Over the summer, I set myself a simple but ambitious goal: to understand how far artificial intelligence has actually come in filmmaking.
Instead of relying on headlines, social media debates, or fears about what AI might do to the creative industry, I decided to experiment with it myself.
For nearly three months, I researched AI filmmaking tools, studied different platforms, tested their capabilities, and pushed them beyond simple image generation. I wanted to know one thing:
Could AI actually become a serious filmmaking tool?
The answer surprised me. And, honestly, it scared me a little.
But I have come to realize that AI becomes scary primarily when we look at it as a threat instead of taking the time to understand it.
Three Months of Trying to Catch Up
One of the biggest lessons from my research was how incredibly fast this technology is evolving.
Every time I thought I had caught up with the latest development, a new model, feature, or workflow appeared.
I spent a significant amount of time working with different tools, particularly its Seedance, Kilng, Sora, Wan, Mimimax, Flux and models. I began experimenting when Seedance was at an earlier generation, and within a remarkably short period, the technology had advanced significantly.
That meant constantly going back to my work, refining prompts, testing new generations, changing workflows, and asking myself:
What is actually possible now that wasn’t possible a few weeks ago?
With almost 15 years of experience in filmmaking, including screenwriting, directing, editing, documentary production, and music videos, I approached these tools differently from someone simply experimenting with AI for the first time.
I wasn’t interested in pressing a button and accepting whatever appeared.
I wanted to understand how AI could serve the filmmaker’s vision.
That distinction became extremely important.
The TV Commercial and Music Video Experiment That Changed My Perspective
One of the most exciting experiments came through a friend of mine, S-kworn, who lives in Ireland.
After seeing some of the AI work I had been posting, he challenged me to create a music video for one of his songs. The track involved 3 other artists located in different parts of the world.
Ordinarily, coordinating such a production could be extremely complicated.
Imagine trying to produce a music video involving artists scattered across multiple countries. You potentially need flights, accommodation, locations, permits, cameras, lighting equipment, local crews, production managers, schedules, transportation, insurance, and countless hours of coordination.
And then there is the possibility that something changes.
An artist becomes unavailable.
A location falls through.
A flight is delayed.
The weather changes.
The budget runs out.
The production schedule becomes impossible.
AI does not eliminate all of those challenges, but it can fundamentally change how we approach some of them.
Instead, I asked each artist to go into a studio, take photographs, and record themselves performing the song using whatever phone or camera they had available.
From there, I began building.
I developed the concept, wrote the script, created the storyboard, designed the visual direction, generated and refined the visuals, and worked on bringing everything together through editing and synchronization.
The synchronization was one of the biggest challenges.
Getting generated performances, movement, music, cuts, camera direction, and storytelling to work together required much more than simply generating attractive footage. It required experimentation, technical understanding, patience, and—most importantly—an understanding of filmmaking language.
Eventually, I cracked a workflow that worked.
And that was the moment something became very clear to me.
AI can generate images and video, but it does not automatically make you a filmmaker.
The Economics of the Experiment
What fascinated me just as much as the visual possibilities was the potential impact on cost, time, and logistics.
Think about the music video I just described.
Instead of flying every artist into one location, we could work with performers remotely.
Instead of coordinating a large physical production around everyone’s availability, we could collect the necessary performance materials and build the visual world around them.
Instead of repeatedly traveling to locations, certain environments could potentially be created or visualized digitally, just like CGI but this time with less cost.
Instead of waiting weeks or months to organize a complex production, filmmakers can experiment with ideas much earlier in the process.
This has enormous implications for independent filmmakers and artists working with limited resources.
A production that might traditionally require significant travel, equipment, crew, accommodation, location fees, and coordination could potentially be approached with a much smaller physical footprint.
That does not mean AI makes filmmaking free.
It doesn’t.
There are still costs associated with software, computing, production, post-production, human expertise, music rights, performers, and other creative resources.
But the equation is changing.
AI can reduce some of the friction between an idea and its execution.
And for filmmakers in developing countries, independent artists, students, and creators who have extraordinary ideas but limited budgets, that could be transformative.
The greatest opportunity may not simply be that AI can make things cheaper.
It may be that AI can make certain ideas possible when they previously would have been financially or logistically impossible.
The Difference Is the Person Behind the Tool
This is perhaps the most important lesson I took from the experiment.
If I didn’t understand cinematography, editing, storytelling, pacing, composition, performance, continuity, music-video language, and visual narrative, I could easily have accepted the first generation an AI system produced.
It might look impressive.
But impressive does not necessarily mean good.
A technically beautiful shot can still be meaningless.
A visually stunning sequence can still tell the wrong story.
A perfect-looking performance can still feel emotionally empty.
The filmmaker’s role, therefore, does not disappear simply because the technology becomes more capable.
Instead, the filmmaker’s role begins to shift.
AI becomes another instrument in the creative process.
Just as a camera does not make someone a cinematographer, AI does not automatically make someone a filmmaker.
The creative intelligence still matters.
The ability to identify what works—and, perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t work—matters even more.
AI Should NOT Do the Heavy Lifting, The deal is ideas.
I increasingly believe that artists should be doing the heavy lifting when it comes to ideas.
The concept should come from you.
The story should come from you.
The emotion should come from you.
The visual language should come from you.
The creative decisions should come from you.
Then you can use AI to help you execute, explore, iterate, visualize, and push those ideas further.
That was exactly how I approached this projects.
I wasn’t asking AI:
“What should I create?”
I was asking:
“Here is what I want to create, first scene is this, this how it should be ,. How can this technology help me bring it to life?”
That is a fundamentally different relationship with AI.
And I believe it is the mindset artists need to develop.
