Turn a Story Into AI Video Shots With Story Builder
Write your story in plain words, give your characters, objects and places a photo, let Story Builder plan every shot and write its prompt, check the plan as a pencil storyboard, then put the shots on your timeline and generate them.
Story Builder turns a story you write in plain words into a list of shots, each with its own video prompt. You write the story, choose who and what is in it, press Create shots, check the result as a pencil storyboard, and only then add the shots to your timeline and generate them. Planning makes no video, so you can fix a shot before you pay for it.
Key takeaways
- Write the story the way you would tell it to a friend: lines in quotes become dialogue, and the people you name are marked for you.
- Give every person, object and place in Cast & world a photo, so it looks the same from shot to shot.
- Create shots plans every shot and writes its prompt for 300 credits per started 8,000 characters of story, and makes no video yet.
- A pencil storyboard costs 50 credits a shot and lets you check the plan before you pay for video. The video AI never sees it.
- Add the shots to your timeline and generate one or all of them. Every clip shows its price before it starts.
Step 1 — Write your story in plain words
Start a project and open Story Builder: the card beside the preview, or Story in the left rail (on a phone, the Write your story here bar). Write what happens, in order, the way you would tell it to a friend. Lines in quotes are found as dialogue, and you can select words to mark a camera movement or an effect. Have a script already? Paste it in. To see a finished, marked story first, press Try the example story.
Step 2 — Choose your cast and world, then create shots
Everyone and everything your story needs collects in Cast & world: people, objects and places. Give each one a photo (one of your actors, a photo you upload, or a place from the project) so it looks the same in every shot. Type @ in the story to tag one; your actors are listed there too, and while there are no shots yet, an actor from this project's cast that the story names joins Cast & world on its own, with its photo. Then press Create shots: Story Builder plans every shot and writes its prompt. The price is shown next to the button before you press it, and no video is made yet. Creating shots needs an account; you can write the story and set up Cast & world before you sign up.
Step 3 — Check your shots with a storyboard
Your shots open in Review your shots. Switch to Storyboard to draw a pencil storyboard: the main camera angles of each shot on one page, 50 credits a shot, and you confirm the total before anything is drawn. It is for you only: the video AI never sees these pictures. Open a shot to read its prompt and see who is in it under Photos sent with this shot, and fix what is wrong there, before you pay for video.
Step 4 — Add your shots to the timeline and generate
Press Add to timeline on a shot, or add them all, then generate one shot at a time, or all of them with Generate all… in the Story panel. Every clip shows its price before it starts. A shot that carries straight on from the one before reads Extends clip N and is generated after it.
Limitations & common mistakes
- A storyboard is a pencil sketch to check the plan, not the final look of the video.
- Check who is in each shot under Photos sent with this shot before you generate, and leave out anyone who should not be in it.
- A new take of a clip regenerates its whole length, so a long clip costs its full length again.
- One story becomes at most 30 shots; split a longer story into two.
- If you change the story after creating shots, create them again to bring them up to date; that is a new plan and costs credits again.
Frequently asked questions
Is the storyboard sent to the video model?
No. Storyboard pictures are a planning aid, and the video AI never sees them. A clip is made from its shot's prompt and the photos of the people, objects and places in it, plus frames of the clip it extends when it extends one.
How long can one shot be?
One generation runs up to 15 seconds on the Fast and Quality profiles and up to 30 seconds on Performance. A longer scene becomes several shots.
What does Story Builder cost?
Creating shots costs 300 credits for every started 8,000 characters of story, at most 1,500, and makes no video. A storyboard costs 50 credits a shot, and you confirm the total before anything is drawn. Video is priced per second by the profile and resolution you choose, and every clip shows its price before it starts.
Will my characters look the same in every shot?
Give each person in Cast & world one of your actors or a photo, and the shots that show them send that photo to the video model. Before you generate, check Photos sent with this shot on each shot and leave out anyone who should not be in it.
Do I need an account?
You can open a project, write your story and set up Cast & world without one. Creating shots, drawing a storyboard and generating need an account with credits.
Written by
Adkeet Team · AI Creative StudioThe Adkeet team builds AI filmmaking and advertising tools — the Actor Creator and the Cinematic Engine Studio. These guides come from workflows we run inside the product every day.
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