Using AI to Craft Cinematic Storytelling

AI-Powered Cinematic Storytelling

Exploring how generative AI can craft emotionally resonant, cinematic storytelling through visuals, sound, and pacing

AI-Powered Cinematic Storytelling

This project explores how generative AI can be used to craft emotionally resonant, cinematic storytelling across a series of short narrative scenes. The story follows two characters in a rural winter setting as they slowly uncover something ominous—told entirely through visuals, sound, and pacing.

Through precision prompt engineering and real-time creative iteration, I shaped each scene's camera movement, color grade, mood, and emotional beat. The project leveraged Veo's advanced shot composition and character continuity, Suno's emotional soundtrack generation, and Adobe After Effects for final polish and refinement.

What began as abstract visual prompts evolved into a cohesive, filmic sequence with layered storytelling and grounded emotion—all guided by creative intent and AI tooling.

Key Findings

  • ChatGPT 4o was used extensively for visual language development, shot design, and scene blocking, enabling rapid iteration
  • Gemini Veo 2 and 3 delivered highly customizable cinematography with fine control over camera style, depth of field, and motion
  • Suno generated a dramatic and tonally cohesive original score aligned to pacing and emotion
  • Adobe After Effects unified the visual look with refined color grading and timing adjustments

Credits

  • Creative Director: Mark Sexton

Software

  • ChatGPT 4o
  • Gemini Veo 2 & 3
  • Suno
  • Adobe After Effects
View AI Prompts Used

Veo 3 Video Generation Prompts

Scene 1: Aerial Car Highway

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Aerial Shot – Car Driving Down Rural Highway

Prompt: A drone shot high above a two-lane rural highway cutting through barren winter farmland. A black sedan travels down the center of the road, moving away from the camera. It's late afternoon and the cold winter light casts long tree shadows across the road. There are patches of snow clinging to the edges of the fields, and leafless trees line both sides.

The road stretches into the distance, flanked by muddy ditches and sparse utility poles. The car is the only moving object in the frame. This is a quiet, isolating landscape — there's no sign of life or structures nearby.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - High overhead drone shot, looking directly down the road
- Smooth, gliding motion following the car
- High resolution detail — sharp view of road texture and snow


🎞️ Color Grading: - Muted palette with a cool blue/green tint
- Desaturated fields and trees
- Teal shadows and soft contrast
- Slight cinematic film grain


🔊 Sound Design: - No music
- Quiet ambient wind
- Distant hum of tires on pavement

Scene 2: Car Window Profile

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Driving – Side Profile Shot of Woman

Prompt: A medium-close shot through the passenger side window of a black sedan. A woman in her 30s is seated in the front passenger seat, seen in profile. Her reddish-brown hair catches the cold daylight, and her blue-gray eyes look ahead with growing concern. Behind her, a man drives with a focused expression.

The car is moving through a cold, barren winter landscape. Bare trees and snowy patches blur outside the window. The reflections of branches pass across her face as she stares forward, processing something silently.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - Shot from outside the car, slightly elevated, tracking with the vehicle
- Shallow depth of field — focus on the woman's face, blurred driver and background
- Slight handheld movement, mimicking a following camera


🎞️ Color Grading: - Cool tones and teal shadows
- Desaturated skin with slight pink highlights
- Reflective window surfaces subtly darkened


🔊 Sound Design: - Quiet ambient road noise
- Faint wind and tire hum
- No dialogue — only subtle atmosphere

Scene 3: Car Arrival Barn

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Arrival at Barn – Framed Shot Through Barn Door

Prompt: The interior of a weathered, abandoned barn. The camera is placed in deep shadow, looking outward through a wide barn door. In the bright daylight outside, a black sedan pulls into view and stops just outside the entrance. The surrounding fields are frosty and lifeless.

Tall grasses and gravel line the edge of the drive. The car's headlights are off. We can make out the silhouettes of two people inside the vehicle. It idles for a moment in silence before one door opens.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - Locked-off shot inside the barn, looking out
- Wide depth of field — sharp detail on both interior edges and outdoor car
- High contrast between interior darkness and cold exterior daylight


🎞️ Color Grading: - Blue shadows and cold white highlights
- Texture in barn wood grain and glass reflection
- Muted natural colors, leaning into winter tones


🔊 Sound Design: - Muffled interior reverb
- Light wind and distant ambient nature sounds
- Soft gravel crunch as car rolls to a stop

Scene 4: Woman Exits Car

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Woman Steps Out – Feet on Gravel

Prompt: A close, low-angle shot of a woman's boots stepping onto icy gravel. She exits the car and stands still for a moment. Her feet shift slightly for balance on the uneven ground. The frozen grass and gravel crunch beneath her weight.

