Episode 136 was the last show before Halloween, so the submissions went dark. Chris and Andrew opened with Claude as a video editor in its own right, in Kōda's anime cuts and Uncanny Harry's Blender blocking for driving videos. Three shorts from Ink Industries all scored straight 1s, and five more Love Letters to Cinema from Shake Film Festival followed. Afro Futcha's psychological thriller The Rent Collector, made in two days, drew 12 straight 1s, and Jacopo Zanetti's ten-minute What's the Job?, winner of Best Visual in Astana, topped the vote with 16. Alex from Bionic Awards then joined to show the three Formula E Gen4 Challenge winners.
The scoreboard
Every piece on AI LIVE goes to a live audience vote: 1 for awesome, 2 for okay, 3 for not for me. Here's how this week's work landed, best first.
Score out of 100: a 1 counts fully, a 2 counts half, a 3 counts zero. Votes are counted the way StreamYard's live poll counts them: every 1, 2 or 3 mentioned in a YouTube live chat message while that piece was on screen, one vote per person per poll (their first). LinkedIn Live comments are still to be added.
Key takeaways
01
Claude has become a video tool, not just a script writer. Kōda used it to cut a stylised anime compilation and add slow-motion frames, and Uncanny Harry used it to build Blender blocking scenes as driving videos, with no 3D software skills needed.
02
Control is replacing the slot machine. Blocking a scene in 3D first, then generating over it, gives you exact character positions and camera moves, which answers one of the oldest arguments against AI film.
03
Short and stylised still wins the chat. Ink Industries' three clips, the longest about a minute, all scored straight 1s, and the hosts want to see those worlds grow into longer stories.
04
Long form can hold an audience when the craft is there. Jacopo Zanetti's ten-minute What's the Job? took two months and topped the vote with 16 straight 1s, despite a quiet sound mix.
05
Consistency is now a given, voice is the gap. Andrew noticed the show barely talks about consistency any more, but AI voices still sound average and AI-ish, and both hosts expect audio to be what makes work stand out.
06
Open briefs produce the best variety. The Gen4 Challenge only asked for the car on screen for four seconds, and the three winners were a brand film, a ladybird story and a race to the line.
Everything we reviewed
21 pieces, in show order. Tap any one to watch the creator's original post.
First in the news, one of Marco's finds: Claude is now an editing tool in its own right, not just something that talks to DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro. Kōda, who posts on X as aimikoda, gave Claude a set of anime clips and asked it to build a stylised compilation, choosing the clips and the treatments itself. Chris admitted anime isn't really his style, but he can see this kind of fast, stylised cutting being used a lot by the people who love it.
A second piece from Kōda: a fight scene made with Midjourney and Seedance 2.5, then handed to Claude to add extra sliding frames in the slowed-down section, which heightens the feeling of slow motion. Andrew asked whether this was a new Claude feature. Chris's answer: a bit of both, with people combining Claude, connectors and open repos such as HyperFrames, and more capability rumoured to be on the way.
“First of all, how cool is that style, but secondly, how cool is the additional frames with the sliding to add to the feeling of slow motion.”Chris Branch · ▶ 7:35
A short, music-driven take on the famous Batman villain, in a style Chris keeps seeing work on Instagram and X. Andrew said it felt almost inspired by Grand Theft Auto, then twisted and remixed, and one viewer in the chat called it straight Arcane. Chris used it to make a wider point about the mash-up era: animation becoming live action, live action becoming animation, and styles fusing into new ones. It sat in the news section and wasn't put to the poll.
The first of three shorts from Ink Industries, a creator Chris met at Upscale with BLVCKL!GHT and whose work Marco also suggested. It opens in London and then jumps into French hip-hop, and the hosts loved the music choices and editing. Andrew wants longer, story-led pieces from him, and Chris floated a commissioned music video in this style. The first poll of the night came back as straight 1s.
