These notes are designed to help explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) tools for making movies and possibly documentaries (this page updated 18 February 2026).

I developed a process for making AI-assisted movies here.

Tools are changing all the time and it is difficult to keep up. So I focus on what works for me, a person with limited funds. Free versions of tools do not provide enough credits to make more than a few seconds. So you are forced to subscribe. The best option is to use an aggregator where you pay as you go. The best I’ve found are FAL and Replicate.

Do remember that all sites on this page are just tools to help you tell stories. Storytelling remains the key skill for all film-makers. Lesson 7 of my free course in movie-making with a smartphone offers more about storytelling.

KlingAI remains one of the best video-creation tools because it keeps adding impressive options. Version 3.0 launched in February 2026. This site offers help.

Costs of tools vary and can be found under the “Pricing” tab at the respective websites.

Runway Gen 4.0 is also excellent but expensive. Kling is the best value if you have limited funds. Google’s Veo-3 is impressive but expensive.

My favourite tool for creating satire videos is LemonSlice. It costs USD 8 a month, which is about GBP 6. Examples of videos I’ve made with this tool are at the bottom of this page.

Two journalists at the Wall Street Journal created a short film using some of the latest AI tools, and then explained how they did it. Read about it here.

Seedance 2.0 has received good reviews. Other good tools I’ve encountered include Minimax by Hualuo, VideoGen and Dream Machine by LumaLabs.

It is difficult to keep up. I rely on people like Tim Simmons and his YouTube site.

Krea appears to be a good option because it incorporates a range of tools including Runway, LumaLabs and Flux. But you must buy a plan; no free options.

Tim Simmons has nailed it with this video about how he made a short film with a range of tools. A great overview of the AI film-making process! Highly recommended.

I enjoyed playing with the free version of Hedra, a tool that animates an image and lip syncs the script you write with a photo you upload. You can use text to describe the character you want the software to create, and it makes an image for you. Be patient because it takes a while to generate.

A Shanghai-based AI video tool called Vidu that I have been monitoring looks fascinating. It claims to produce video of up to 16 seconds. Note that you need a business email to subscribe. My Gmail account was not considered good enough so I am at a loss as to how to play with this tool. The cheapest plan starts at €39 a month, or €29 a month if you buy the annual plan.

A company named DreamFlare are offering a new form of AI-created series that feature some fascinating characters. Check them out. One of their founders is a former AI lead at Google.

The Curious Refuge site offers this list of recommended tools. Many are described here but their list offers the biggest range of tools I’ve yet seen.

Artflow.ai lets you create characters and worlds. I’m still learning this one but it has a comprehensive range of options so it needs time to learn.

Albert Einstein said: “Creativity is intelligence having fun”. Perhaps we can modify that phrase to “Creativity is having fun with [artificial] intelligence”.

Still images: A fun way to make films involves putting still images into editing software and then using the Ken Burns effect to simulate movement. I talk more about that below.

The best tool I’ve encountered for making still images is Nano Banana, which is accessible via Google’s Gemini site or by using Replicate or FAL.

Another option is MidJourney though it requires a paid subscription (no free option to tempt you). It became much easier to use after it moved to the web from Discord. In mid 2025 it became possible to create video with MidJourney.

Use MagnificAI to enhance the images you produce. The test results are impressive. But the cheapest plan is USD 39 or AUD 59 a month for the most basic access.

You could invest in the TopazAI suite of tools to upgrade images and video but it is expensive. A cheaper option for still images is to use Clarity Upscaler via FAL (see above).

AI tools can also help create cool animations. One of the best is LeiaPix. Here is a tutorial.

For inspiration, check out the Reddit AI sub-group. Some cool video here.

Narration/audio/music: Until recently I believed humans provided better-quality narration than AI tools. But ElevenLabs is marvellous. I love the tool that converts a text prompt into a sound effect. The software also offers a new way to synch AI speech in video for auto translations, which will intrigue the international dubbing market.

Use Enhance Speech, a free Adobe tool, to improve the quality of audio. Their website says voice recordings “sound as if they were recorded in a professional podcasting studio”. Test for yourself.

Stable Audio 2.0 is a cool new tool for creating music and sound effects from a text prompt. But Suno and Udio are even more impressive and easier to use. They are also free.

