AI Workflow for Creating a Short Film

A narrative-filmmaking path from a story concept to an edited short film — screenplay, character voices, AI-generated scenes and a rough cut — distinct from the YouTube workflow's explainer/content-marketing focus.

Who it's for

Independent creators and hobbyist filmmakers experimenting with AI-assisted narrative video without a cast or crew.

Difficulty

Advanced

Time

3-7 days depending on scene count and revision rounds

Cost

$20-$100/month depending on how many tools and how much generation you need

1. 1

   Develop the story concept

   Work out a simple premise, main character and central conflict before writing any dialogue — a short film needs one clear idea, not a full plot.

   Open Claude →
   PromptCopy

   Help me develop a short film concept in the {{genre}} genre, under 5 minutes long: one main character, one clear conflict, and a concrete ending. Ask me questions before proposing anything.

   Input

   A rough genre or theme idea

   Output

   A one-paragraph story concept

2. 2

   Write the screenplay and dialogue

   Turn the concept into scene-by-scene screenplay format, including dialogue and brief action/visual descriptions per scene.

   Open ChatGPT →
   PromptCopy

   Write a short screenplay for this concept, broken into numbered scenes with dialogue and a one-line visual description per scene: {{concept}}

   Input

   Story concept

   Output

   A scene-numbered screenplay

3. 3

   Generate concept art / storyboard stills

   Generate a still image for each scene to lock down visual style and composition before spending generation credits on video.

   Open Midjourney →

   Input

   Per-scene visual descriptions from the screenplay

   Output

   One concept-art still per scene

4. 4

   Generate character voices

   Generate distinct voices for each character's dialogue — decide on a voice per character before generating, so lines stay consistent across scenes.

   Open ElevenLabs →

   Input

   Screenplay dialogue, split by character

   Output

   Per-line dialogue audio, organized by character and scene

5. 5

   Generate the video scenes

   Generate video for each scene from its storyboard still and visual description — treat early generations as previsualization, not guaranteed final output.

   Open Runway →

   Input

   Storyboard stills + scene descriptions

   Output

   Raw video clips per scene

6. 6

   Add sound and music

   This catalog does not currently include a dedicated AI music-generation tool — source background music and sound effects from a royalty-free library, or add them manually during editing, rather than assuming an AI tool covers this step.

   Input

   Scene mood and pacing from the screenplay

   Output

   Selected music/SFX tracks

7. 7

   Edit the rough cut

   Assemble scenes, dialogue audio and music into a sequenced cut, cleaning up audio levels and trimming pacing between scenes.

   Open Descript →

   Input

   Video clips + dialogue audio + music

   Output

   An edited rough cut

8. 8

   Review and revise

   Watch the full cut against the original screenplay and note which scenes need a regenerated clip, an alternate voice line, or a pacing trim before calling it final.

   Input

   Rough cut + original screenplay

   Output

   A finished short film or a revision list