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
6 live votes (YouTube chat 6 · LinkedIn count to come)
Ink Industries again, in a different style: a one-minute story that Chris says shows he has mastered short-form storytelling. One viewer loved the woodblock look, another pointed out that it moves at something like a stop-motion frame rate while staying super clean in places. Andrew noticed a dark streak running through all of his work, here a heart handed over to a volcano. Another set of straight 1s.
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
6 live votes (YouTube chat 6 · LinkedIn count to come)
The last of the Ink Industries set: a 30-second superhero clip in which a family turns on the stranger brought home, because he is not like them. One viewer called it a darker take on The Incredibles. Chris sees why these shorts do so well in the algorithm and hopes some become longer pieces, and the chat voted before he had even put the poll up. All three of his pieces scored straight 1s, so expect a Creator Session invite.
“I just appreciate these people that are just making short things that are very enticing, different worlds that we can see.”Chris Branch · ▶ 20:34
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
4 live votes (YouTube chat 4 · LinkedIn count to come)
Uncanny Harry is using Claude to build rough 3D scenes in Blender, with simple coloured blocks marking where each character stands and how the camera moves, then using them as driving videos for the generation. The result is a pub and dance floor scene with exactly the blocking he planned. Chris said it answers the old slot machine argument against AI, and that Claude now lets you skip learning Cinema 4D or Blender to build a driving scene.
“Now Claude can essentially bypass your need to know Cinema 4D, bypass your need to know Blender and all the other 3D creation tools.”Chris Branch · ▶ 23:30
Back to the Love Letters to Cinema from Shake Film Festival, where a hundred directors each had six to eight hours to make a one-minute love letter to film. Number 58 is a Halloween-ready tribute to the masters of darkness, arguing that horror was never only darkness but light to recognise ourselves. WhiskyWoven said bring on the darkness, and Andrew got Donnie Darko vibes from the long-eared figure in the cinema seat. Mostly 1s with a few 2s.
A child who loves films so much they end up eating the DVD covers, growing from bright, funny covers to stranger and scarier stories, all wrapped in the line that we were raised by films. Chris called it a straight 1: human-looking people, good pacing, a brilliant voiceover and a premise that runs right through. One viewer loved the premise but was put off by the hallucinated covers. Nearly all 1s.
Audience verdict92/100
1 · awesome 83%2 · okay 17%3 · not for me 0%
6 live votes (YouTube chat 6 · LinkedIn count to come)
A creation story for cinema: in the beginning there was darkness, then light, sound and time, and a mirror of what we are. Diogo in the chat was sure the narrator sounded like Dame Judi Dench. Chris, running the polls himself with Paul away, briefly forgot to open a new one. The most mixed vote of the love letters, which Chris put down to how personal each one is.
Audience verdict42/100
1 · awesome 17%2 · okay 50%3 · not for me 33%
6 live votes (YouTube chat 6 · LinkedIn count to come)
No voiceover on this one, just music and visual storytelling, which Chris said is just as interesting. He felt anyone French would feel something for its metaphor-rich style, in the tradition of French cinema. Diane dropped into the chat and loved it, while Diogo thought tighter editing would have made it excel given the time limit. A split vote, and a moment for Chris to point out that none of this was ever a competition.
“We're doing it a disservice by slapping a poll on it really, because it's someone's personal story about cinema.”Chris Branch · ▶ 40:13
Audience verdict70/100
1 · awesome 40%2 · okay 60%3 · not for me 0%
5 live votes (YouTube chat 5 · LinkedIn count to come)
The last love letter of the night: a dark, tense chase in which a little boy ends on the line that the dark doesn't hide anything, it lets you feel the truth. It tugged at the heartstrings and the chat answered with a wall of 1s. Afterwards the hosts swapped what their own love letters would be: Andrew's would start with The Fox and the Hound with his dad, and Chris's with his dad taking him to the cinema.
