Computers and Technology:
The AI Story Project

Overview of the Project: We have spent much of this quarter learning how to properly use AI resources to complete a number of school related tasks, including AI Short Story Writing, AI Image Generation, AI Sound Generation, AI Music Generation and AI Text to Speech.

For this Large Project, you will be using ALL of these skills and resources to create a short film/video. You will be creating this ENTIRE film, including the script, the images, the sounds, the music and the voiceovers using AI generated media.

To ensure that all students are getting a chance to work on all parts of this project in order, completing each step along the way, we will be completing this project in steps. Each step is a separate "Assignment" and will be graded as such along the way.

THE STEPS: To begin, you will need to create the STORY that you will be illustrating for your AI STORY VIDEO. Here are the parameters of your story, which you will have CHAT GPT write for you:

  • FIRST STEP: Select a GENRE of writing for your story. Here are the possible genres to chose from:
    GENRES AND STYLES FOR YOUR AI STORY
    MODERN MEDICAL DRAMA CLASSIC DETECTIVE STORY SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER
    HALLMARK HOLIDAY/ ROMANCE MOVIE HORROR FILM ACTION MOVIE
    SPY THRILLER SUPER-HERO ACTION FILM POST- APOCALYPTIC EPIC
  • SECOND STEP: You must select one object, creature, environment or character from each of the columns below (you are allowed to pick more than one, especially from the "CHARACTER" column, if you wish.) These will be featured in your story:
    ENVIRONMENT/ SETTING OBJECT CREATURE CHARACTER
    A MOUNTAINTOP at MIDNIGHT A MYSTERIOUS MAP A SQUIRREL A PRIVATE DETECTIVE
    AN ABANDONED FACTORY A SEVERED HEAD A MOUSE A FIREFIGHTER
    AN UNDERGROUND CAVERN A LOST DIAMOND NECKLACE A FRIENDLY DOG A GENIUS SURGEON
    AN ALIEN SPACESHIP A SEALED CONTAINER OF "DEUTRIDIUM" A SPACE WEASEL AN AMERICAN ASTRONAUT
    A CEMETERY AT NIGHT AN UNSEALED COFFIN A RAT A FORMER BEAUTY QUEEN
    AN INSANE ASYLUM A STRAIGHT JACKET COCKROACHES A CRAZED PSYCHIATRIST
    A FARMER'S FIELD AN OLD TRACTOR A COW AN OLD FARMER
    THE STADIUM AT A RUN-DOWN SCHOOL A WILTED BOUQUET OF ROSES A STRAY CAT A RETIRED FOOTBALL PLAYER
    A GHOST SHIP AT SEA A TREASURE CHEST AN ANGRY KRAKEN AN OLD SEA CAPTAIN
  • THIRD STEP: Use CHAT GPT to generate your story for you. PLEASE FOLLOW THE TABLE BELOW:
  •  

    ENTER A VERY DETAILED QUERY INTO CHAT GPT ASKING FOR YOUR STORY. INCLUDE ALL OF THE REQUIRED ELEMENTS. HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:

     

     

    YOU MUST BE VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT ALL OF THE REQUIRED ELEMENTS OF YOUR STORY! Include the genre and ALL of the ELEMENTS THAT YOU SELECTED ABOVE.

     

     

    DO NOT SETTLE! If you don't like your story, try again! Put in different elements, as necessary, to get to a story and plotline that you find interesting and which would be easy and fun to ILLUSTRATE in your story video!

     

     

    The AI generated story is NOT written in stone! If you don't like a name or a setting or an object, CHANGE IT! This is YOUR STORY! Make it YOURS!

     

    If your story is particularly gory, you may struggle to get DALL-E to illustrate it for you, especially if you include severed heads, etc. BE WARNED!

     

    When you have finally created the story that you LIKE, COPY IT TO A GOOGLE DOCUMENT FOR LATER WORK, please save this as AI STORY!

     

FOURTH STEP:

Creating the TEXT TO SPEECH NARRATION. We will be using a free, online service that allows us to generate text to speech and download the results for use in our videos. Please navigate to LUVVOICE.COM.

Once there, click on TRY TTS. You will need to copy your text of your story into the resulting window. Then, select the voice type that you would like to use. BE CAREFUL, you only have so many conversions before this site will lock you out! Select your voice, then click GENERATE and DOWNLOAD your file for later use! (see below)

FIFTH STEP: To create your AI Story, you will need to create a STORYBOARD of your visuals, sound, etc. To do this, please go to THIS LINK, which is a STORYBOARD TEMPLATE within CANVA.

