Commercial work
A product film is a short list of shots with one job each: a hero shot that shows the thing itself, a detail shot for texture and proof, a context shot that shows who it is for, and one line that carries the offer. It is short, because a launch film is watched on a phone between other things.
In practice: four shots — the product, a detail that proves it is real, the situation it belongs in, and one line carrying the offer. Short enough to hold attention on a phone, lit once in the style lock rather than per shot, and composed so the same footage cuts vertical, square and 16:9. Keep label text out of the frame, or hold it long enough to be believed.
Four things, in roughly this order: the product, a detail that proves it is real, the situation it belongs in, and the offer.
Everything else is optional. A shot that is not doing one of those four jobs is a shot that makes the film longer without making it clearer.
Shorter than feels comfortable. The vertical product spots I make for brands run around twenty-four seconds; a brand story can carry a minute or two — the 16:9 piece I made runs one minute thirty-six.
The usual failure is not a film that is too short. It is a film with two openings and no ending.
This is where detail drift shows first: label text, embossing, the exact shape of a cap. Fine detail is where a model has the least grip, and it re-invents itself between frames.
So compose around it — keep small text out of shot, hold the product still in the frames where it must be believed, and show the label once at a size the film can actually defend.
Clean product lighting is a style-lock decision, not a per-shot one. If each shot decides its own light, the film looks like a sample reel instead of one campaign.
Decide it once, approve it, and point at that approval on every shot.
Plan the shots so the same footage cuts vertical, square and 16:9. That is a composition decision made in the shot list, not a crop fixed at the end.
Keeping the subject centred and the detail reachable is what makes the cut-downs free.
The AI Commerce Lab is two days on product content, ending with a campaign you can publish and a repeatable production workflow — turning features into benefits, product visuals, AI models and short product videos for social commerce.
Ask on WhatsApp for the next dates and the fee.
The failure we see most often is not length. It is a film with two openings and no ending. Four jobs with one shot each is enough, and a shot doing none of those four jobs makes the film longer without making it clearer.
The other decision to make early is the light. Clean product lighting belongs in the style lock rather than in each shot — when every shot lights itself, the result reads as a sample reel instead of one campaign.
Where this is taught
AI Commerce Lab: Content That Sells — 2 Days, taught live in a small cohort. Ask on WhatsApp (+65 9188 6948) for the next dates.
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Process
Every piece I make runs through the same six stages: script, character bible, style lock, keyframe, motion, master. The order is the point. Each stage exists to make the next one cheaper, because the expensive thing in AI film is not generating — it is generating again.
Read →Method
Four rules carry every prompt I write: point at the attachment, name what cannot change, keep one thing per paragraph, and maintain a running negative sheet. They are not about clever wording — they are about removing the ways a model can misread you.
Read →Method
Consistency is the hardest problem in AI film: the same character, the same world and the same look in every single shot. It is solved with references and diagnosis, not with better luck — five things do most of the work.
Read →Diagnosis
AI video gives itself away in six ways: the face drifts, the physics float, the light is flat, the camera moves like no camera, the sound does not belong, and small details mutate between frames. All six are failures of preparation rather than of the model, which is why each one is prevented before generation instead of repaired after it.
Read →Definition
A style lock is one approved reference sheet that governs how every frame of a film is rendered: the light, the palette, the amount of detail, and the way the camera behaves. You approve it once, before animation starts, and then point at it on every shot instead of re-deciding the look shot by shot.
Read →Definition
A shot list is the film written down as shots before anything is generated — what each shot is for, the emotion it has to land, how long it lasts, and how the camera behaves. It matters more in AI than on a set, because changing your mind in words costs nothing and changing it after a render costs a re-render.
Read →Getting started
No — neither is required to start, but the work still asks you to make the decisions those skills exist for: what the shot is for, where the camera stands, and what must not change. The tools remove the cost of a shoot; they do not remove the need for a plan, and the planning is teachable.
Read →Training
I run two course series in Singapore, both as small live cohorts of two days. The Agentic AI Series teaches you to build and run your own AI agents — a website builder, a content creator and a filmmaker. The AI Creative Series is the craft itself: social video, product content that sells, and cinematic short films. Team training runs on your own project, at your studio or online.
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