Audience verdict96/100
1 · awesome 92%2 · okay 8%3 · not for me 0%
12 live votes (YouTube chat 12 · LinkedIn count to come)
The only spec ad of the week, so Chris asked everyone making spec ads to submit more. Two fans roast a man in a Manchester United shirt in Korean, assuming he can't understand, and the punchline is that the fragrance speaks every language. The hosts loved the premise but felt something was missing in the execution, possibly a voice that sounded too AI. Chris called it a 1.5, and the vote split between 1s and 2s.
“Premise wise, definitely a one. Execution wise, definitely a two.”Chris Branch · ▶ 50:35
Audience verdict69/100
1 · awesome 50%2 · okay 38%3 · not for me 12%
8 live votes (YouTube chat 8 · LinkedIn count to come)
Spooky season starts here: a stylised animated chase in which Elias and Clara fight off creatures climbing onto a speeding train. Daniela said it felt like a Sherlock Holmes film, and Chris thought it could pass for a scary Disney film. His bigger point was how consistently a style like this holds now, which wasn't really doable even earlier this year. Mostly 1s, with a few 2s.
Audience verdict82/100
1 · awesome 64%2 · okay 36%3 · not for me 0%
11 live votes (YouTube chat 11 · LinkedIn count to come)
Diane, aka Afro Futcha, was in the chat for her animated psychological thriller. A tenant who is three weeks behind agrees to pay with one memory, the house decides which, and by morning his abuse has been turned back on him. Chris got so absorbed he forgot to prepare the poll. Diane apologised for the swearing and said it took two days. One viewer called it a Tales from the Crypt comic strip, animated. Straight 1s from everybody.
“You're going to be the fastest to get to another creator session because of how prolific you are.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:03:14
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
12 live votes (YouTube chat 12 · LinkedIn count to come)
An entry to Curious Refuge's horror film competition, set in 2039, when every decision made by AI legally needs human approval. The machines keep humans in the loop by farming brains, test animal brains as a faster alternative, and decide to replace the elephants with alligators. The music got intense towards the end, and the chat called it scarily close to the truth and very Gossip Goblin in style. Mostly 1s.
Audience verdict85/100
1 · awesome 80%2 · okay 10%3 · not for me 10%
10 live votes (YouTube chat 10 · LinkedIn count to come)
A ten-minute surreal office film by Jacopo Zanetti, which won Best Visual and $50,000 at the Astana AI Film Festival. Jacopo sent it to Chris during the show and Marco had suggested it too, so the hosts watched it cold. A new starter is bounced between departments he can never leave. The chat cited Wes Anderson, Stalker and Terry Gilliam, and Jacopo said it took two months non-stop. The sound was low from an export issue. It topped the vote with 16 straight 1s.
“As far as 10 minute pieces of content go, I think that's the best one I've seen all year.”Chris Branch · ▶ 1:19:48
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
16 live votes (YouTube chat 16 · LinkedIn count to come)
An animated Breaking Bad tribute made with Midjourney and Seedance 2.5. Chris picked it because, unlike a lot of IP tributes made as algorithm bait, this one felt like the work of a real fan of the show and of animation. Both hosts still gave it a 2: when you know the original scenes well, a fan film has to meet a very high bar. The chat agreed, with more 2s than 1s.
“If I didn't know Breaking Bad, I would think that was really good.”Andrew Davis · ▶ 1:26:34
Alex from Bionic Awards joined to present the three winners of the Formula E Gen4 Challenge, made with Google models and screened at IMAX in London. Nora, who came over from Hungary, won the solo category with a 60-second brand film that uses animals to tell the story of the car's evolution. Alex's favourite detail is the axolotl regrowing its hand, a nod to regenerative braking. Chris's seat was shaking from the sound in the IMAX. Straight 1s in the chat.
