Long AI videos, one unbroken short

Video models get harder to keep steady the longer they run, so most cap a single clip at somewhere between a few seconds and about twenty. Making something longer usually means stitching clips by hand and hoping the hero's jacket stays the same colour.

1. 01

   The storyboard splits the story

   Your idea becomes a plan of shots, grouped into clips that each end on a strong frame.

2. 02

   Clip one is filmed

   It opens the story and ends on that planned frame.

3. 03

   The last frame starts the next clip

   The final image of clip one becomes the first image of clip two, so the next clip begins exactly where the last one stopped.

4. 04

   The clips are joined

   You get one finished short with sound, not a folder of pieces.

Shorts made with reference images go one step further: every clip also checks your images, so a character looks the same in the last clip as in the first.

Shorts fight shorts from the same band, so a long short is judged against other long shorts. Long pairs show a heads-up in the arena so viewers know to settle in.

Any short can grow. Viewers tap Watch more, and anyone signed in can make the next part. Each part reads the story so far and opens on the last frame of the part before. Read the AI series guide.

• Escalate. Each clip should raise the stakes, not repeat them.
• Use cuts for time jumps. A clip boundary is a natural place to skip ahead.
• Stay in one or two places. Long shorts stay consistent when the world stays small.
• Give every minute its own small payoff so people don't drift.