He Made a Film About Running From His Mum

01 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 7:56

Grok Imagine Image 2.0

By Grok / xAI

News that most of our LinkedIn and YouTube audience missed because it lived on X: Grok Imagine's image model got a 2.0 update, shown off in a slick showcase of infographics, ads, game assets, UX and UI mock-ups and storyboards. It is also available through aggregators such as Magnific and Artlist, so you don't need to go to X to use it. The hosts agreed it is underrated because of its political association, and is a cheap, decent option for B-roll and smaller jobs.

Grok Imagine

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02 · breaking news · ▶ on the show at 11:05

Minimax H3 vs Seedance Model Comparison

By Phil Langer

MiniMax's H3 is now open weights, so you can run it locally with no cloud payments. Phil Langer ran one prompt (a man jumping into a pool, cannonball and all) through Seedance 2.5, Seedance 2.0, Seedance 2.0 Mini and MiniMax H3, with Seedance 2.5's new 30-second generation as the final clip. Both 2.5 clips looked best, but MiniMax was shockingly good for the price, only losing it when the swimmer's legs twisted at the end. Chris's tip: longer shots still degrade, so work in 30-second chunks.

“Minimax is really, really shockingly good, and it's really cheap too.”Chris Branch · ▶ 15:40

Seedance 2.5Seedance 2.0MiniMax H3

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03 · ▶ on the show at 20:08

Bring It On: CapCut CREAITE AI Festival Entry

By Mike J Mitch

Mike J Mitch's entry in the Commercial category of CapCut's CREAITE AI Festival: a 30-second brand film for Mitchell Athletic Co, a sportswear company that doesn't exist. Four athletes, one voice offering them every excuse to quit, and every frame and sound made in CapCut, as the rules required. Out of roughly 20 shots, only the football dribble gave the AI away. Both hosts gave it straight 1s, though the voiceover didn't land for everyone. The chat was more divided, with four 2s among the votes.

“As someone that works in advertising I was like, that is clean, and it looks like it could have been a Nike ad.”Chris Branch · ▶ 22:38

CapCut

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04 · ▶ on the show at 27:49

OPEN SOURCE Water Ad: Runway Big Ad Contest

By Mathis Barone

Submitted by Mathis Barone, a fan of the show, for Runway's Big Ad Contest: a fictional water brand from an AI startup that turns the heat of its servers into drinking water. Given how loudly people argue about AI's water use, the hosts called the premise a dangerous game, but a juxtaposition you wouldn't expect. The hosts loved small details like the actor's tan lines, the closing transitions felt very slick, and the chat split evenly between 1s and 2s.

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05 · ▶ on the show at 31:53

Notepad Ad: Runway Big Ad Contest

By Ben Chimoy

Another Runway Big Ad Contest entry, finished just in time after Ben Chimoy spent a long while writing and rejecting sketches. Humanity's first message to an alien visitor plays as a big cinematic first contact, until the twist: waterproof matters, and this is an ad for a waterproof notepad. Paul asked in the chat whether anyone had seen Arrival. The twist won the hosts over, landing as a 1 for concept but a 2 overall, and the two chat votes split the same way.

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06 · ▶ on the show at 41:19

The Ping Pong Effect

By Marcos Siqueira Campos

Submitted to the show: a polished film for Notion about the office habit of bouncing every task to a colleague, following the back-and-forth to breaking point. It was made with Nano Banana, Seedance, After Effects for the overlays and ElevenLabs for voice and sound. Nobody could tell whether it was commissioned or spec, and Chris only had a Vimeo link with no extra details, so if you know Marcos, put him in touch. Straight 1s from the hosts and the chat.

“Like, how can you tell whether that's spec or real? That looks so polished, right?”Chris Branch · ▶ 42:54

Nano Banana 2Seedance 2.0Adobe After EffectsElevenLabs

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07 · ▶ on the show at 44:58

AI Faire La Fete Champagne Ad

By Paul Fedor

A last-minute grab before the show with a great story. It started as a test on a friend's champagne campaign photos, became a spec, went to an ad agency, and the client greenlit it as a live spot. When one of the original models didn't want to appear in an AI ad, Paul Fedor replaced her with AI shot for shot, matched to the original photography. The side-by-side breakdown made it, in Lara's words in the chat, a great case study, and the chat gave it straight 1s.

“They haven't replaced the job, they haven't done anything, they've just added extra to their tool belt now.”Chris Branch · ▶ 50:15

Nano BananaChatGPTKlingVeo

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08 · ▶ on the show at 51:52

Gen Jam Contest Entry (OpenArt AI x Machine Cinema)

By Daniel Berman

What can a team make in four hours with three prompts and 12,000 AI credits? Daniel Berman's Team USA entry for OpenArt and Machine Cinema's first Gen Jam pays homage to a legendary director, and the chat quickly spotted Hitchcock's Rear Window and The Birds, starring characters Daniel doodled himself. Chris loved the camera twirl down the staircase, a move no video model could do smoothly four months earlier. Straight 1s, with the caveat that four-hour contest work is up against pieces that took weeks.

“It's all about story from now on, guys. We have the models that we can make incredible things with, and the difference maker from now on will be how well can you tell a story.”Chris Branch · ▶ 56:17

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09 · ▶ on the show at 56:39

Untitled Film: 6 Minutes, Part 3

By Diane Laidlaw (Afro Futcha)

Diane Laidlaw, known online as Afro Futcha, is making a film one minute at a time with no plot, theme or ending in mind, generating, editing and sharpening her sound design as she goes. Part 3 adds a new character to a story about a missing wife and a husband under suspicion. The hosts loved the build-in-public idea, Diane joined the chat after her segment, and she has an open invitation to a future Creator Session. The top-scoring piece of the night, with nine straight 1s.

