> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.automatstudio.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to Make a Film With AI > A step-by-step guide to making a short film with AI — from script to finished shots — using a real production workflow instead of a single prompt. To make a film with AI in Automat Studio you work the way a real production does, in five steps: create a project, define your characters and locations as reusable assets, break the story into scenes, direct each shot individually, then assemble and export the result. The AI generates the images, video and audio; you make every creative decision. You can do the whole thing in a browser, and a new account starts with 500 free credits and no credit card. The reason to work this way rather than typing one long prompt into a video model is consistency. A prompt gives you an isolated clip; a production gives you the same character, in the same wardrobe, in the same location, across every shot in the film. ## Step 1: Create a project A project is one film. You give it a name, a synopsis, and an [aesthetic](/tutorial/aesthetics) — the visual style that will be applied across everything you generate, so the whole film looks like it was shot by one crew. Six aesthetics are built in; Independent and Hollywood plans can also create custom ones from reference images. Start here: [Create a Project](/tutorial/create-a-project). ## Step 2: Cast your characters and build your world This is the step that separates a film from a pile of clips. Each [character](/tutorial/character-studio) is defined once — name, age, a detailed physical description, and a voice — and then reused everywhere. Do the same for [locations](/tutorial/location-studio) (interior or exterior, time of day), [props](/tutorial/prop-studio) and [wardrobe](/tutorial/wardrobe-studio). Write these descriptions the way a screenwriter or a production designer would: specific about hair, build, distinctive features, clothing and light. The detail you put in here is what the AI reuses in every later shot. ## Step 3: Break the story into scenes A [scene](/tutorial/create-a-scene) is a story moment: one location, plus the characters and props that appear in it, plus a time of day and an optional synopsis. You need at least one location before you can create a scene. Scenes are how the film gets its structure. They are also how you keep track of what you have and have not shot yet. ## Step 4: Direct each shot Inside a scene you create shots, and each one opens [Shot Studio](/tutorial/shot-studio/index). For a shot you choose the lens and the shot type, describe the action, and `@`-mention the characters and props that appear in it so the AI uses the versions you already designed. From there you can: * **Generate a first frame** — the hero still that anchors the shot, then [turn it into video](/tutorial/shot-studio/generate-video). * **Generate video directly**, skipping the still, when you already know what you want. * **Add [dialogue and lip sync](/tutorial/shot-studio/dialogue-lipsync)** in your character's selected voice. * **Add [sound effects](/tutorial/shot-studio/sfx-sound-effects)** and [visual effects](/tutorial/shot-studio/vfx-visual-effects). Every generation has a Draft/Final quality switch, so you can block out a whole scene cheaply and only spend on final quality once the shot works. Be aware of one honest limitation: shot attributes such as lens and shot type are not always reflected precisely in the generated image. They steer the result rather than dictate it, and this improves as the underlying models do. ## Step 5: Watch, share and export When the shots are generated you can watch the assembled film in the app and share it with a link — shares from free accounts carry a watermark. Independent plans and above can [export](/tutorial/share-and-export) the underlying image, video and audio files, and the Hollywood plan can export an XML project for Final Cut Pro or Premiere to finish the edit in your own timeline. ## What it costs Everything you generate is paid for with credits, and every new account gets 500 of them free with no credit card required. After that you can buy a one-time credit pack from $10 — purchased credits never expire — or subscribe to a monthly plan from $10, each of which includes monthly credits worth 20% more than the plan price. Browsing, organising a project and failed generations never cost credits. See [pricing](https://automatstudio.com/pricing) and the [credits guide](/support/usage) for the details. ## Which AI models does it use? You are not locked to one model. Automat Studio brings the leading ones together in a single studio — Google Veo and Imagen, OpenAI Sora and GPT-Image, Runway Gen-4 and Aleph, Kling, Seedream, FLUX and more, with ElevenLabs voices for dialogue — and you pick the right one per shot. The [model reference](/models/index) lists every supported model with its credit price. ## Next steps * [Start the full tutorial](/tutorial/index) * [Turn an existing script into video](/guides/turn-a-script-into-video) * [Keep characters consistent across shots](/guides/consistent-ai-characters)