Course Description

This course provides comprehensive training in the art and science of generative AI filmmaking. Students will learn the complete end-to-end workflow, from conceptualization and narrative design to visual generation, post-production, and final output. The curriculum is built around a core understanding of AI tools and methodologies, branching into specialized streams that reflect and redefine traditional filmmaking roles. Our goal is to empower the next generation of storytellers to master the unique creative possibilities of AI.

Part 1: Core Concepts in AI Filmmaking (All Students)

This foundational module is mandatory for all students, providing the essential vocabulary and technical skills needed for any specialization.

• Module 1: The AI Filmmaking Landscape
  • History & Evolution: From GANs to Diffusion models and Sora.
  • The Modern Toolkit: Survey of key platforms (e.g., Midjourney, Runway, Pika Labs, Magnific, ElevenLabs, Suno).
  • Understanding “The Auteur in the Loop”: Balancing AI generation with human creativity and control.
  • Ethics & Copyright: Navigating the legal and moral landscape of generative art.
• Module 2: The Art of the Prompt
  • Visual Prompting: Mastering syntax for shot types, camera angles, lighting, and artistic style.
  • Text-to-Video (T2V): Techniques for generating dynamic and coherent motion.
  • Controlling Characters & Environments: Achieving consistency across multiple shots.
  • Audio Prompting: Crafting prompts for voice, sound effects, and musical scores.
• Module 3: The Foundational Workflow
  • Storyboarding with AI: Rapidly generating and iterating on visual concepts.
  • Animatics & Pre-visualization: Creating moving storyboards with AI voice and sound.
  • Editing Basics: Assembling generated clips into a coherent narrative sequence.
  • Intro to Upscaling & Finishing: Basic techniques for improving image quality.

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Part 2: Specialization Streams

After completing the core modules, students choose a specialized stream. Each stream focuses on mastering a specific domain within the AI filmmaking pipeline, culminating in a portfolio of specialized work.

Stream A: AI Directing & Worldbuilding 🎬

This stream is for the visionaries and storytellers who want to guide the overall creative and narrative direction of an AI film.

• Focus: Creative leadership, narrative cohesion, and building immersive, AI-generated worlds.
• Modules:
  • Conceptual Development: Using AI for brainstorming, mind-mapping, and concept art.
  • Advanced Character Consistency: Multi-prompt techniques and emerging tools for creating consistent “digital actors.”
  • Worldbuilding Engine: Designing unique aesthetics, physics, and lore for a film’s universe.
  • Directing AI Performance: Techniques for generating specific emotions and actions in characters.
  • Managing the Pipeline: Overseeing the workflow from narrative design to final render.

Stream B: AI Post-Production & VFX ✨

For the artists and technicians who specialize in refining, enhancing, and finalizing the visual and auditory experience.

• Focus: Seamlessly blending AI-generated content with traditional post-production techniques to create a polished final film.
• Modules:
  • Advanced Editing & Assembly: Pacing, rhythm, and montage techniques for AI-generated footage.
  • Generative VFX: Using AI for in-painting, out-painting, rotoscoping, and creating impossible visual effects.
  • AI-Enhanced Color Grading & Finishing: Mastering tools like Magnific and Topaz for upscaling, color correction, and adding cinematic grain.
  • Sound Design & AI Scoring: Full-stack audio post-production, from generating foley and dialogue to creating adaptive musical scores with Suno or Udio.
  • Compositing & Integration: Blending AI elements with live-action footage or 3D renders.

Stream C: AI Narrative Design & Screenwriting ✍️

For the writers and narrative architects who build the story’s foundation. This modernizes the role of a screenwriter for a more fluid, visually-driven process.

• Focus: Crafting compelling stories and translating them into effective, machine-readable prompts and structures.
• Modules:
  • Generative Storytelling: Using LLMs (e.g., Claude 3, GPT-4) to brainstorm plots, characters, and dialogue.
  • “Script-to-Screen” Prompting: Writing scripts where scene descriptions are functional prompts.
  • Visual Scripting: Developing non-linear and emergent narratives that evolve with AI generation.
  • Character & Dialogue Generation: Advanced techniques for creating believable AI-generated voices and character arcs.
  • The Writer’s Room 2.0: Collaborative storytelling with human and AI participants.

Stream D: AI Cinematography & Virtual Production 🎥

For the visual artists who are passionate about camera work, lighting, and the composition of the frame in a virtual space.

• Focus: Translating the principles of traditional cinematography into the digital realm of AI generation.
• Modules:
  • The Virtual Camera: Mastering prompt language for lenses, depth of field, camera movement (dolly, crane, steadicam), and shot composition.
  • Generative Lighting: Advanced techniques for controlling light sources, mood, and atmosphere (e.g., “golden hour,” “noir lighting”).
  • Style Emulation & Transfer: Training the AI on cinematic styles (e.g., “in the style of Kurosawa,” “shot on 70mm film”).
  • 3D-Aware Generation: Exploring emerging tools that generate scenes with genuine depth and parallax.
  • Virtual Location Scouting: Using AI to generate and explore potential settings and environments.

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Part 3: The Capstone Project

In the final part of the course, students from different streams will form production teams to create a short AI film (1-3 minutes). This project simulates a real-world collaborative environment, requiring each specialist to contribute their unique skills to a unified creative vision.

• Phase 1: Pitch & Pre-production (All streams)
• Phase 2: Generation & Production (Streams work in parallel)
• Phase 3: Post-Production & Final Delivery (Led by Post-Production stream)
• Phase 4: Final Screening & Portfolio Review