“It's like building in public for filmmaking.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:00:14

invideoDreaminaSunoElevenLabsClaude

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10 · ▶ on the show at 1:02:01

The Adventures of Young Batman

By 0xInk_

We nearly skipped this one by accident, and it was fire. Ink built a Spider-Verse-style young Batman universe with Midjourney, GPT Image 2 and Seedance 2.5, then cut it to Simon Says, one of the most famous hip-hop tracks ever. Chris reckoned the post was close to a million views on X. Andrew raised the obvious problem: Warner and DC own Batman, and the track needs clearing too. Chris's view: this isn't slop chasing the algorithm, it's a true fan. Nine 1s and a single 3.

“When I saw this I was like, oh my god, that is unbelievable. A true creative, a true fan, an epic thing.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:05:33

MidjourneyGPT Image 2Seedance 2.5

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11 · ▶ on the show at 1:07:11

Spider-Man Above Karachi

By Sibghat U Shaikh

"Karachi has never had a superhero. So I made one." Sibghat U Shaikh's fan film blew up on Instagram, then went viral again on LinkedIn. He generated it with Seedance 2 on Dreamina, upscaled it with Topaz Labs and edited in CapCut, and dropped into the chat mid-show to say the generations took him 10 days. Andrew rated the swinging physics, though he wanted a villain earlier. Andrew pointed out that Spider-Man's film rights sit with Sony, not Disney, so it gets complicated. Five 1s and a 3.

“I think Spider-Man must be one of the hardest superheroes to do, just because of the physics of the swinging.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:11:07

Seedance 2.0DreaminaTopaz LabsCapCut

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12 · ▶ on the show at 1:13:58

Seedance 2.5 "AI Performances" Explorations

By Billy Boman

How good is AI acting now? Billy Boman pushed Seedance 2.5 through a 13-minute set of mini scenes aimed at performance rather than spectacle, and we watched about five minutes: The Good Boy, a dog laying down boundaries with his owner, a mint-flavoured Breaking Bad parody, a life-support scene between brothers and a diner monologue about eggs at 3am. While it played, Billy told Chris a producer and screenwriter had approached him about turning The Good Boy into a live-action hybrid. Straight 1s.

“The difference between 2 and 2.5 is things look a lot less plasticky now. Things look a lot more human.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:14:56

Seedance 2.5

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13 · ▶ on the show at 1:22:44

WARCRAFT III: Invasion of Kalimdor, Chapter One: Landfall

By Benjamin Bergknecht (CurioCraft Productions)

Submitted to the show: a 6:30 fan film adapting the Warcraft III Orc campaign, shot to a strict photoreal 2016 Hollywood look with Arri Alexa 65 and Kodak Vision3 emulation. Benjamin Bergknecht used Nano Banana Pro, Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.0, ElevenLabs for voices and Suno for the soundtrack. Neither host has played World of Warcraft, but Mary called it better than Blizzard's own game intros, and Aaron, who worked on the Warcraft movie, joined in. The votes split, ranging from 1 to 3.

“I was watching this thinking to myself, this is probably the cleanest AI I've seen.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:31:30

Nano Banana ProVeo 3.1Kling 3.0Seedance 2.0ElevenLabsSuno

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14 · ▶ on the show at 1:34:10

The Black Box, Episode 1: The Debut (Magnific Originals)

By Magnific

The latest Magnific Original, following Kavan the Kid's Chronicles of Bone. We watched the first five minutes of a ten-minute episode: a young fighter enters a dangerous tournament called the black box to pay for his sister Nia's treatment. Chris loved the colour grading, acting and voiceover. Andrew's only quibble was American accents in a setting that doesn't look like America, and he had YouTube open before it ended to find out what the black box is. Six 1s and one 3.

“It was coming to the end and I was like, I want to know what happens, what's in this black box.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:40:48

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15 · ▶ on the show at 1:42:58

The Kepler Expedition

By Malik Afegbua

A two minute 20 second sci-fi short from Malik Afegbua, who stars in his own film: a crew lands on Kepler, the air is breathable, and their captain falls unconscious and wakes saying he was gone far longer than six hours. Chris compared it to Uncanny Harry's short worlds and liked starring in your own films as a form of personal branding. Both hosts liked it but couldn't put it with the night's 1s because the premise felt familiar, which led Andrew to propose a 1.5.

“I look at this and I'm like, this is not a two, but I can't put it on the same levels of the ones that I've put on.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:47:57

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16 · ▶ on the show at 1:50:21

When You Run From Your Mom

By Edmond Yang

A short film based on Edmond Yang's own op-ed and voiced by Edmond himself: growing up Chinese in the suburbs of Oslo, building a Norwegian mask to survive school, and the day he ran from his mother rather than let her call his name in front of the others. Chris met Edmond in Lisbon, and this is far from his usual eclectic work. Caroline said it best in the chat: AI lets us hear stories we would never have heard before. Straight 1s, and Tomas in the chat called it beautiful and heart-breaking at the same time.

“I'm glad he did the voiceover and it wasn't an AI voiceover.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:56:55

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17 · ▶ on the show at 1:58:28

Ranger Danger

Last week we closed on a banger, and Paul asked for another. Chris found this on X, posted by Huff4Congress, who probably isn't the creator: a disco-style Lord of the Rings parody in which the Nazgûl try to talk a hobbit out of trusting Strider. The poll had already closed, so no vote. Chris admitted it didn't live up to last week's closer and looked more dated, but after a lot of serious work it was a fun way to end. Know a better closer? Tell us.

“It didn't live up to the last week one, let's be honest. It looked a lot more dated, but fun.”Chris Branch · ▶ 2:02:23

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