Make an AI short film from one sentence with Ask and Cinema

A short film starts as a sentence. Type it into Ask, the bar at the top of the studio home, and Clap, its assistant, can produce it with you right there: it asks what it needs, writes the storyboard, prices the renders as plans you approve, and the cut opens in Cinema (the producer route). This walkthrough takes the hands-on route. Ask for Cinema ("set it up in Cinema") and the Open Cinema → button under the reply opens a new film whose shot one is what you described (a shot each, when you describe several), or, if you name one of the six recipes, that recipe's whole film. Nothing has rendered and nothing has been charged. From there the Story tab takes over, and you pay per shot, when you render it.

It goes from one sentence to three rendered shots, with the credit math on two engines. Everything else Ask does is on /ask.

Ask for a film

Ask for Cinema, say it is a film and describe the opening shot. Name an engine if you want one:

Set it up in Cinema, a short film on Seedance 2.0 Mini: a woman in a red coat waits on an empty train platform at night as the last train pulls in

→ Cinema · Seedance 2.0 Mini    [Open Cinema →]

Click Open Cinema → under that grey line and Cinema opens on the new film. Shot one's action is your description, written as a prompt for the engines — in English, whatever language you typed in.

Ask only sets what you asked for:

• The engine. Name one and it becomes the film's engine; a family name means that family's standard engine ("with Kling" is Kling 3.0, not the Pro). Name none and the new film starts on Motion One, eroq's own engine.
• The seconds. "5-second scenes" gives shot one five seconds.
• The cast. Name one of your characters and they join shot one's cast. A character appears in renders only once it has its look sheet, made on its Details tab, under its photos; one without is flagged "Needs a look sheet". The casting guide covers it.

Ask for a number of scenes and describe each one, and every scene gets its own shot, up to eight: "in Cinema, a film in three scenes: the vault at night, the getaway on the docks, the loot shared in a garage" opens with three. Describe one shot and it lands in shot one; you write the others in the Story. If you want a single clip rather than a film, ask for a clip: the one-clip route gets you a plan to approve, or the Video tool set up.

Two more cases. "New film" on its own sets up a blank film. And an engine your plan does not include — Kling 3.0 needs the Hobby plan — shows its plan badge next to the Open Cinema → button.

Or name a recipe

The six film recipes are whole films: notes, three shots with their dialogue, plus a complete look. They open from Ask: name one and the button opens it as your film:

Open the Horror teaser recipe

→ Cinema · Horror teaser    [Open Cinema →]

• Perfume ad opens as Amber
• Music video opener opens as Neon Run
• Horror teaser opens as The Visitor
• Streetwear drop opens as Drop 07, vertical 9:16
• Romance short opens as Same Book
• Travel diary opens as Postcards

The film recipes guide walks through each recipe's shots and look. Rewrite them, delete one, add a fourth: a recipe is a starting shape.

Write the rest in the Story

Cinema opens on the Story tab. At the top, the Film block holds the look and the film's notes; under it, scenes (one place at one time) hold numbered shots. Shot one is already there, holding your description as its action. Add two more shots, with Add a shot inside a scene or Add a scene for a new place and time:

EXT. TRAIN PLATFORM — NIGHT
A woman in a red coat waits under a flickering light as the last train pulls in.

INT. TRAIN CAR — NIGHT
The doors open; she steps into the empty car and takes a window seat.

INT. TRAIN CAR — NIGHT
Close on her reflection in the window as city lights streak past. She unfolds a letter.
  WOMAN (to herself)   He kept his word.

Each scene holds its place and time (the slugline) and its cast; each shot holds an action (what the engine renders) and its lines of dialogue, where Add dialog adds a speaker, a manner and the line. Notes sit on the film, on each scene and on each shot, and none of them goes to an engine.

The rules from the screenplay guide hold here:

• One event per shot. Four events in ten seconds come out as none.
• A slugline on every scene. It keeps the platform a platform from shot one to shot three.
• Dialogue in the lines, never in the action. A five-second shot holds one short line; ten seconds hold an exchange.