The Uncomfortable Truth: AI Will Change Jobs
Let’s not pretend there isn’t a difficult side to this conversation.
AI will change the creative industry.
I would not say some jobs will disappear But I would rather say some jobs willl evolve.
Some roles will shrink Some will expand.
Some production processes that previously required large teams may eventually require significantly fewer people.
And that is a legitimate concern.
Filmmakers, editors, animators, photographers, designers, writers, musicians, and other creatives have every right to ask what this transformation means for their livelihoods.
But there is another uncomfortable question we need to ask:
What happens if we refuse to learn?
Technology has always transformed creative industries.
The transition from film to digital changed filmmaking.
Digital editing transformed post-production.
Non-linear editing changed the role of the editor.
Affordable cameras democratized production.
Streaming changed distribution.
Social media changed audience behavior.
Now AI is transforming the entire production pipeline, from ideation and pre-production to production, visual effects, editing, localization, and distribution.
We can resist the transformation.
Or we can learn how to navigate it.
Be Like Water
One philosophy that keeps coming to mind is:
Be like water.
Don’t fight the technology simply because it is changing the world.
Understand it.
Adapt to it.
Experiment with it.
Find its weaknesses.
Find its strengths.
And figure out where your creativity fits within it.
I am not saying we should blindly embrace everything AI does.
We still need serious conversations about ethics, copyright, consent, representation, labor, authorship, misinformation, and the economic impact of automation.
But refusing to understand AI will not stop AI from developing.
The technology will continue moving.
The question is whether we will move with it.
The Next Generation of Filmmakers Has a Different Toolkit
For filmmakers coming from countries where production resources can be limited, this transformation could be particularly significant.
A filmmaker with a powerful story should not necessarily have to wait for a major studio, expensive equipment, a large crew, or a huge production budget before being able to visualize an idea.
AI is beginning to change that equation.
It doesn’t eliminate the need for filmmaking knowledge.
In fact, I would argue the opposite.
The more powerful the tools become, the more important creative literacy becomes.
The people who understand storytelling and technology will have an enormous advantage.
That is why I believe filmmakers, students, artists, and creatives should start learning now.
Not tomorrow.
Now.
From Experimentation to Teaching
My three-month experiment has also motivated me to take the next step.
This October, I will be hosting an AI Filmmaking Masterclass, where we will go beyond talking about artificial intelligence and actually explore how these tools can be integrated into creative workflows.
We will look at practical applications, experiment with AI-generated visuals, explore filmmaking workflows, and examine how artists can use these emerging technologies without surrendering their creative identity.
My goal is not to teach people how to replace filmmakers.
My goal is to help filmmakers understand how to extend what they are capable of creating.
Because the future of filmmaking may not belong to people who choose between traditional filmmaking and AI.
It may belong to the people who understand how to combine both.
A New Chapter: Touchè AI Research and Studios
This journey has also led me to something bigger than individual experiments.
I am beginning to launch a research movement called Touchè AI Research.
The goal is to explore, experiment with, and document how artificial intelligence can transform filmmaking, storytelling, media production, and creative practice, particularly from the perspective of filmmakers and creators who are often left outside the conversations happening in Silicon Valley and other major technology centers.
I want it to become a space for ideas.
If you are a marketer, content creator, researcher, student, developer, or simply someone with an idea about how AI could change the way we create, I want to hear from you.
Bring your idea.
Bring your experiment.
Bring the production challenge you’ve always struggled with.
Bring the crazy idea you have never had the resources to create.
Let’s experiment together.
There is so much we still don’t know about where this technology is going. Instead of waiting for someone else to define the future of AI and creativity, I believe creators should be part of building that future.
Touchè AI Research will be my attempt to contribute to that conversation through filmmaking, experimentation, research, education, and collaboration.
A Thank You—and a Challenge
I want to acknowledge the team at Higgsfield for pushing the boundaries of what generative AI can do in visual storytelling and for contributing to a conversation that I believe will fundamentally reshape filmmaking.
My own experiments have made me increasingly interested in the research side of this technology.
Perhaps one day, I hope to work alongside researchers and developers who are building these systems, to contribute not only as a filmmaker who uses AI, but as a researcher exploring how these technologies can advance storytelling.
And I have one small request for Alex Mashaw
Please keep thinking about accessibility and affordability.
The future of AI creations should not belong only to people who can afford expensive subscriptions.
There are incredibly talented creators in around the world who have the ideas, the passion, and the imagination, but not always the resources.
Consider student packages.
Consider emerging-market pricing.
Consider ways of making these tools accessible to the next generation of filmmakers.
They may not have the equipment.
They may not have the budget.
But they have the imagination.
Give them the tools, and you may discover the next content
The Future Is Already Here
After nearly 15 years in filmmaking, I never expected to see technology evolve this quickly.
But perhaps the biggest lesson isn’t about AI.
It is about us.
We have to keep learning.
We have to remain curious.
We have to experiment.
We have to question.
We have to adapt.
And most importantly, we have to continue creating.
AI is not the end of filmmaking.
It is another chapter in the evolution of filmmaking.
The artists who understand that will not simply watch the future happen.
They will help create it.
Below are some of the AI-generated television advertisements and excerpts from the music-video experiment I have been working on. More work will be shared on my website and social platforms as I continue documenting this journey.
And this October, I hope you will join me for the AI Filmmaking Masterclass.
If you have an idea you want to explore, bring it.
If you have a problem you think AI could help solve, bring it.
If you are curious about where filmmaking is going, come and experiment with us.
Touchè AI Research is just beginning.
The technology is moving fast.
The question is not whether AI will change filmmaking.
The question is what we, as filmmakers, will choose to create with it.