Five Short Scenes

WATCH: my first exercises in AI video generation

As a writer, musician and former TV producer/director, it was perhaps inevitable that I be drawn to the new tools of AI video generation.

Yes, a lot of what is done with these new capabilities is perfectly detestable – but we’ve all seen kickass content that points to the amazing possibilities of this medium.

The fact that in most applications the work revolves about written prompts led me to the thought that maybe it’s ‘just another kind of screenplay format that I need to learn’. The jury is out as to whether my writing chops will give me an edge in this field.

This post gathers my five first exercises on AI-generated videos.

Each is a miniature scene 8 seconds long, anchored on a short quote by classic writers I like.

The reason for this is that, when learning to describe things so that the tool makes what you want – and it’s not as easy as it sounds – I didn’t want the extra-burden of having to write something witty as the content.

None of these exercises is perfect, and sometimes the mistakes add an extra charm, sometimes they are hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

'When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard'.

Sun Tzu - The Art of War

“Most stuff that is genuine is better left unsaid.”

J.D. Salinger

'Not all those who wander are lost.'

J.R.R. Tolkien.

'Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know'

Ernest Hemingway

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald - 'The Great Gatsby'