Learning path

Direct first, generate second

Someone who can tell a story and wants to use generative tools without handing over authorship of the film.

9 steps, in order

What directing actually decides craft · step 1
Staging and intent come before any tool. If you cannot say what a scene is about, no model will tell you.
Lens and light as language craft · step 2
You will be specifying images in words. The vocabulary that works is the one a DP already uses.
Structure and pace craft · step 3
Generated clips are raw material. The film happens in the assembly.
Continuity thinking craft · step 4
This discipline becomes more valuable, not less, because continuity is the weakest part of generated sequences.
What the model is doing concept · step 5
Enough mechanism to stop treating results as luck.
The real control surface concept · step 6
Know which of your intentions can be specified and which can only be selected for.
Keeping a face and a wardrobe concept · step 7
The single hardest practical problem in a multi-shot generated scene.
Where it breaks concept · step 8
Plan around known failure modes instead of discovering them in a review.
Why iteration is a budget line concept · step 9
Shot count and revision cycles need costing before you promise a schedule.