The New Cinematic AI Film Workflow (What Actually Works)
The full AI filmmaking workflow behind Planet Hell: Seedance 2.5 on OpenArt, driven over MCP by Claude Code and Codex, Gemini 4 Argon as story editor and colorist in DaVinci Resolve, and After Effects for the fixes the AI couldn't make. A few days ago I released Planet Hell, the first chapter of an ongoing series, and per usual this is the behind-the-scenes. Not the highlight reel: the problems. A lead actor the model refused to give me back, a recast that ended up working better than the original, 3D previs I threw out, a comically large bullet, and the parts of the pipeline where the old ways still beat the new ones. SPONSOR Planet Hell was sponsored by OpenArt. Big thanks to them for backing the first episode. They've also set up 27% off for this channel at https://tolt.link/theoretically-director if you want to go make your own. ► Check out the rankings of the world's leading creative AI models: https://openart.ai/arena?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=influencer&utm_campaign=infl-youtube--na-acq-web&ref=Theoretically-arena WATCH THE FILM ► Planet Hell: https://youtu.be/1yLAbK5F3E8 ► The 2025 Planet Hell trailer: https://youtu.be/aGS_l6n_cUM ► How the 2025 trailer was made: https://youtu.be/PIAyiStv4uc ► The last workflow video (The Bridge 2.0): https://youtu.be/WKO-YgMQhLI GET THE STUDIO WIDGET ► Theoretically News: https://theoreticallymedia.com/newsletter/ The Theoretically Studio widget is the second brain this whole production ran on: script, references, prompts, every asset tracked. The detailed breakdown and the download are coming in the newsletter. WHAT'S IN THIS ONE - The Theoretically Studio widget as a second brain, with generation and production on OpenArt. - A ten-episode roadmap treated like a comic book, with Gemini 4 Argon editing two years of notes into a series. - The lead problem: Seedance 2.5 kept pushing back on Tom until one pass through Nano Banana fixed him. Your guess is as good as mine. - Recasting Sunny: Flamethrower Girl steps into the orange jumpsuit, and why it works better for the story. - The 3D previs detour (CozyClay, three.js) that cost more time than it saved. - Tools I'll lean on next time: World Labs Atlas and Genie 4 for backplates, ShotDeck for lookbooks. - Generating over MCP from Claude Code and Codex, when it's easier to just use the platform, OpenArt Director and the Arena. - How many clips it actually took, and a deleted take that answers whether the rookie survived. - The old ways: a rifle and a comically large bullet removed in After Effects, rotoscoped by Claude. - Editing is still yours. Then Gemini 4 takes the Premiere XML into DaVinci Resolve for the grade and the mix. - A YouTube PSA about Stable Volume and Voice Boost, the Suno score, the love theme by Not Queen, and three lessons. LINKS MENTIONED OpenArt Arena: https://openart.ai/arena World Labs Atlas: https://worldlabs.ai/blog/atlas ShotDeck: https://shotdeck.com CozyClay: https://github.com/NomaDamas/CozyClay/releases DaVinci Resolve: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve Suno: https://suno.com Treblo (formerly Sonauto): https://treblo.com CHAPTERS 00:00 Planet Hell is out. Here's how it was made 00:59 The Theoretically Studio widget: a second brain for the film 01:45 Getting the band back together (and a ten-episode roadmap) 02:39 Gemini 4 Argon as the series editor 03:20 A new coat of paint: less Giger, more organic 03:48 The Tom problem, and the Nano Banana fix 04:22 Recasting Sunny: Flamethrower Girl gets a name 05:13 The 3D previs that didn't work: CozyClay and three.js 06:00 World Labs Atlas and Genie 4 for backplates 06:59 ShotDeck and the lookbook 07:37 Generating on OpenArt: MCP as a second brain 08:32 When the platform is just easier (the bullet pen) 08:55 OpenArt Director and the Arena 10:26 Back to production: 10-bit output and the reroll grind 11:27 By the numbers: how many clips it actually took 12:10 Did the rookie survive? 12:31 The old ways still work: After Effects roto, by Claude 13:25 You still edit it yourself. Then Gemini 4 grades it in Resolve 14:20 The AI audio pass 14:40 PSA: turn off Stable Volume and Voice Boost on YouTube 15:01 The score, and the love theme by Not Queen 15:50 Lesson 1: don't let the machine make shot decisions 16:22 Lesson 2: fix it locally before you reroll 16:40 Lesson 3: you can just make the thing now Written and directed by Tim Simmons, Theoretically Media. Produced on OpenArt. #AIFilm #PlanetHell #AIFilmmaking #DaVinciResolve
