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Studio: Getting Started

From casting characters to building locations, framing scenes to directing shots, Artlist Studio enables you to create your next project with a complete AI video production platform that gives you visual control over every stage of creation.  This guide walks you through the four core steps: creating characters and locations, generating frames, and directing your video.

Step 1: Opening a project

  1. From the top panel on the Homepage, click Studio.
  2. From the Studio Homepage, you can:
    1. Create a new project
    2. Open your current project
    3. Open a previous project

Step 2: Creating a character and location

The foundation of your project begins with designing reusable characters and locations, ensuring visual consistency throughout your scenes.

Access the Modals

  • From the Framing panel, click either the Character or Location icon to open the character or location modal.

Describe and Reference

  • Use the prompt field to describe your asset in detail.
    • Characters: Appearance, clothing, style, mood, and optional voice profile.
    • Locations: Architecture, lighting, atmosphere, and environmental elements.
  • You can also upload reference images:
    • Inspiration: AI uses them as a general guide.
    • Match exactly: AI will closely replicate the reference.

Refine and Generate Angles

  • After generating your preferred output, refine your prompt or add details.
  • Generate multiple angles. Angles act as a reference set for the location / character, helping maintain consistency across frames and when directing scenes.
    • Characters: Frontal up-close, ¾ (Three-Quarter) View – Left, full-length back body, side profile
    • Locations: Various perspectives to help the AI understand the environment.

Save

  • Save finalized characters and locations to your Creations for reuse in future frames and projects.

See Creating Characters and Creating Locations for a high-detailed explanation.

Step 3: Creating frames 

Once your core assets are built, generate precise, controllable still frames to serve as the visual bookends of your video. Frames are used as a Start Frame, which is mandatory, or an End Frame, which is optional.

Select your Frame settings 

  • Choose your Model, Resolution, Aspect Ratio, Camera Type (e.g., ARRI Alexa 35, VHS camcorder), and Camera Lens (e.g., Arri Signature Prime, Cooke S4/i).

Adjust Composition

  • Refine your frame  with:
    • Camera angle: Low angle, bird's-eye, etc.
    • Shot type: Close-up, wide shot, etc.
    • Lighting style: Golden hour, noir, etc.

Integrate Characters and Location and prompt

  • Insert characters and locations saved in your Library directly into your frame's prompt.

Note: You can also add them by tagging using '@'. For example if your character is called Evan, you can write your prompt like "@Evan kicks the football"

  • Write your prompt using:
    • Free form: Any creative description you choose.
    • Structured format: Fill in subject, location, action, composition, style, and mood.

Generate Start and End Frames

  • Generate your Start Frame, which loads into the Shot Sequence.
  • Optionally, generate or upload an End Frame to define the visual endpoint.

See Understanding Framing for a high-detailed explanation.

Step 4: Directing a video

Bring your frames to life by defining camera movement, actions, and the overall narrative flow.

Establish Directing Settings

  • In the Directing right-side panel, choose your settings  (Model, Resolution, Camera settings).
  • Define:
    • Duration of the video
    • Audio toggle: Auto-generated voice or Character voice
    • Virtual camera movement (e.g., handheld, tilt up, dolly in, pan left)

Apply Reference Frames

  • Ensure your Start and End frames are properly set in the timeline.
  • These frames provide the AI with precise visual boundaries.

Write the Directing Prompt

  • Compose a prompt that dictates motion and tone.
  • Using the Structured format alongside predefined characters and locations allows you to focus specifically on:
    • Subject / Character: Main focus and secondary elements (who or what)
    • Location: Where the scene takes place
    • Action: What is happening in the scene
    • Composition: Where the subject is in the frame (framing, placement)
    • Style: Describe the look (e.g. cinematic, documentary, animation, open shutter)
    • Mood: Describe the tone, colors, time of day, lighting ( e.g. colorful, dramatic)
    • Sound: What the character says

Step 5: Generate and create your sequence 

  • Click Generate to create your video.
  • The resulting video clip is added to the Shot Sequence, you can :
    • Drag, drop, and reorder multiple generated shots
    • Build a complete narrative seamlessly

See Understanding Directing for a high-detailed explanation.

This workflow ensures your videos maintain visual consistency, narrative clarity, and creative flexibility from concept to final output.