  • You will use this to create an outline of all of the components of your AI Story.
  • This template has canvases for each scene in your AI Story, which will come at 5 second intervals.
  • USE YOUR TEXT TO SPEECH NARRATION TO PLAN YOUR STORYBOARD. Listen to your story and the timing and use that to create your scenes. FIVE SECONDS PER SCENE!
  • Each canvas has room for details about each scene. There is a square for your visual representation of the scene (created in Canva Image Creator), there is space for the lines of the script of your story, as well as room for information about sound effects and music for the scene.
  • For each scene, use your story to describe what is on the screen and what sounds will be playing in the background as sound effects.
  • Use your AI IMAGE GENERATION abilities to create small thumbnails for your scenes.
  • STORYBOARDING is a very important step in the video creation process, used by professional filmmakers and animators throughout the industry. This MUST BE COMPLETED thoroughly and will be a large part of the grade for this project.
  • Here is an example of a completed STORYBOARD PANEL, with script text, sound effects and music and an AI generated thumbnail of the scene:
  • WHEN YOU ARE DONE CREATING THIS, PLEASE SHARE THIS CANVA FILE WITH MR. B. FOR GRADING.

SIXTH STEP: We will also be adding SOUND EFFECTS to your AI Story, as outlined in your STORYBOARD. For our sound effects, we will not only use the table below, but also recording AI GENERATED SOUNDS ON ELEVENLABS.IO. Because this is a site that blocks us when we have too many students online, so we will be using Mr. B.'s FANCY COMPUTER to download sound effects.

ANIMAL SOUNDS ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTS/ MECHANICAL HUMAN SOUNDS
HOWLING WOLVES CLINKING GLASSES. DISTANT SIRENS PEOPLE QUIETLY LAUGHING
DOGS BARKING SUBWAY NOISES CAR DRIVING SHAMBLING ZOMBIES
HOOTING OWLS CREEPY DRIPPING CAVERN NOISES RIFLE SHOTS MAN SCREAMING IN FEAR
MOOING COWS. RAIN ON A ROOF ZIPPING UP A BAG ZOMBIES FALLING OFF A CLIFF
SCURRYING RATS CRACKLING FIRE TRACTOR SOUNDS QUIET PHONE CONVERSATION
FLUTTERING BIRDS BABBLING BROOK SWORD BEING PULLED FROM SCABBARD HEAVY BREATHING
DOG SNIFFING WIND THROUGH A CORN FIELD OLD PHONE RINGING MAN SHOUTING HEY
DOG PANTING DRIPPING WATER IN A CAVE METAL DOORS BEING SLAMMED PEOPLE MOANING AND GROANING
CROW CALLING WALKING THROUGH SNOW CLANKING METAL EVIL LAUGHTER
ANIMALS SCURRYING THROUGH LEAVES TWINKLE SOUND CAR SPEEDING AWAY MAN CRYING
CAT MEOWING FALLING SNOW JINGLE BELL (REPEAT, AS NEEDED!) WHISPERS
CAT HISSING (THIS IS SCARY!)   CRUMPLING PAPER SANTA HOHOHO
TOM'S SCREAM   SPACE LASERS PAGEANT GIRLS (PH)
CHIRPING NOISES (PH)   UFO SOUNDS CHEERING AT A GAME (PH)
    BASKETBALL BOUNCING GIRL'S PHONE CALL (PH)
    BASKETBALL GAME BOY'S PHONE CALL (PH)
    OPENING A MEDICAL KIT  
    CAR BREAKING DOWN  

SEVENTH STEP: We will be using our AI MUSIC GENERATOR at suno.com. Create a piece of music that would be appropriate for the scenes of your short story (above). 

  1. USE HEADPHONES to listen to your music!
  2. CLICK the download icon to save your sound to your folder, then UPLOAD it to your GOOGLE DRIVE or to CANVA.  
  3. RENAME YOUR FILE, SO THAT YOU CAN FIND THEM LATER! 

EIGHTH STEP: Begin creating your VISUALS for your video, using DALL-E or any other image generator, including PartyRock, for image creation. BE VERY, VERY SPECIFIC about your descriptions, so that you have continuity from one scene to the next. SAVE your visuals with PROPER FILE NAMES, so that you can use them later!

NINTH STEP: Once you have all of your MUSIC, NARRATION, VISUALS put together, upload them to CANVA and begin putting together your video.

TENTH STEP: Begin putting together your story video by creating a new VIDEO canvas in CANVA. Use your STORYBOARD to direct your efforts to put together each scene in order, using your sound effects, narration and visual elements. Here is a video that I put together to help you understand the basics of creating a CANVA SLIDESHOW VIDEO:

ELEVENTH STEP: Create a TITLE SCREEN for your story, which will include the TITLE of your story and some background visuals. Also, you will need to include final CREDITS, which will include all of the following information:

  • VIDEOGRAPHER: You
  • AI IMAGE GENERATOR
  • AI SOUND EFFECTS GENERATOR
  • AI MUSIC GENERATION
  • AI TEXT TO SPEECH GENERATOR

TWELFTH STEP: Finishing steps, preview your work, edit, as necessary. When you are COMPLETELY DONE and happy with your final product, SHARE>DOWNLOAD>MP4. Save this to your DOWNLOAD folder on your computer, then UPLOAD it to your COMPTECH FOLDER for final grading!

A SAMPLE VIDEO: Would it help to have a sample video or two to check out? How about these: