Make a 90-Second AI Short Film
Maps to: Filmmaker · Director, Editor, Creative Director
You're going to make a 60 to 90 second film: write a treatment, generate the shots from it, then cut everything that doesn't earn its place until you've got something tight. The work is mostly the edit: pacing it so a stranger doesn't drift, killing shots even when you love them, deciding what stays. That's the real craft of filmmaking, the part that survives every tool change, and doing one of these tells you fast whether the cut is your thing.
The plan
0/5 doneYou're 17% in just for starting, the hardest part. Mark your first step done to keep the momentum.
Before generating anything, write a one-page treatment: the theme, the mood, and the beats (what happens, in order). A clear treatment is what makes the generated shots add up to a film instead of a slideshow.
Objective: A one-page treatment: theme, mood, and beats.
- 1
Pick your angle: a mood piece (no plot), a 3-beat micro-story, a fake concept trailer, or a 'day in the life of [an object or place].'
- 2
Write the treatment: the feeling you're going for, and the 3 to 5 beats in order.
Your call
Choose the angle and write the treatment yourself: the feeling and the beats.
The one feeling the film should leave the viewer with.
What good looks like: Your treatment is concrete enough to act as a ruler: you can hold any shot up to it later and tell whether it belongs in this film.
- A mood beats a plot at 90 seconds. Decide the ONE feeling you want to leave the viewer with.
- 1
The bar to look back against
A 60 to 90 second film on YouTube where the cut, pacing, and sound show intentional choices (not just a string of generated clips), and you can name what you cut to make it work. The cut is the work: not 'I generated some video,' but 'every shot that's left earns its place, and I can say why.'
Finish the final step, then submit what you built. Your progress is saved.
Tools you'll use
Step 2 · Voiceover script + record
Steps 3–5 · Generate the visuals, shot by shot
Steps 5–7 · The cut: make every frame earn its place
How this shows up on a resume or college app
I wrote, directed, and produced a short film using AI tools, building it shot by shot, then cutting ruthlessly so every frame earned its place, and published it on YouTube. I learned what visual storytelling actually demands beyond the tools: the film is made in the edit, and the edit is a taste call.