Render shot by shot

Every shot renders from its own block in the Story, and its takes line up under it. Camera move, length, takes per render and cast sit in the shot's tab of the side panel (they are render settings, not writing); Render sits on the block, and Render N shots at the top renders the missing, changed or all shots after showing the price and the time. The takes and picks guide covers choosing between takes.

Links between shots are what turn three clips into one film. The green block between two shots says how the next one is made: Continue the shot opens it on the last frame of the shot before, Same scene, new angle keeps the place, the people and the light from another angle, and no link is a straight cut. Continue shots two and three, then render shot one first: shot two opens on its last frame once it exists, and shot three on shot two's. That is why the example reads as one unbroken move: the platform, the doors, the seat, the window.

A new shot is a straight cut until you link it (a shot added inside a scene starts as Same scene, new angle, on an engine that reads pictures). The recipes set their own: only the Horror teaser continues its shots, because its three shots are one take; the other recipes cut between separate places. The continuity guide covers when to continue and when to cut.

What it costs

Asking on Auto is free, and so is writing: a film with every shot written and none rendered costs nothing. Each shot is billed when you render it, at the engine's price for its length. Three shots at default settings:

Three shots	Seedance 2.0 Mini	Kling 3.0
5 s each, one take	225	810
10 s each, one take	450	1,620
5 s each, two takes	450	1,620

One five-second shot is 75 credits on Seedance 2.0 Mini, on any plan, and 270 on Kling 3.0. A render is billed per shot, so re-rendering shot two after a rewrite costs shot two again, not the whole film. If shot three continues shot two, it opened on a frame that is no longer in the cut, and the Story flags it for a re-render of its own.

A pattern that fits a budget: render the three shots on Mini first (225 credits) to see whether the script works as pictures, then switch the film's engine to Kling 3.0 in the Film tab and render them again. The film costs 1,035 in total, 225 more than going straight to Kling: the price of finding out that scene three needs rewriting before Kling renders it. Plans and their monthly credits are on /pricing.

When the takes are in, the Edit tab cuts them together — a crossfade, a title, music, a fade out — and exports the film; the edit guide has the details.

FAQ

Can AI make a whole short film from one prompt?

Not in one render. Clap can produce it with you in the chat: a storyboard, then plans of clips you approve, and the cut opens in Cinema. Or Ask turns your sentence into a new film in Cinema, one shot per scene you describe (up to eight), or sets up a recipe with three shots already written. Either way each shot renders as its own clip; in Cinema you write any other shot in the Story tab, and Continue the shot joins them at the cuts.

Does asking for a film cost credits?

No. Asking on Auto is free, and writing the script is free too. Credits go when a shot renders, on your Approve in the chat or when you render it in Cinema, and each shot is billed on its own.

Which engine should I use for an AI short film?

Start on Seedance 2.0 Mini: 75 credits for a five-second scene, on any plan. Kling 3.0 is 270 for the same scene, from the Hobby plan up. To compare the others, ask "what's the cheapest video engine?" or "which engine does 1080p with sound?" — Ask answers from the studio's live catalogue.

What are continuous shots in Cinema?

There is no film-wide switch any more: each shot says how it follows the one before. Continue the shot opens it on the last frame of the shot before, so the cut joins on the same picture; Same scene, new angle keeps the scene from another angle; no link is a straight cut. The recipes set their own. A continued shot renders once the shot before it has, so render in order.

Can I describe my film in another language?

Yes. Write or speak in your own language and Ask answers in it. The scene's prompt is written in English for the engines.

Can Ask add lip-sync or upscale the film?

Lip-sync, no: eroq has no lip-sync and no inpainting, and Ask says so instead of pretending. Upscaling never goes into a plan, but it exists: eroq Upscale (coming soon) takes each finished shot to 1080p or 2K, in Video › Edit › Upscale.

Open the studio, type "a short film" and your opening shot: let Clap produce it, or ask for Cinema and take it from there.