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.
In practice: one row per shot, carrying its job, the emotion it has to land, its duration, one camera move, and what must not change. Written before anything is generated, it is where the story and the running time are actually decided, and it is what makes a failed shot diagnosable instead of a mystery.
The beat the shot carries, the emotion it has to land, its duration, the camera move, and what must not change between shots — the face, the wardrobe, the light.
Written down, those are decisions. Left unwritten, they become things the render decides for you.
Because a shot of the wrong length is a shot you re-render. Cutting a film to time is free in words and expensive in generated footage.
Writing the length before the picture also forces the real question: is this one shot, or is it two?
It is not a screenplay in the usual sense. There are no dialogue-led scenes to block and no actors to direct — it is a list of shots, each with a job to do and a length to do it in.
That is why the list can be written in an afternoon, and why writing it is the cheapest part of the whole film.
In the list, before generation — one motivated move per shot. Real cameras have a body, a position and a reason to move.
Deciding it here stops the shot drifting in and out because movement seemed like a good idea at the time.
Inventing the story during the render, re-deciding the look shot by shot, and paying twice for the same idea.
It also makes a failed shot diagnosable: with the intention written down, you can say what missed rather than re-rolling and hoping.
Yes, and that is the point of writing it. Editing a list costs a minute; editing a rendered film costs the film.
The two lines doing the most work are duration and camera. A shot of the wrong length is a shot you re-render, and a camera that moves because movement seemed like a good idea is one of the loudest tells in generated footage.
It is also worth saying what the list is for. Not to prevent changes, but to make them cheap: editing a list costs a minute, and editing a rendered film costs the film.
Where this is taught
AI Film Lab: Cinematic Storytelling — 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 →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.
Read →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.
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