Most video-creation tools offer free versions which let you play with the software but limit video duration and impose watermarks. If you want to make professional-looking movies you need to upgrade to a plan, or find a way to lose the watermark. Other options involve using this free tool for removing watermarks or cropping the video to avoid the watermark.

Annual plans are cheaper than monthly, but I suggest trying each tool via a monthly plan before upgrading to yearly.

Kaiber is another good video option. You need to pay for credits. The basic plan starts at USD 5 a month. The free version lets you create up to 18 seconds of video as a way to understand how their AI works. The Pro (USD 15 a month) and Artist (USD 30 a month) plans permit a maximum of 8 minutes of video a month. You need to buy a plan before you can test the software fully.

Another fascinating option is Invideo. It’s a simple way to create an AI-generated video provided you give it a good idea of what you want. Avoid the option where you provide the script because the AI cannot cope with anything beyond the most basic script. This video shows you how it works.

Tools to avoid: You will encounter poor-quality tools that promise much but fail to deliver. Here I will list them as I find them. Rizzle appears glossy but you cannot edit the videos it makes. I will add others as I find them.

I have had some enthralling experiences with Hume, an AI tool that purports to have a conversation with you and listen like a friend, or perhaps a therapist. Maybe worth a try for a bit of fun.

CGI, or computer-generated imagery: This remains a complex and expensive process. But an AI tool, Wonder Studio, lets you animate characters on video that you film. Take a look at the product demo video on the company web site. Lots of other options are becoming available.

Special effects (SFX): Some of the excellent and relatively inexpensive apps available for an iPhone such as Videoleap, Efekt, FxGuru, 8mm, Action Movie and Musemage let you create cool footage that you download into your editing software.

Music: The two best tools for creating music for your videos are Suno and Udio. Both were free as of late 2024. And both are impressive.

Prompts: The words you choose to describe an image/video you want to create make a big difference in terms of the result. Here is an introduction to prompts, while this is an advanced version. Learning to use good prompts is an important skill. This video simplifies the process and offers a prompt formula (formula starts at 1:02).

Jeffrey Katzenberg: In this three-minute video the former head of Disney studios talks abut how the ability to write accurate prompts will become a “creative commodity against many aspects of storytelling”. That’s business speak for a key skill you need to learn.

A few more cool tools include Ideogram for generating AI images and PrometheanAI for creating virtual worlds.

Suggestion: AI still images often do not emerge the way you imagined when you wrote the prompts. It might be best to create trial images first based on a draft script, and afterwards rewrite your script to engage with the images that emerge.

Scripting: It all begins with the idea and the script. The human mind is still the best tool for creating quality screenplays. AI-generated scripts are mundane at best. But AI tools offer significant help for initial research and feedback on your script. For example, you could ask for ideas for films that have never yet been made.

Many writers recommend Aristotle’s Poetics as a guide to scriptwriting. This video summarises the essentials of Aristotle’s theories and references lots of movie examples.

AI is pathetic for creating humour. The quality is banal though AI can be helpful for routine tasks or prompts via Alexa or similar voice-activated devices.

Research: One possible approach is to use ChatGPT or Microsoft’s Co-Pilot or Google’s Gemini to stimulate ideas or research how others have developed their ideas. In my experience these tools create ordinary scripts.

Claude by Anthropic offers an excellent option for getting feedback on your script. Make a PDF of your script and tell the chatbot to assume it is a script reader and to give feedback on the PDF you upload.

I’ve been experimenting with an AI tool for screenplays called PlotDot. In this 11-minute video Tim Simmons from TheoreticallyMedia does a good job in explaining how it works. Looks promising.

New to AI? This article introduces 21 AI tools and would be useful for people new to AI. The blurbs describing each are badly written, probably by an AI tool 🙂

Assistants: Consider using voice-based tools like Alexa to generate ideas and even (bad) jokes. I often ask my Alexa to tell me a joke about (insert subject here) and groan when I hear the result. Useful if you want to offer jokes to grandchildren aged about six.

This site appears to be the first attempt at using AI to create a TV newscast. Worth a watch.

Watch this video made by The Economist in February 2024 about AI and the future of film-making.

The BBC updated its guidelines about its plans for using AI in late February 2024.

Distribution: This part is your responsibility. Some suggestions are offered at lesson 12 of my free course in movie-making with a smartphone here.

Please keep an open mind: On this site I’m aiming to show what’s possible and what is currently available. We are very much in the early stages of AI’s development for making movies. New tools are arriving all the time and it is time-consuming to keep up to date.

