Friends, I have a question for you about using AI in short films.
I recently wrote a short film script called “Dream Life.” It’s a surreal story about how people in big cities now live like robots — their days and nights blend together, every day feels exactly the same, and their dreams start merging with reality.
The film follows a woman who works at a police call center in New York City. In the morning, on her way to work, her entire commute feels like a dream — a surreal, fantasy-like sequence where the real world becomes distorted.
So here’s my question:
If these surreal dream scenes were created using AI tools, would that be appropriate for a short film?
Or is it still a bad idea, and shooting everything traditionally would be the better choice?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences
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AI can be a strong tool here — just make sure the dream imagery is tied to her emotional arc, not random.
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Aleksandr Rozhnov Not sure what you mean by "appropriate" but consider: 1. Generative AI is based on plagiarized material, regardless of the quality you feel it has. 2. OpenAI and others are facing a huge number of lawsuits because of that. 3. Most platforms, including YouTube, now require you to certify that your content was or was not created with AI - partly because of the potential liability and partly because of 4. A severe current backlash against AI imagery among audience, which they may use as a basis to alter search results in the future. Also consider that your generated footage has likely been used already as a basis for other people's requests. Finally, AI generated content to date is not entitled to copyright protection in the US, and there is a movement to deny first amendment protections to AI generated material as well...
Thank you all so much. I honestly didn’t know this information, so I really appreciate it. Then, for now, this script will probably remain just a script, because making a film like this with CGI would be quite expensive. However, maybe someone will want to invest to create a sort of mini-feature. Or, perhaps, I will submit it later to various festivals. Maybe someone will like it — the idea, the concept, or the execution. Thank you again!
Or, this film could also be made as an anime.
Actually, I think the use of generative (or artificial) intelligence is now commonplace for these projects. It can have both pros and cons; I myself helped make a short film using AI (still in development).
The question I would perhaps ask myself (if I were you) would be this: how unique do I want my project to be?
Hello :)
My name is HUgo and I 'm was born as screenwriter but now as a graphic designer I help directors to have thei movie posters done, have a nice day :))
I’ll give you an example. In my script there’s a scene where, early in the morning on the streets of New York, instead of cars, people’s beds are moving—they’re fully dressed, lying on their beds as though they’re walking through the city asleep.
Has anyone seen a similar scene in any film or series? And if this scene were created using artificial intelligence, would it still be considered unique? Or has someone already used this idea?
Aleksandr Rozhnov you can see a similar thing by watching "True Cost / buy now" a Netflix documentary about fast fashion, there is a cool sequence similar. But having said that, try and text your own vision, take courage (and risks)! :)