The car is barely visible — it's the textures of her step that carry the tension. This shot is quiet, grounded, and sensory — all focus is on the environment and moment.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - Static close-up, low to the ground
- Focus on boots and gravel textures
- Depth of field falls off softly behind her legs


🎞️ Color Grading: - Cold, desaturated tones with subtle bluish tint
- Crisp detail on boots, laces, and ground
- Low saturation — high realism


🔊 Sound Design: - Gravel crunches as she steps
- Soft ambient wind
- No music or dialogue

Scene 5: Man Takes Shovel

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Trunk Reveal – Man Grabs Shovel

Prompt: A close-up shot from behind a man as he opens the trunk of the black sedan in a snowy field. The trunk lifts slowly, revealing a worn metal shovel lying inside. The man's gloved hand reaches in and grabs it with purpose.

The camera is positioned just behind him, framing the trunk interior in the center. The winter landscape and overcast sky are visible behind the car, but out of focus. This is a quiet, ominous moment — still and loaded with implication.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - Medium close-up behind the man, focused on the trunk interior
- Sharp detail on shovel, trunk lining, and gloves
- Background softly blurred


🎞️ Color Grading: - Cold blue shadows with soft film contrast
- Slight grain and edge vignetting
- Desaturated metal textures and coat fibers


🔊 Sound Design: - Metallic thunk of trunk opening
- Wind blowing softly
- No dialogue, only Foley of the grab

Scene 6: Walk Toward Barn

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Walk Toward Barn – Holding Hands

Prompt: A handheld tracking shot from behind as a man and woman walk toward a large, open barn. We see only their backs — both dressed in dark winter coats and gloves. They hold hands tightly, moving slowly through frosty grass.

The barn looms ahead, its shadowed interior visible through the doorway. The camera follows close behind, swaying gently with their steps. There's no dialogue — only the sound of their footsteps and the wind.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - Slow handheld tracking shot from behind
- Natural sway and slight motion blur
- Focus on their backs and clasped hands


🎞️ Color Grading: - Cool, cinematic palette with emphasis on dark clothing and winter tones
- Slight teal cast with desaturated grass
- Filmic contrast and minor grain


🔊 Sound Design: - Grass and dirt crunch underfoot
- Wind builds slightly
- No score — pure ambient

Scene 7: Closeup Woman Eyes

🎬 Veo 3 Prompt: Final Close-Up – Woman's Realization and Eye Shut

Prompt: A cinematic extreme close-up of a woman's face outdoors in a cold, empty rural field. She is in her mid-30s, with a rosy winter complexion, light blue-gray eyes, and medium reddish-brown straight hair. Her dark winter coat is zipped up, and the wind gently moves loose strands of hair across her face.

The camera is locked in a tight shot, showing only her eyes, nose, and mouth. The depth of field is extremely shallow — her face is the only element in focus, while the background is completely blurred.

Her expression begins neutral, but slowly shifts through a quiet progression of emotion:
- She looks slightly confused at first — her brows tense, her mouth gently parted.
- Then, her eyes tighten with concern, her focus sharpening.
- Finally, her face changes to horror — her gaze locks forward, her pupils widen, and she freezes for a beat in quiet disbelief.

After holding that look for a moment, her eyes slowly shut — not in relief, but as if she's trying to block out what she sees. Her expression hardens as she closes herself off emotionally, standing in total silence.


🎥 Camera & Focus: - Extreme close-up, no camera movement
- Very shallow depth of field — sharp focus on her facial features
- Wind gently moves her hair
- Eyes are the emotional center of the shot


🎞️ Color Grading: - Muted, winter desaturation
- Cool shadows, pale daylight
- Subtle warmth in skin and reddish hair
- Soft contrast and slight film grain


🔊 Sound Design: - No music
- Soft, ambient wind
- Her breath is visible but quiet
- No spoken words — just silence