The Task:
Dr. Oetker had a charming script that required multi-market research and stakeholder buy-in before moving into production. Traditional storyboards often feel too static for modern research, while full-scale animatics can be prohibitively expensive and slow. In late 2023, during the "early days" of Generative AI, I saw an opportunity to use emerging tech to bridge this gap and visualize a complex "gingerbread world" in motion.
The Process:
To maintain creative control and visual consistency which is traditionally the biggest hurdles in Gen-AI, I implemented and educated around a hybrid production workflow. Instead of relying on "one-click" generation, we used a modular approach:
Character Control: Prompted faceless gingerbread figures, later overlaying precise facial expressions in post-production for emotional accuracy.
Layered Composition: Generated characters and environments separately to allow for cleaner compositing and narrative flexibility.
Consistency Training: Trained a custom LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation) on the environment style to ensure the "world-building" remained stable across different shots.
Strategic In-Painting: Utilised targeted masking to evolve specific frame elements without losing the integrity of the overall scene.
My Role: Lead Producer & AI Creative Technologist
Stepping into the role of both Producer, Prompter and Technical Educator, I acted as the bridge between the creative vision and the technical execution. My focus was on:
Production Workflow: Ensuring AI assets could "plug into" a traditional post-production pipeline (Edit, Motion, Grade, Sound etc).
Team Leadership: Educating account managers and editors on the capabilities and limitations of the tech to show how to best utilise it speak around it’s limitations.
Problem Solving: Developing the prompting strategies and creative workarounds required to turn raw AI output into "rushes" for the editor.
The Outcome:
The resulting research film was a resounding success, securing buy-in across multiple global markets. This visualisation served as the definitive proof-of-concept that led to the final production, directed by the renowned Tobias Fouracre. This project stands as a benchmark for how Generative AI can empower ideation and de-risk major creative investments for clients.
Below is a short side by side companion to show the scenes and how they filtered through to the final result. Left is the research film, right the actual film.