Foundations of Hybrid AI Filmmaking: Generative Tools, Live Performance, and Human Authorship

An introduction to generative AI in filmmaking, taught from the perspective of the director and cinematographer. After a concise overview of where AI in film stands today, what it can do, and what it should do, the course moves quickly from fully generated images and video toward hybrid production: live-action footage, shot by students at home, combined with AI-generated characters, environments, and effects. In the first weeks, students use large language models as writing and development partners, then use image and video generation to develop a visual style, pitch a project, and create a short, fully AI generated proof-of-concept. The second half of the course treats AI as an extension of the camera. Through film-at-home assignments using their own smartphone or camera, students learn to capture image and video that AI tools can reliably read and transform: even lighting and careful exposure; deliberate lens, framing, and camera-movement choices; tracking markers and clean plates; and a practical approach to turning an ordinary room into a stage for an AI-generated world. Assignments include performance capture, in which students record themselves or a collaborator and transpose that performance onto an AI-generated character, and world manipulation, in which the space around a live-action performance is transformed. Effective visual storytelling and photographic best practices are through lines of the course. Lens language, composition, and continuity matter as much to a convincing AI-assisted image as they do on a traditional set, and they are the skills that separate intentional work from generic output. All generative work is done in two consolidated, browser-based platforms, Adobe Firefly and Magnific. The course culminates in a short hybrid scene and a before-and-after breakdown of how it was made. Throughout, students examine the ethical, legal, and professional questions raised by generative AI: copyright, authorship and artistry, consent and likeness, labor, and disclosure. Students must have access to a smartphone or digital camera, editing software, and the AI tools and credits listed under requirements.