“For a brand film it really does more than just put together a string of nice looking shots.”Alex · ▶ 1:36:52
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
8 live votes (YouTube chat 8 · LinkedIn count to come)
The agency winner came from Special Group, one of Australia's biggest creative agencies, with two people credited as doing most of the work. Alex said it couldn't be more different from Nora's film: a whole narrative in 60 seconds, built around a ladybird clinging on and a snap ending that drew audible gasps in the cinema. The physics sell the speed of the car, and Chris praised the medium shots, which he sees as a weak spot for the Google model. Straight 1s.
“Even though it's only 60 seconds, it packs a whole narrative into it.”Alex · ▶ 1:44:31
Audience verdict100/100
1 · awesome 100%2 · okay 0%3 · not for me 0%
10 live votes (YouTube chat 10 · LinkedIn count to come)
The Flow category winner was made entirely in Google Flow. Where Nora's film covered the car's whole evolution, Salma focused on its straight-line acceleration and built tension towards the payoff. Andrew loved the sound and the moment it cut to black and came back almost in a different style. The hosts felt the first and third winners could run as real ads for Google or Formula E. Another set of straight 1s.
Episode 136 (27 October 2026) was the last show before Halloween. Chris Branch and Andrew Davis reviewed 21 pieces, 17 of them put to the vote, including Claude being used as a video editor, five Love Letters to Cinema and Afro Futcha's The Rent Collector, before Alex from Bionic Awards joined to present the Formula E Gen4 Challenge winners. Jacopo Zanetti's What's the Job? topped the audience vote with 16 straight 1s.
Which piece won the audience vote on AI LIVE Episode 136?
What's the Job? by Jacopo Zanetti, a ten-minute surreal office film that won Best Visual at the Astana AI Film Festival, topped the live vote with 16 straight 1s. Afro Futcha's The Rent Collector came next with 12 straight 1s, then Special Group's Gen4 Challenge film with 10.
Can Claude edit or make video?
Not as a video model, but it can now do a lot of the work around one. On the show, Kōda used Claude to cut a stylised anime compilation and add extra frames to a slow-motion scene, and Uncanny Harry used it to build rough 3D scenes in Blender to use as driving videos. People are combining Claude with connectors and open repos such as HyperFrames, and it can also make video in code with tools like Three.js.
Who won the Formula E Gen4 Challenge?
The challenge, run by Bionic Awards with Google and Formula E, had three winners: Nora Bereczki in the solo category, Special Group in the agency category, and Salma El Makhloufy in the Flow category for a film made entirely in Google Flow. Each winner gets two VIP tickets to a Formula E race anywhere in the world plus travel costs, and all nine finalists are on the Bionic Awards website.
Are AI voices good enough yet?
The hosts don't think so. Andrew said consistency is now a given but voices still feel AI-ish, and Chris pointed out that a stock AI voice is an average that anyone else can use and you can't protect. Both expect audio, and human voice actors, to be what makes AI work stand out next.
How can I get my AI work featured on AI LIVE?
Submit it through the form at theailiveshow.com. Every Tuesday at 4pm UK the hosts review the best submissions live on LinkedIn and YouTube, and every piece goes to a live audience vote: 1 for awesome, 2 for okay, 3 for not for me.
Show notes
Chris was just back from London and the Bionic Awards Gen4 Challenge screening at IMAX, and Andrew had a week at home. With Paul away, Chris ran the polls himself, and with Halloween days away a lot of the submissions were horror. Marco helped find many of the night's pieces.
The news was all about Claude moving into video: Kōda's Claude-edited anime cuts, and Uncanny Harry building 3D blocking scenes in Blender for driving videos. Then came three straight-1 shorts from Ink Industries, five more Love Letters to Cinema from Shake Film Festival, and a dark run of Storm, The Last Carriage, The Rent Collector and Cryogen Compliance, before Jacopo Zanetti's What's the Job? topped the night.
Alex from Bionic Awards then joined to present the three Formula E Gen4 Challenge winners and tease Bionic Season 2, which will include a stills category and something for emerging filmmakers. Jimmy's 404 Films piece and Bo Wilder's Gnome Man's Land are lined up for next week.
