Articles
Why Your AI Films Look Generic
By Raymond Karsten · Published · Last updated
You've seen it in your own work. The shot is clean, the lighting is nice, and it looks exactly like a thousand other clips posted that week. It isn't a quality problem. It's an authorship problem.
The model fills every gap you leave
Every vague word in a prompt is a decision you handed over. “Cinematic” is a decision. “Beautiful woman” is a decision. “Moody lighting” is a decision. The model has an average answer for each of those, and the average is what everyone else gets too. Sameness isn't a flaw in the tool. It's the tool doing exactly what you asked, which was nothing in particular.
Specificity is the only defence
A shot that looks like yours starts with things only you would choose. A particular lens. A light coming from a particular place. A gesture that belongs to your character and no one else's. None of that comes from a better prompt. It comes from deciding before you prompt. Although sometimes it is technical instead.
Where the decisions actually happen
Reference before generation. Character sheet before shot. Shot list before prompt. By the time you type anything, the interesting choices are already made and written down. The prompt is just the delivery mechanism — that is the full six-step process.
Artificial tool. Analog director. The tool is not the thing that makes your work look like yours. You are.
Raymond Karsten
Thirty years in film. Storyboards, commercials, music videos. Story sequences for Netflix. Ten years teaching story development at Høyskolen Kristiania.
Artificial tool. Analog director.