AI Filmmaking Masterclass + Hackathon
Learn the craft from a director who ships at the top of the field. Make an AI short the same day, with engineers in the room. See it on the big screen that night. Application only.
The day
Craft first. The parts of filmmaking the tools will not do for you, from a director who ships at the top of the field.
You build the same day, with engineers in the room. Crew match pairs artists with builders by hand. Submit your film and see every entry in the gallery.
Your short on the big screen that evening, in front of the room that helped make it.
Who it is forCreatives rebuilding their craft for the AI era, and the engineers building the tools. No film background needed for builders, no AI experience needed for creatives.
What you leave withA finished AI short, screened, with notes on it from the faculty. The people who helped you make it. Craft that outlasts whichever model wins this quarter.
Notes from your instructorRight after the hackathon, your instructor reviews your short one on one and tells you exactly what to fix next.
Judged liveEvery team pitches to a judging panel that includes investors from Alumni Ventures. Named awards for the winning teams.
Who teaches
Roan Weigert
Roan has directed 1,600+ videos for 400+ companies across 6 countries and has been featured on TV, print, radio, and online in the US and Brazil. He has published research in top journals, written a book on generative AI video, and repeatedly produced viral videos across platforms. Founder of the production company Destaquei Filmes. He creates on YouTube, hosts the AI Insights San Francisco podcast, and leads Developer Relations for AI at GMI Cloud.
His masterclass covers creative direction, traditional filmmaking, AI generation, visual consistency, editing, sound, and delivery: the full pipeline from idea to a finished film that looks professional.
The AI-native production pipeline is not written down anywhere yet. It lives with the people shipping at volume, and it rarely leaves the set. One day in one room with a director who ships at that volume is rare. Hosted by Liz Zhang, founder of The Multimodal Society.
What you learn
- Ideation and scriptwriting
- Use AI text tools to generate ideas, write the script, and format the project for the pipeline. Plus what holds a story up: structure, and characters with more than one dimension.
- Art direction and curation
- An eye for the art you want to make is the job. You get the tools your instructor uses to run the art-direction process.
- Prompt mastering and directing
- Prompting is an artistic skill built on discernment and technique. Engineer prompts that serve the story rather than the novelty.
- Framing and composition
- Every lens carries psychological meaning. Choose one on purpose instead of accepting whatever the model returns.
- Pitching and storyboarding
- Build a dynamic storyboard and pitch the idea with AI. Communicate the film visually before it exists.
- Editing, pacing, and character
- With the artwork in hand, cut it into something an audience stays with: rhythm, restraint, and a character who earns the runtime.
- Workflow optimization
- AI can speed up nearly every stage of a production pipeline. Where it pays off, and where it quietly costs you.
- Individual feedback
- Your instructor reviews your short one on one after the hackathon. Notes at this level are the part money usually cannot buy.
Agenda
Check-in and welcome
AI filmmaking masterclass, coffee break, and partner sessions
Lunch and team formation
Hackathon
Film showcase, judging, and awards
Networking and closing
Past events by this team
Application only, and seats are limited by the room. Tell us what you make.
Apply on LumaThe Multimodal Society
Where AI creators and builders meet the frontier.
A pending nonprofit initiative. More about us.