to produce expressive voice performances.  Finally, you’ll assemble everything in DaVinci Resolve or Adobe Premiere Pro to deliver a polished, festival-ready short film.

• Intro to AI Filmmaking:  Overview of the AI filmmaking ecosystem.  Understanding text-to-image, text-to-video, AI voices, AI music, and synthetic editing.  Students create a concept, logline, and short script using ChatGPT.
• Visual Development (Midjourney + Photoshop + Nano Banana) :  Shot design, character design, environments, and visual consistency.  Students build a complete visual kit (characters, locations, props)  Students generate their base imagery in Midjourney, then refine it in Photoshop using Nano Banana for:
  •    Alternate angles
  •    Pose and facial adjustments
  •    Continuity corrections
  •    Expanded set coverage
  •    Multi-view character sheets
  •    Enhanced location sheets
• Hero Shots & Scene Design:  Students create hero stills that define the emotional, visual, and compositional anchor of each scene.  These hero frames guide lensing, lighting, blocking, and tone.  They often serve as first frames or guiding images for Veo-based video generation.
• Shot Production – First Video Pass:  Text-to-video and image-to-video workflows using Veo 3.1.  Students develop camera moves, lighting, character performance cues, and prompt engineering with Gemini or ChatGPT.  Nano Banana inside Veo Flow is used for additional pose refinement, facial alignment, and continuity polishing.  Students generate their first full video pass based on their hero stills.
• Upgrading Visual Fidelity:  Students use Topaz Labs Video to upscale and enhance their footage for final delivery.  Focus on consistency, lighting cohesion, color matching, and overall visual polish.
• Sound – ElevenLabs & Suno:  Dialogue, narration, and expressive voice work created with ElevenLabs.  Students build character voice profiles and craft emotional performances.  Using Suno, students generate original score elements, themes, and music cues tailored to their film.
• Final Assembly in DaVinci Resolve / Premiere Pro:  Full edit of the short film.  Audio mixing, music placement, color work, transitions, pacing, and final timing.  Final export in 1080p or 4K.  Class screening + critique.

Click here for an interview Michael Eng recently did for Sequencer Media (LinkedIn)

Duration: 8 weeks (30 hours)

Prerequisite:  It is recommended, but not necessary, that you have basic editing skills.  Experience with Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop, or After Effects is helpful but not required.  Equipment should consist of a recent vintage Mac or PC, 8GB of VRAM if you have it, and 16GB of system RAM to make things go.