Stock footage: Two good free sites for stock footage are Pexels (also known by the clumsy name of Canva Germany GmbH, so I stick with Pexels) and Pixabay.

StockCake offers millions of AI-generated stock images for free under a public domain licence.

Post production: You might choose to enhance the quality of your completed movies via AI tools such as TopazAI or HitPaw. I had an unpleasant experience with HitPaw when they refused a refund request so I tend to avoid them.

Topaz is powerful but remember that enhancement takes time even when you have a powerful laptop or desktop.

Resources: I commend to you the website of Neil Chase, a screenwriter who is embracing AI tools for all aspects of the film-making process.

YouTube is the best place for really helpful advice.

Tim Simmons at TheoreticallyMedia is the best source I’ve yet found. He provides a range of consistently high-quality videos that explain AI film-making clearly and elegantly. He’s the best single site for keeping abreast of latest developments.

Caleb at CuriousRefuge produces helpful videos at his site and a useful email newsletter which you can subscribe you at the YouTube site.

Mick Mumpitz brings all of the above skills together in his videos. I recommend you subscribe to his YouTube channel and maybe his Patreon site. This video covers many of the AI skills.

Lenny Blonde is also an excellent resource who explains clearly. His channel is called Digital Magic.

Also good is AI Samson with his clear updates on the tools he finds useful.

Feedback from the Zoom class on AI tools for video I ran for FactCheck Africa on 27 June 2024: The AI Journalism session with Stephen Quinn on the use of AI tools in filmmaking was highly impactful.

Titilope Fadare: “The session was indeed enlightening. Generative AI tools can revolutionize multimedia productions, especially in journalism. They are particularly useful for stories requiring source anonymity. It takes consistency and patience to create the right visuals, but the array of tools unveiled was invaluable.”

Obe Emmanuel: “The session met my expectations, explaining both the uses and dangers of AI. AI is like a steamroller: it flattens everything in its path to create a smooth road, but getting in front of it means getting flattened. We must be cautious in representing real situations with AI-generated movies.”

Ben-Collins Emeka Ndinojuo: “It’s a topic I hope to explore further. The AI video tools were crucial. I’m familiar with some but will check out the ones listed by the Professor. AI is here to stay; it’s up to us to adapt and optimize our outputs.”

Zakaria Ouedraogo: “Today’s session with Dr. Stephen Quinn was very welcome. As a multimedia journalist, these new tools will greatly enhance my work. Previously, my editing wasn’t suitable, but with the new tools I’ve learned about, many things will change in my Mojo productions and fact-checking.”

Al’amin Umar: “The session met my expectations. As a video-making and editing enthusiast, the AI tools discussed will greatly ease my work. I was amazed by what AI tools can do, though I am concerned about ethical applications and originality. I will definitely try the highlighted tools for editing and music/audio generation.”

Prudence Emudianughe: Thank you, Stephen Quinn , for sharing your expertise with us! We appreciated having your insights on harnessing AI tools in film-making, from script writing to post-production. We look forward to continued explorations in this field! I’m hoping to make a film with AI someday.

Our fellows left inspired and better equipped to integrate AI into their filmmaking processes.

Bio of teacher: Stephen Quinn retired as professor of smartphone film-making at Kristiania University in Norway in March 2023 but continues to teach around the world. Dr Quinn’s current obsession is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the movie-making process. He runs MOJO Media Insights (MMI) which teaches people how to make broadcast-quality videos with only an iOS device. Since 2010 he has taught these skills in 20 countries. From 1975-95 Stephen Quinn was a journalist in four countries with some of the world’s premier media companies (The Guardian, ABC, BBC, ITN, TVNZ, the Bangkok Post, Newcastle Herald, Australia). Between 1996 and 2011 Dr Quinn was a journalism educator in Australia, the UAE, the US and China. He returned to journalism full time from 2011-13 with the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong as digital development editor. He has been based in Brighton in the UK since 2014 running MMI, a digital consulting company, when not teaching in Norway. He makes films when he’s not teaching or writing. As of early 2025 Dr Quinn has published 31 books. In the past two decades he has given more than 200 presentations on the future of journalism in 38 countries. Three of his movies are available on Amazon Prime. Details of his books, movies and screenplays can be found here. He also writes about, and enjoys, wine as a hobby. He is hugely proud of his three children and three grand-children.