Price of Nice | AI Short Film
‘Tis the season for Christmas chaos!
Meet Renee, a North Pole elf with a sharp tongue and zero patience, who manages the Naughty List Appeals hotline. From road rage excuses to "honest mistakes," Renee has heard it all—and she’s not impressed. Think you can talk your way off the Naughty List? Not on Renee’s watch! 😏
This short holiday comedy combines sharp humour, relatable holiday frustration, and a touch of Pixar-inspired character storytelling. It’s a festive treat designed to entertain while showcasing the creative power of generative AI tools.
Short Film
2:07
Released
24 November 2024
ChatGPT
Midjourney
Leonardo.Ai
Runway Gen3
Runway Act One
Topaz VideoAI
Elevenlabs
Objective
To explore storytelling in GenAI filmmaking by focusing on character development and dialogue, creating a short that feels emotionally engaging rather than just technically impressive.
Approach
Story-Centric Focus: Developed the concept with the goal of making the characters and dialogue outshine the visuals.
GenAI Integration: Designed every aspect of the film to align with the capabilities of Runway Act One, ensuring seamless character animation and performance capture.
Festive Fun: Injected the script with humour and sass to reflect universal holiday frustrations in a playful way.
The Filmmaking Process
🎥 Bringing Renee and the Naughty List Hotline to life involved an end-to-end GenAI-powered workflow:
1️⃣ Story Development: Brainstormed the idea and scripted the story with ChatGPT.
2️⃣ Visualisation: Designed detailed shot lists and key frames with MidJourney, later upscaled using Leonardo AI.
3️⃣ Animation: Animated Renee’s dialogue scenes with Runway Act One, using motion capture driven by my own acting. KlingAI was used for dynamic establishing shots.
4️⃣ Audio Design: Stylised speech with ElevenLabs and composed the soundtrack using Suno v4.0.
5️⃣ Video Editing: Upscaled animations to 4K with Topaz VideoAI and completed final edits in CapCut.
This innovative process shows how emerging tools can amplify creativity without losing sight of the story’s heart.
Why It Matters
This project proves that GenAI filmmaking isn’t just about pushing technical boundaries—it’s about reimagining how we tell stories. With Renee and the Naughty List Hotline, we demonstrated that character-driven storytelling can shine even in a tech-heavy production pipeline.
Creative Insights
Designing Renee as a character meant emphasising personality and dialogue over visual effects.
The integration of multiple tools allowed us to focus on storytelling while achieving professional production quality.
